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Laying Ceramic tiles

The Key to laying ceramic tiles is that they must be laid on a flat surface. Ceramic tiles no matter what type all take compressive loads well. However they do not bend as this will lead to cracking every time.

Wall tiles:

The wall must be flat as possible to receive a flat tile. Also if the wall has been painted it is best to sore the surface well so the glue will have a key to hold on to. If this is not done it is possible the paint will fail and thus the tiles will start to fall off. The best surfaces to tile on to are cement backer board (fibre cement sheeting), cement render, plasterboard and concrete. Tiles are made to precise measurements and thus must be laid on a level surface. Some common examples of this would be a kitchen splash back and bathroom walls.

Kitchen Splash back:

The kitchen is installed first and the level bench top is used to tile up the wall to form a kitchen splash back. Starting level and staying level is the key to a quality job. If this is not done you will chase the tile level all the way up the wall and will result in a tile job with excessive gaps.

Bathroom walls:

It is common to use level timber battens that are installed right around the room so that the first tile is flat and level. Then you tile up the wall and remove the batten the next day and then cut a tile to fit in between the floor and the first tile.

Floor tiles:

Floor tiles just like walls need to be laid on a level surface to ensure a good result. The sub floor (the surface you tile on) must have a level plane. This means you can still slope the tiles to a drain but the sub floor that is sloping must be flat. If the tiles are not laid on a flat surface or are laid on a surface with highs and lows greater than .5 of an mm there will be excessive lippage. Lippage is a term that describes the edges of the tile that protrudes above the tile that it is laid next to. Excess lippage means that one or more tiles are sticking up and you would trip on the edge of the tile.

Bathroom:

Bathroom floor tiling needs a slight slope for water runoff. This means the cement under the tiles will need a slight slope and still be as flat as possible. The larger the ceramic tiles the more critical this becomes.

General floor ceramic floor tiling:

The same applies to ceramic tiling for general floor tiling the surface must be flat and strong. If the sub floor has flex the tiles and or grout will crack.