Tile Laying and Fixing: Floors, Walls and Special Features
This domain is the core skill: laying floor and wall tiles flat, level, plumb and aligned, including the special features - niches, steps, skirtings, window reveals and wet-area falls.
Fixed rules
- Bed the tile into the adhesive with a slight twist and a rubber mallet or levelling block, then check with a level and straightedge as you go.
- Control lippage with clips and wedges on large format; do not rely on pressing harder.
- Keep joints uniform with spacers or wedges and remove them before the adhesive sets.
- Floors: work away from the datum toward the exit, keeping off the finished surface until it sets.
- Walls: fix a level batten or ledger one course above the floor, tile up from it, then cut in the bottom course so the cut is hidden and the top line is full.
- Wet areas: form the fall to the drain as specified, typically about 1:80, and never let a slope reverse.
- Leave the specified movement gap at perimeters and around columns.
Worked example
A 2.4 m shower wall with 300×600 tiles laid horizontally and 2 mm joints. Four courses equal 4 × 602 = 2,408 mm - 8 mm too tall. If you start at the floor, the top course is cut and the ceiling line looks ragged. Instead set the batten so the top course is full and take the 8 mm out of the bottom course, where the floor tile and skirting hide it. Reasoning: put cuts where they cannot be seen and keep full tiles at the sight line.
Traps that cost marks
- Starting at the floor without checking the ceiling level.
- No perimeter gap, leading to tenting months later.
- Tiling onto fresh screed or an unprimed substrate.
- Walking on a fresh floor or using it as a workbench.