Hello Bigger Pockets family 

I have finally finished my 520 sqft tiling project. I would like to share with you all some tips that I have learned along the way. Hopefully this will help you not make the mistakes I made. So first let me set the stage. I am converting my downstairs into a one bedroom apartment complete with two entrances and a laundry area. i wanted to have one flooring choice throughout the whole space with no thresholds in the doorways. my only options that seemed practical were vinyl and porcelain  tile. I ultimately went with tile because although lazy I am also forward thinking.  I realized the tile floor while being the most labor intensive and potentially the most expensive to install. It would also be the least costly in the long term due to the durability.  Not to mention tile and wood flooring increase a homes value. 

I opted for a 24 inch plank wood look tile. the particular item i chose was called redwood from home depot this floor really does resemble wood even close up. having the 24 inch size allowed enough length to look like the real thing.  Enough of the set up lets get to the tips.

Many days where I wished i had chosen an easier floor choice like peel and stick vinyl. Which by the way is not a bad option for a bathroom (but that is another thread) So the first thing I must discuss is patience which is really the only way to get through this process. Especially if you are choosing to lay so much tile.  If you have never done tiling I would not recommend such a big project to start. out. I did two bathrooms and a countertop, before I tackled this job. and even so I was out of my element. 

you can find countless books on tiling, so i will not go into what you need. 

but I will recommend if you are doing a very large job using a scoring tile cutter along with a wet saw comes in handy. also a 1/2 inch drill is essential so that you can mix your thinset. some sort of multi max multi mate or or other oscillating tool with a diamond attachment.  

Tip one get a helper preferably one who is a pro. 

After laying 255 sqft of tile I hit a wall (meaning I couldnt go any further I mentally shut down)  I was going to just carpet the bedroom instead of wrestling with more tile. That is when my contractor said if I help him by mixing the thinset and cutting the tile he would finish the remaining rooms for 500.00

I learned a ton from him.  So my advice to you beginners is try to get a similar situation. if you have three rooms you would like to tile perhaps hire someone to lay tile in one room with a little discount if you function as laborer.  tell him you will cut all the tile for him and change the water. this will considerably lessen his time. and therefore cut your price.  but even if you do not manage to reduce the price being an assistant will allow you first hand how to do this tile thing. once that one room is complete you may be ready to try your hand at the other two rooms.

Tip Two be clean. 

cleanliness is very important. Make sure your room is swept as clean as you can get it. brooms are fine for the big stuff but you want one of those handheld brooms with softish bristles they really get all the dirt up.  nails from carpet tack strips pebbles all need to come up the floor needs to be as clean as you can get it. 

tip three keep a level head. 

fix low spots with a  floor leveling product. which you basically mix and spread out on the floor. this works when you have low spots. If you have high spots, a concrete removal tool such as an angle grinder witha  diamond wheel is an option.  this thing is very aggressive kicks up a lot of dust and is not for the faint of heart. a cold chisel and hammer work very well you just sit on the floor and with chisel in hand begin to chip away at the mound.  you are not chipping into it mind you.  you are chipping across the top skimming it using angles of 22 or 45 degrees.  what you are looking to do is flake off little chunks. with a little bit of practice you can really master this ancient stone cutter technique. I had so much fun doing this part of the job I started looking for other rocks to chip away at.  

once your floor is level its time to begin. your very first course of tile is very important/

I did not really understand all the books methodology of measuring and finding the square etc. what I did is laid one or two courses without thinset but with spacers.

once I was confident that these were straight I laid the next tile next to them. 

point to note when laying the first cemented row of tile next to the trial run be sure not to push the the trial row out of position or you will end up being crooked. 

tip four get the right consistecy 

do not mix too much at once. for a beginner perhaps 1/4 of a bag then try 1/2 bag. My contractor was only doing 1/2 a bag at a time.  consistency of the thinset. essentially it should be like tooth paste. this allows it to plop down on the floor without spreading on its own you can put it where you want it without it creeping. read the bag it will tell you how to mix it.  always put water in the bucket first add the thinset powder on top of it. put the drill paddle to the very bottom of the bucket and mix. do this until thoroughly mixed about 4 min and then let it sit for a few minutes and mix again for another 30 sec to a min

I prefer mixing as opposed to purchasing ready mix. first of all the ready mix is more expensive and to me it is much harder to handle. 

tip 5 organize your work area.

preparing the area.  have most of your tile that you will need. nearby unboxed and spread out behind or beside you.  

lay out your tile in a trial run first without cementing it . 

This is important because you can now do all of your cuts before cementing.  It may seem like more work to lay the tile twice. but the elimination of having to pull up tile or trying to do cuts while your thinset is drying will  be worth the extra effort. 

Finally the art of laying tile. 

using a putty knife scoop out your blobs of thinset and spread it over a small workable area.  first with the flat edge then with the tooth edge. this scored thinset is what allows you to more or less level the tile with the adjacent tile. 

I tended to use a mallet to settle the tile level  this pushed thinset up through the spaces making it necessary to clean with a sponge. 

My contractor placed the tile with one corner first and allowed it to gently drop into place moving it back and forth gently massaging it into place.

both methods work 

let me wrap this up. 

if you are laying a long flooring tile . you will sometimes find that the tile may rock when putting it down meaning one side is too high the other side is too low. my solution was to add thinset to the low side this sometimes made the tile uneven with the adjacent tile. 

my contractors solution was to cut the tile at that point of the rocking. so that now two pieces of were  on either side of the high point. this method proved effective although shortening the tile considerably. so this is a method to be used sparingly and only when necessary. 

all in all my floor came out very good both the floors my contractor did and the flooring i did. there are more tips but I see this is becoming way too long to sit and read. 

If there are any questions please ask away I will be happy to pass along both things I learned from trial and error and what I learned from my contractor.