DIY

How to Tile Floors & Walls

Time is flying and it is already week 3 of the bathroom remodel.  This week, I am going to show you How to Tile Floors & Walls.

There were a few things I needed done before I tiled, and my amazing parents visited for a few days and helped me out. I want two sconces on either side of the vanity mirror, so my dad went up to our attic and dropped some wires for the new lights.

We drilled holes in the drywall and pulled the wired through.

While my dad was working on the electrical stuff, my mom was painting all the trim I had pulled out during demo.

Meanwhile, I ran over to The Home Depot and picked up the supplies I needed to tile the floor and wall:

Watch this video to see the tile process for how to tile floors & walls from start to finish:

MAKE A PLAN

As I mentioned in the video, most tile projects require finding the center of the room.  However, since I was using mosaic tile, I had to think pretty strategically about focal points.  For my project, it was the bathtub and the entry.  I began by the bathtub and drew a straight line going both ways to keep me laying the tile straight.

I laid out my initial run of tile – including the tile at the entry.

ADHERE THE TILE

Once I was confident in my plan, I glued the tile to the cement board using a thin-set adhesive. Although it is more expensive, I used a premixed thinset to save some time.

Use the rubber grout float to level all the tiles and encourage adhesion.

Carefully continue to lay tile. I left walkways so I didn’t tile myself in.

CUT TILE AS NEEDED

I used the RYOBI Overhead Wet Tile Saw, and I absolutely love it!  I have borrowed several wet saws over the years, and this saw is by far my favorite.

Working with mosaic tile is nice because you can snip the webbing if needed and it is easy to cut smaller pieces since you run the larger sheet through the wet saw.

Once the floor was complete, I began to work on the wall.  I started in the upper left corner of the wall since that was the most visible point from the entry.  I checked how level my ceilings were and went to work.

This wall was the never-ending wall. I had to check my sanity time several times through the tiling process!

GROUT THE TILE

This is by far my least favorite part of tiling, but I made it through it! I found that a smaller rubber grout float worked the best on the walls (and saved me from dropping too much grout on the floor). After grouting, use a sponge to wipe away the extra grout (and dump the bucket of water after use outside rather than down your drain).

CLEAN THE TILE

The final step is cleaning the tile.  Although you try to clean the grout immediately after grouting, there will still be a thin film on the grout.  I used a scrub brush and some clean to clean of all the tile.

And then you are done!  It took me close to 8 days from start to finish on tiling both the floor and the wall, and I definitely had a major arm workout.

On to week 4! Go create something!

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Find me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Pinterest This post is sponsored by Jeffrey Court.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.