Anyone intall their own tile floor?

[InHisName]

Built a house a year ago- it is a "pay as you go" homestead, so we moved in with no flooring. After a year of OSB floors- time to move on. Been looking at tile for easy maintenance- any DIYers that have done this? Need advice, a book, or something. Can we put it over new OSB? What are your experiences? Would go with wood, but it seems more expensive and time consuming for us- we are planning on the 16x16 squares.
Thanks!

[littlebitfarm]

I put it in my bathroom and sunroom. Had to put down concrete backer board in the bathroom, there was too much flex in the OSB. Wasn't too bad to do myself. My advice is don't use white grout, get something with color that will hide the dirt!

Kathie

[deaconjim]

Watch Lowe's for a tile seminar. They do those occasionally and it is a great way to learn how and a good time to ask lots of questions.

[texican]

You're going to have to put something between the osb and any tile installation... I'd check with the tile laying sites first, but I'd've never used osb in the first place... regular plywood, then float the floor with floor leveler.

OSB gets crazy if it gets wet.

Of course, if you're using vinyl type tiles, in a non moisture area, you might get by with just using floor leveler. I wouldn't warranty any work over OSB.

[RedTartan]

I googled and found this for you:

http://tinyurl.com/yrmr4c

It's a series of videos showing step-by-step how to install tile. I haven't watched them myself so I can't speak to how good they may be.

RedTartan

[Macybaby]

You didn't mention if you are refering to ceramic tile or something else. As others have said, if ceramic you will probably need to put something over the OSB (even the high density stuff) before putting down tiles.

We used a special product designed specifically for ceramic tile over the 3/4" sturdifloor. Since we did a remodel, we also made sure the floor was stabilized enough before laying tile.

I'd suggest renting a really good tile cutter. I bought one - about $350. Borrowed a cheap one and decided that would not work. BTW - they throw water all over the place - I ran mine outside.

The other nice tool is a rotozip with ceramic blade. One really good tip is to put the tile on top of scrap sheet rock and just cut through the tile and into the sheetrock. It keeps it supported and does not interfere with the cutting at all.

Here is the floor I laid. My husband does the bulk of the work, but I've always done all the tile work.

This is shows the underlayment.



The finished floor. I also put tiles on the wall where the wood stove will go (the square part). One reason I went diagonal is becuase this is an old house, and I didn't have a square corner to work off of.



This shows the tile baseboard.


The part I hate most is grouting. It's important to only do what you can clean up before things get hard. Also - clean up the grout lines right after the tiles have set up -much easier to clean any extra adhesive out of the groves while it's not rock hard. This was set with thinset mortor, and that gets very hard.

Cathy

[TedH71]

Don't forget after you put down the grout and let it dry...waterproof the whole thing!

[Maura]

Yea! Seal those grout lines! You will need to seal the grout at least twice, but do it a third time just to be sure.

I would be very wary of buying from a big box store. You might save money, but you might not be able to get more of the same when you go back. I bought mine from a floor store. Better quality, and I can order more if I need to. If you are only doing the bathroom, you aren't looking at a lot of tile, so spending a little more for tile isn't so much of a big deal. We also used large tiles, and those little white dividers to help keep it all straight.

[Terri]

Lowes and Home Depot teach classes on this every year. You can call and ask them when the next class on floor tiles will be!

[hotzcatz]

What type of tile are you planning to use and what sort of floor are you putting it over? How big are the floor joists and how much flex is in the floor? If you have wood joists and a wooden floor, then perhaps small tiles would have less chance of cracking than large tiles.

Have you checked your local library for several books on tiling? That would probably have more information about your specific situation than we would be able to give you.

[InHisName]

Macybaby, is that the Mendicino golden brown from home depot tile? (the one I picked out) - it looks exactly like it, if its not! Beautiful! Thanks so much for the info and pictures all. We are doing the whole 1st floor- 1000 sq feetish. Do you need to waterproof the grout with latex in it? Have heard that it is better than regular grout.

[Labrat407]

I would also put down plywood on the floor, and use lots (I mean lots of screws) We just redid our bathroom and it helped a lot with an old floor, to stop creaking and movement.

Careful of the grout type you choose. Go with a color, and make sure it is the right stuff for the thickness of the spacing of the tile.

[Macybaby]

InHisName, We got the tile from Menards, but I wouldn't be suprised if HD carries the same stuff.

The only big mistake I made was not getting enough grout to do the floor and base tiles. DH and I considered putting down a wood baseboard, but changed our minds and went with tile. It is the same stuff just a different shape. But by the time we got around to that (almost a year later) Menards no longer carried the same grout. Got something in as similar a color as we could, but it is a bit lighter. Not easy to tell though.

The other problem is the tile has little holes here and there, and it's very hard to get the grout out of those areas. The lighter grout really showed up more than I like, and in many areas you couldn't tell how bad it was until the grout was dry - and then it's about impossible to deal with.

However, my DH always says no one will ever notice unless I point it out, and he's right.

The biggest thing is to work in small enough areas so you can clean it all up before it gets too hard. Measure your grout so you can get consistant batchs, as different water/powder ratio can affect color. Also keep in mind that it takes way longer to clean the excess grout than to put it down. It's very easy to do too big of an area, and then have it way to hard by the time you get to the last part to be cleaned.

That is about my biggest mistake - I mix up too much and then don't want to toss it, but then I can't get it all cleaned up before it starts setting up to the point that you have to use some serious elbow grease to finish the job.

Cathy

[Collinsfarm]

If you use ceramic tile, be mindful of each tiles actual size. I have found the actual tiles can vary from 1/16" to as much as a 1/4" difference in width. Sooo if you are using the grout spacers and you have irregular tiles, somewhere along the way the grout line will get out of square.

[watcher]

Vinyl tile is much easier. You'll have to put down 'underlayment' which is nothing more than a piece of 3 ply plywood with a very smooth finish over the OSB. Then you seal that. After that its just peel and stick. Cut the tiles with a sharp knife. Look good and most likely will last longer then you'll want to look at the same floor pattern.

[sbin]

I usually put down roofing felt over the OSB then staple wire mesh down with 1/2" or 1" staples.After that trowel latex modified mortar flush over the mesh.A mortar bed is monolithic, the sub floor can expand/contract a little under the tile without cracking it.
Backer board is fine for walls but not a good choice for a larger floor area.

Here is a web site with some pictures that might give you an idea about what I'm talking about.
http://www.ontariotile.com/hardy.html

[HappyPanda71]

I had a house in Mississippi that I put tile floor into, I had no prior experience. I went to lowes they told me everything I needed to do and to buy , was super easy. I was able to complete the job in 2 days but I work very slow, you might be able to get it done alot faster.

[leecofarm]

i did two rooms. did quite well but..... i have a couple of tile that i didn't get enough cement underneath in the middle. so when the dogs walk on it instead of a little chunk it goes ting.
i used the 18 x 18 tile thinking that it would be faster. not sure about that now because it still had to be leveled. each one also weighted a considerable amount more than a smaller size.

[matt_man]

We also put down concrete backer board under the tile. If you don't you will probably wind up with cracked tiles/grout over time. I also second the idea of dark grout to hide the dirt.

Rachel

[retire2$]

Check out John Bridge ceramic tile forum.