110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - 110° Magazine - July 2007 - Through the gates of Hell - Index

ABODE [INSTALLING TILE FLOORS]
tip one: Make sure to spread the mortar evenly with a square-notched
trowel covering the entire surface.
The number of tiles you
are going to need is a
function of the room’s
dimension divided by
the size tiles you order.
44 www.110mag.com July 2007
select the grout. Lay a range of swatches showing
grout colors on the tile you have selected and make
your choice.
Determine grout line widths. These can be as small
as a sixteenth of an inch or as large as a half-inch.
One-eighth inch grout lines are the most standard.
2. MEASURE THE AREA AND ORDER
SUPPLIES
Identify the type of material that the tiles will be
placed upon. On the ground floor, the sub-floor might
be a concrete slab. Upper floors will be on a raised
foundation, which are usually made of plywood and
must be covered with a concrete under-layment product
called Hardibacker. These 3-foot by 5-foot backerboards
provide a cement-based, water resistant
substrate equivalent to a cement floor.
Note that if you can crawl under your house you have
a raised foundation under your ground floor, as well.
Measure your square footage according to the
normal length-times-width formula. For example, if
you tell the supplier you’re going to tile a 132 squarefoot
(12 x 11) room with 20-inch tiles, he’ll figure out
how many tiles you will need. Be sure to add ten
percent for waste and measurement errors.
The other thing you need to order is the mortar
required for the tiles. One 25-pound bag will cover
approximately 75 square feet. You would need two
bags, in other words, for your 132 square-foot floor.
tip two: For best results make clean straight cuts using a water saw.
(Keep your fingers out of the way.)
Note that if the sub-floor is a raised foundation, your
requirements for mortar are doubled. Plus you need to
order the materials for the required Hardibacker layer
that you will have to put down first.
The last thing to order is grout. The requirement is
25 pounds of grout for every 200 square feet of tile.
3. PREP THE FLOOR
The amount of preparation varies according to the
current state of the floor. Pull off any linoleum, carpeting,
tax strips, and padding.
Remove all the baseboards.
Remove any utilities or appliances: the toilet from
the bathroom, refrigerator from the kitchen, washers
and dryers from utility rooms, etcetera.
Lay the Hardibacker on the raised foundation.
Spread only enough mortar so that it can be covered
in 15 minutes. Nail each piece down firmly. Tape the
joints with fiberglass-mesh tape.
4. INSTALL THE TILE
Determine the starting point for the first row of tile.
Snap a chalk-line to establish an edge. Do this even
when starting by the walls, since you can’t depend
upon these to be perfectly straight.
Make your starting row at least two tiles wide to
ensure that everything remains square and aligned.
Note that laying the tiles in a diagonal pattern will
require more effort when fitting the tiles to the walls.