The Skill That I just Had to Acquire

Up to now I have been requested to attend to various types of repairs and home improvements. I have accepted at least 90% of these requests mainly to relieve Clients of their inconvenience as well as seizing yet another opportunity to learn and improve my skills. Nevertheless, tiling is a skill which I dared myself to and discovered something that I would enjoy doing, at least as a small scale project. And so I took on this challenge and here is short read of how I proceeded.

This is a room of a house which has been built for more than 40 years and like some of the other rooms, it was tiled with Vinyl flooring. These tiles were quite popular in the old days. Many houses in Mauritius still have these vinyl floors well maintained. They somehow represent part of an image of a generation. Unfortunately, over the years if solid objects fall on this flooring, the vinyl starts cracking. Water and dusts slowly get underneath and the tiles eventually chip away exposing the glue. It does not look very pretty so we cover it up with rugs or move furniture around but there comes a time when you're tired of hiding the ugly. I started off by removing all the vinyl tiles from the floor. Some were quite easy while others required applying a little effort using a strong putty knife. With the use of this tool, I scraped off any bumps and imperfections so to ensure the surface is cleaned and level.

The surface area to be covered with new tiles was around 6.5 feet by 11.5 feet or 1.9m by 3.5m. It is very important to measure the surface area for such a project. This information is required to advise Client of the number of tiles needed as well as to calculate the amount of tile adhesive required. Unless you're a pro whom calculations are simply from experience, a newbie diving in this project would be wise to trust proper building calculations. This should ensure not putting the Client at risk of having to either go back for more materials or be left with extra tile adhesive. This particular adhesive product cannot be kept for too long. If exposed to humidity, it solidifies and you end up with a concrete like block too big to be used as door stopper.

Depending on the design of tiles, appropriate thickness of spacers should be used. Spacers are important. With heat, tiles as well as the cement and adhesive content underneath tend to expand, spacers ensures enough gap for this expansion. With some ceramic tiles, their specific design do not require spacers but some space must be left along the walls.

When tiling a floor, the amount of tile adhesive will depend on the level and the condition of the surface you are covering. If the floor level is to be raised and/or level to be corrected, a mortar should be laid with the thickness needed.

As for tiling over a leveled flat surface, the amount of adhesive will be minimal. Pay attention to the type of adhesive, some vary in consistency. Clear instructions should be printed on adhesive package.

According to proper practiced calculations, 4 to 6 kg of adhesive to be used per m2. Considering this particular surface area to be approximately 6 m2, I would require two 20kg bags.

I followed through and cleared the room of all furniture and appliances. Before going ahead and applying glue to the floor, I opened one box of 11 tiles and placed them lining up against two walls. I needed to confirm that the room's corners were clear right angles and how many tiles would be required in its length and breadth.

I have learnt through observing many tilers that there are many practical tips which facilitates tiling with precision and which can also visibly creative. These little observations and watching tilers do what they do and how they do it is probably why it is a skill that I just had to acquire. In the above method, one may lay tiles to plot a neat line and ensure a right angle from all corners. Another method would be to make use of a string or nylon fishing line stretched across each wall to facilitate laying the tiles aligned.

Pay attention to the designs of the tiles, with some creativity you can lay the tiles with a certain pattern. Some tiles have indications on the bottom side to guide in which direction tile should be laid to complete the overall design.

Once having taken into consideration all that I know, I went ahead and started mixing the tile glue with water in a bucket according to the instructions. One by one, I placed tiles and spacers in between while using a level to monitor thickness of applied adhesive.

Once all the tiles were laid, I made sure to clean up all smudges and excess of tile adhesive off the tiles while they are still wet. The grout chosen to fill the gap matched the color tone of the tiles. After having cleaned the surface, I filled all the gaps with the grout and left it to dry.

It is best to leave at least two days for the whole area to dry then move furniture back. When I look back on this job, I realize that you never you're capable unless you take on that opportunity and challenge. From that experience, I can slowly move on to more complicated tasks such as cutting tiles to fit around rounded areas and creating slopes for showers etc. DIY is the greatest reason to take on any challenges.

---

Feel free to SHARE this article with your friends.

It is always a pleasure sharing my experiences, the challenges and how I overcome them. Delivering the best products and services to my Clients is my priority. The shortest way to improve is through receiving readers' feedback and I look forward to read your comments submitted below.