Find a Tiler you can trust in Harpenden.

Are you interested in fitting tiles in your home or office? If yes, then you’d probably want to know the total cost of getting the project over the line. And being fully aware every job is unique, having a cost per square metre to work with will give you a more accurate price estimation for the overall project. 

First and foremost, the cost of a tiler depends on a wide range of factors such as the type of floor tiles and the size of the area. The cheapest of them all is the vinyl tiles which can be easily cut through and waterproof when properly sealed. As a result, making them a better fit for bathroom floors. Other kinds of tiles include ceramic tiles, mosaic tiles, quarry tiles and porcelain tiles. Each of the types have their own unique qualities including the quarry tiles’ durability and the afore-mentioned vinyl tiles’ waterproof qualities.

Having in mind that the major part of your tiles cost largely depends on the size of the area and the type of tile selected, you can then go ahead to contact your preferred tiling professional for an installation quote. The average price of bathroom tiles installation ranges about £20 to £25 per square metre. Meanwhile for a kitchen floor tiling project, the cost should range between £20 to £50 per square metre.

Finding a tiling professional you can rely on to complete your project and deliver a top quality job while also offering a very competitive price can be almost impossible. The professional you use greatly determines the price of your tiling effort, so there’s the need to review various professionals before making a decision.

Kitchen fitters are often trained carpenters and not all will offer tiling but many will know a tiler that they have worked with in the past. If you are looking to get your kitchen retiled without fitting a new kitchen when it's worth talking to tilers directly to get a range of prices.

It's useful to know in advance what tiles you like, a visit to your local tile store and either pick up a brochure or take some photos. It's probably better not to purchase the tiles at this moment though as often your appointed tiler may be able to get you a better price for the tiles or recommend alternatives. 

Tiling a kitchen wall can seem like an easy task until you get started. Errors made will forever be evident for everyone to see unless you’re prepared to spend some extra bucks. When done right, it can actually be a very satisfying project, but don’t even think about rushing into it. If you lack a proper training or experience, it’s advisable to leave the task to a skilled professional for the best results and to avoid extra costs. This guide is meant to give you a detailed insight into the process and help you avoid possible errors.

• Preparation

✓ Ensure you have the required amount of tiles, adhesive and grout.

✓ Take the tiles measurement and calculate in square metres.

✓ Determine the number of tiles to be used and add about 10% to the total number to cover for possible wastage.

✓ Check to surface to make sure its clean and dry.

• Mark Out The Area To Be Tiled

✓ Mark out the width of the tiles with spacers using a baton of timber.

✓ Position a tile against the bottom-most point and draw a line.

✓ Put a baton along this line and follow this by a vertical line at the wall’s end.

• Install The Tiles On The Kitchen Walls

✓ Apply an even layer of adhesive with a wall trowel on the kitchen’s wall surface.

✓ Place the first tile on the adhesive and apply small pressure, do this for the remaining tiles with similar pressure to ensure its levelled.

✓ Make use of tile spacers to get a uniform space in between.

✓ Leave the adhesive to harden before applying the grout.

• Grouting

✓ Remove the tile space and clear out excess adhesive

✓ Prepare the grout

✓ Make use of a grout float to apply the mixture into the joints.

✓ Let the grout dry up a bit before washing the surface off with a sponge and water.

How To Lay Wall Tiles

Laying of wall tiles is a task that should be done with great caution, especially if you’re working on a tight budget. It is guided by its own unique set of rules which you do not dare to break if you wish to get it right the first time, and also to avoid incurring some additional costs. If you do not have a proper training or experience, laying of wall tiles is better left to a skilled professional for the best possible outcome. However, this guide will walk you through the various steps in the process to help improve your knowledge. Let’s get started!

lPrepare The Wall Surface

• Make sure the surface is clean, dry and smooth

• In wet areas, wall tiles should be fitted over a backer board

• If it’s a painted wall, ensure to sand the surface before installation.

lCreate The Layout

• Locate the centre of the wall

• Create an intersecting vertical and horizontal layout lines using a level

• Ensure to include spaces for grout joints when creating the layout.

lApply The Adhesive

• For wet areas, makes use of thin-set adhesive that’s cement-based.

• For dry areas, you can use pre-mixed mastic adhesive

• Follow the manufacturer’s instruction to prepare the adhesive

• Using a notched trowel, apply the adhesive (hold the trowel at about 45 degrees angle)

• Ensure not to cover the layout lines with the adhesive

lInstall The Tiles

• Follow the layout lines to install the wall tiles

• Place the full tiles firmly on the adhesive and twist slight and gently to make them fit.

• Use tile spacers to ensure constant gaps for grout joints.

lCut The Tiles

• After installation of the full tiles, there’ll most likely be a need to cut some tiles to fit.

• Cut the tiles with a wet saw or manual tile cutter

lGrout The Tile

• Ensure the adhesive is well dried and remove the tile spacers.

• Prepare the grout as instructed by the manufacturer.

• Use a rubber gloat to apply the grout.

• Remove the excess grout from the tile surfaces

• Wipe the tiles and joints gently using a grout sponge and clean water.

Kitchen floor tiles are a very popular choice for several reasons. They’re durable, visually appealing, resistant to moisture and stain and also relatively easy to maintain and install especially when compare to wall tiles. This is a task that can be done by any competent DIYer but requires a lot of patience as well as confidence. If you lack these attributes, then we’d recommend that you hire a professional floor tiler who can guarantee the best results the first time. In this article we’ll take you through the kitchen floor tiling process. Let’s get started!

• Prepare The Subfloor

✓ Ensure the subfloor is very secure to support both the tile and the people working across it.

