Tiling your bathroom – Part 1
If you are looking to give your bathroom a bit of an update, retiling it can do just that, tiles are great to lone your bath and shower area and new tiles can give your bathroom a whole new look and it’s a job you can do yourself on weekend.
Before you start there are some essential tools you need for the job, which can be picked up at your local DIY store if you don’t have them already:
• Tile Cutter
• Tile Saw
• Grout Spreader
• Spirit Level
• Tile Nibblers
• Adhesive Spreader
• Tile-Cutting Jig
• Homemade Gauge Stick
Firstly you need to prepare your wall, making sure it’s clean, sound and dry and as flat as possible, if your are replacing old tiles make sure you sand down the surface to remove any old grout, or remove any old wallpaper or flaking paint with a stabilizing primer.
You now need to decide on the layout of your tiles, the size and shape of the bathroom and any awkward fittings will be what guides you setting out the walls.
A useful tool when tiling is a gauge stick, this is something you can make yourself which can be done before you start tiling. The gauge stick helps you plot the position of your tiles along the wall and is very simple to make, all you need is a piece of softwood, lay several tiles next to the wood marking the position of the tiles along it, making sure you leave space if the tiles are square edged or butting together those with lugs.
Mark the bottom row of tile using the gauge and check with a spirit level to make sure everything is level, you are best off tiling from the middle and lay the tiles out so you get a feel for the number required, then you can re align the tiles to make sure you aren’t cutting both ends. Mark the bottom of the lowest row of tiles and temporarily nail a thin guide batten to the wall, aligned with the mark. Check your wall markings with a spirit level and place a guide batten against the last vertical line and nail it to the wall. If you have to tile around an object such as a window, use that as your starting point so that the surrounding tiles are of equal size.
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