How Hard Is Tiling? DIY Tips and Troubleshooting When Laying Tile

It never looks hard to lay tile on remodeling videos. Ceramic and porcelain tile installations are started and finished on camera in just a matter of minutes and with little work. Tile is cut effortlessly on wet tile saws, each tile fits perfectly, and grouting the tile always goes smoothly.

Real-life tiling doesn't happen that way, especially for unseasoned do-it-yourselfers. Laying tile is easy, but laying tile and doing it well is difficult. If you have never tiled before, prepare for this project to be time-consuming and tedious, as it's not easy to make repairs or adjustments if it's done incorrectly. With just a few tips and tricks, you may improve your tiling skills over the course of just one installation.

Consider Room Size

Smaller projects, like backsplashes, are easier for DIYers to take on. It can become difficult to install the tile evenly when tiling a large bathroom floor, for example. If you are taking on a large project, do not rush and budget in plenty of extra time to do the best job possible.

Start With Good Substrate

Your tile work is only as good as your substrate or subfloor. If you do not have a good subfloor or underlayment, your tile will not lie flat. Lippage—when adjoining tile edges that are not the same height—may occur. Even worse, a base floor that is not solid enough will eventually cause the tile to crack. Begin with a solid OSB subfloor.

Reduce Injury

Unlike electrical work or roofing, tiling isn't usually thought of as a home trade that can injure you. Yet constantly being on your knees on a hard surface can injure your knees and lower back, plus it can affect the quality of your work. For this reason alone, it's worth purchasing a pair of tiler's knee pads or simply folding over an old towel to use as padding.

When mixing thinset with a drill, be sure to add the handle to the drill to avoid injuring your wrists.

Use Pre-Mixed Thinset

Dry thinset mortar is cheap, but it is also difficult to mix. The solution is to buy a pre-mixed thinset. While significantly more expensive, pre-mixed thinset saves you from the aggravation of getting water-to-thinset measurements correct. Plus, mixing up dry thinset is physically difficult.

When tiling a house or large rooms, you may want to go the dry thinset route to save money. Besides investing in a few clean 5-gallon buckets, the best tools for mixing up dry thinset are a long mixing paddle and a corded drill.

Mixing paddles cost $15 to $25 and are indispensable for mixing up thinset. You can even use them for mixing up drywall compound if that's another project in the future. Unless you have an especially powerful cordless drill, use a corded drill for mixing up heavy compounds like thinset.

Get Help With Diagonal Tiling

Diagonal tile layouts are a great way to liven up conventional tile grids. Laying tiles on a diagonal can be a frustrating experience for any kind of tiler, whether inexperienced or a veteran tiler. You have to know the right tile size for the installation and have the right tools to make it look good. Diagonal spacing tools help you create those diagonals without a lot of complicated calculations.

Use the Right Tools

For spreading mortar, you need to have a notched trowel. Notched trowels regulate the flow of thinset on the substrate. They typically have one side with large notches and another side with smaller notches.

For spreading grout over tiles, you'll need a completely different tool: a rubber grout float. The soft face of the float lets you spread grout across the tiles without scratching them.

Use Spacers For Tile Spacing

Use tile spacers to ensure every space between tiles is exactly right. Spacing tiles correctly is hard, and it doesn't help that thinset mortar is slippery. While experienced tile workers have a good eye for spacing, tile spacers make the job easier and higher quality—even for professionals. Be sure to use plastic tile spacers to impose the correct distance. Spacers can be tedious to remove, but they ensure perfect spacing of tile seams.

Use the Right Backing Material

High-moisture areas where leakage may occur are more difficult to tile. These require special backing material and grout-sealing techniques. Showers, especially, can be difficult for the DIY tiler to make completely waterproof. Schluter Kerdi is a well-known brand of waterproofing membranes for shower pans, walls, and floors.

Choose the Best Cutting Tool

Cutting tiles isn't all that hard if you have the right cutting tools. Perimeter tiles will need to be cut. You can use either a wet tile saw and a rail or snap tile cutter for this. More likely, you will want to use both types of tile-cutting tools. 

A wet tile saw makes precise straight cuts in ceramic, porcelain, and natural stone tiles. By directing a constant flow of water on the tile and blade, the tool keeps down dust, cools the tile, and minimizes (though it doesn't stop) shards from flying.

A rail-style tile cutter is like a glass cutter for tile. After a scoring wheel makes a groove in the tile, the user presses down to snap the tile apart.

Purchase Extra Materials

Always buy the right amount of tile—and then purchase extra tile to account for broken or damaged pieces along the way. You'll need extras for replacing cracked tiles and other future repairs, too.