✓ If necessary, you can strengthen the kitchen floor with the help of a vinyl, heavy felt or any other good backer board.

✓ After successfully securing the floor, proceed to clear out all dust and dirt.

• Mix The Mortar

✓ Mix a thinset mortar be referring to the instructions on the package. ( Mix only the quantity you can apply within 30 minutes).

✓ Once the mixture looks similar to the thickness of mayonnaise, allow it to rest for about 10 minutes before application.

• Apply The Mortar

✓ Apply a thin layer of mortar

✓ Do not cover extensive areas as the mortar can become very dry.

✓ Spread the mortar with a trowel in curved patterns to make it flat on the floor.

• Set The Tile

✓ Set down the tile slowly, apply a little pressure until its holds firmly to the surface. ( Apply a consistent amount of pressure throughout to ensure equal heights for all the tiles)

✓ Continue with the process until all full tiles are well positioned

• Cut The Tiles

✓ Once all the full tile pieces are in place, start cutting to cover the edges requiring smaller tile pieces.

✓ Take accurate measurements of the outer edges needing smaller tile pieces.

✓ Cut the tile pieces to fit the measurement taken with the help of a wet saw or hand tile cutter.

• Grouting

✓ Remove all spacers and mortar residues and lay the grout

✓ Apply the grout along the tiles’ seams with a grout float

✓ Clean out excess grout with a damp sponge after leaving it to dry for about 30 minutes

✓ Once the grout is fully dried, apply the sealer (the drying process normally takes within 3 to 4 days).

Are Floor Tiles Expensive?

Are you considering installing floor tiles in your home or office? Just like many other home and property owners, this is one of the many questions that first pops up. Floor tiles can add colour and texture to your living space and comes in various shapes and sizes. The cost of floor tiles depends on a wide range of factors such as the type of floor tiles as well as the quality. The cheapest of them all is the vinyl tiles which can be easily cut through and waterproof when properly sealed. As a result, making them a better fit for bathroom floors. Other kinds of tiles include ceramic tiles, mosaic tiles, quarry tiles and porcelain tiles. Each of the types have their own unique qualities including the quarry tiles’ durability and the afore-mentioned vinyl tiles’ waterproof qualities.

Having in mind that the major part of your floor tiles cost largely depends on the type selected, you can then go ahead to contact your preferred tiling professional for an installation only quote ( this can go a long way to help control the overall cost). The quote provided will, of course, be based on the room’s size as well as your preferred choice of tiles. The average price of bathroom floor tiles installation ranges about £20 to £25 per square metre. Meanwhile for a kitchen floor tiling project of about 8 square metres in size, the cost should range between £500 to £600 ( this quote includes both installation cost and all the materials included).

Finding a tiling professional you can rely on to complete your project and delivery a top quality job while also offering a very competitive price can be almost impossible. The professional you use greatly determines the price of your floor tiling effort, so there’s the need to review various professionals before making a decision.

How To Take Tiles Off A Wall

The bonding agent or adhesive usually incorporated to hold a tile against the wall are always very strong or else you’ll find your tiles peeling off. As a result, to have them removed is not the easiest of tasks and bashing them with a hammer, will only have them broken leaving you with the task of having to scrape off the pieces. A better and much easier approach to removing tiles from a wall will be to pry them off one after the other. So how do you go about this? Let’s have a look!

lSafety First, Then Remove The First Tile

• Wear a protective eye goggle and gloves.

• Break up the grout around a tile located atthe wall’s centre using a putty knife and hammer.

• Place the putty knife under the the tile and gently it with the hammer.

lRemove The Remaining Tiles

• By tapping and prying using the tools - hammer and putty knife, wipe off all the tiles in the vertical row.

• Once done, continue to detaching the tiles in the adjacent rows until you’re able to open a wallboard section that’s around 12 inches wide and does not obstruct a stud.

• Use a keyhole blade to poke it through the wallboard.

• With the help of a reciprocating saw, cut out the wallboard’s section.

lCut The Fasteners

• Using a metal-cutting blade, cut te wallboard-holding fasteners. Make sure the fasteners holding the wallboard to the top and bottom plates of the wall are both detached.

lRemove All Wallboard Sections

• Using a similar approach, gently remove the other sections of the wallboard.

• Once completed, you can easily sweep the tiles’ broken pieces.

• Finally, vaccum the grout dust to ensure the work is neatly done.

If you lack a proper training or experience, taking off your tiles from a wall is best left to a skilled professional for the best results and to prevent potential damages which can lead to additional costs.

How To Tile An Uneven Wall

Do you know it’s almost impossible to find a wall in any home that’s fully flat and vertical? Just like floors, walls also have areas of imperfection or where they’re a bit uneven. When it comes to tiling, these are the problematic areas in which you must work around and identify how to solve to achieve a perfect finish. If not, you may as well just have the tiles sticking out and making room for moisture to creep in affecting the longevity of your project.

There a variety of options to tackle an uneven wall surface and one of the best is plastering. To make sure the surface of your wall is even, a great step would be to plaster it. Plastering of a wall can be a very simple task, however, if you lack proper training or experience, you might want to consider getting a skilled professional to handle the project for you. Making sure the surface of your wall is even is a crucial step in the tile installation process and can be quite tricky on your first trial.

Uneven wall is usually as a result of two major factors - sagging of the wall over time and the wall’s surface is not completely flat. To solve this, you’d have to detach the boards. Then, attach a new board and re-skim the walls to create a new flat and even surface you can work on. For small imperfections and dips, simply use an adhesive cement to fill in the gaps in the plaster. This approach is perfect for holes and ding with a depth that’s not more than half a centimetre. When the cement is totally dry, you can sand it to achieve a flat finish. Happy Tiling!