Tile laying in the toilet with your own hands

Although installing tiles in a toilet may seem like a difficult undertaking, many do-it-yourselfers can complete the project with the correct supplies and advice. When renovating an old bathroom or building a new one, tiling can significantly enhance the look and use of the area.

It’s important to fully prepare before you start. First, assemble all required supplies and equipment, including grout, spacers, adhesive, tile cutters, and tiles. Make sure the area around your toilet is clean, dry, and clear of any debris or outdated adhesive. A seamless and durable finish are guaranteed by careful preparation.

Precision and patience are essential when installing tiles. Plan your layout beforehand to prevent any awkward cuts or misaligned tiles. To make sure your tiles are even and straight, use a level. It will take careful attention to apply adhesive and set the tiles correctly, but the results will look professional if you take your time.

The finishing touches and grouting complete your tile project. Apply grout between the tiles to hold them in place and give them a polished appearance after the adhesive has dried. After removing any extra grout, let it completely dry. After completing these steps, you’ll have a gorgeously tiled toilet that you can confidently claim to have installed yourself.

Step	Description
1. Preparation	Clean the toilet area and remove any old tiles or debris.
2. Measuring	Measure the area to calculate the number of tiles needed.
3. Cutting Tiles	Cut tiles to fit around fixtures and edges using a tile cutter.
4. Applying Adhesive	Spread tile adhesive on a small section of the floor.
5. Laying Tiles	Place tiles on the adhesive, using spacers to ensure even gaps.
6. Grouting	After the adhesive has dried, apply grout between the tiles.
7. Cleaning	Clean excess grout off the tiles with a damp sponge.
8. Finishing Touches	Seal the grout lines to protect against moisture.

Materials and tools

The following items must be present in the bathroom in order to lay tiles on the walls and floors:

• tiles for walls and gender (the methodology for calculating the amount of ceramics is given in the work “Laying tiles in the bathroom with your own hands”);
• drywall for the device of a false wall;
• Luke in the falsehood;
• gypsum putty;
• tile glue on a cement basis;
• deep penetration;
• fugues (grouts) for seams of two types (for walls and floor separately);
• plastic crosses to regulate the size of the gaps between tiles or SVP (tile leveling system) of Russian, Rubi Tile Level of foreign production;

• silicone-based sealant for sealing joints between the floor and walls;
• metal ceiling profile CD (PP) for the first row of tiles on the wall and arranging lathing for a false wall with a cross-section of 60*27 mm;
• galvanized metal guide profile UD (PN) for a frame under plasterboard (size 28*27 mm);
• self-tapping dowel 6*60 mm (8*80 mm) for attaching the PN profile to the wall;
• “bug” hardware 9 mm long for attaching profiles to each other;
• self-tapping screws (35 mm) for gypsum boards;
• serpyanka – reinforcing tape for strengthening seams between sheets of drywall.

The tiles cannot be laid just because the materials are available. You’ll require a few tools. You have three options: purchase them, rent them, or get them from friends and family. You must have available:

• a metal ladder, preferably a stepladder;
• a hammer drill or electric drill for drilling holes for dowels;
• a screwdriver with a bit for cross-shaped screws and a mixer for stirring putty and glue;
• glass cutter or mechanical (manual) tile cutter (you can use a grinder with a special cutting wheel);

• grinder or hacksaw for cutting profiles;
• a bucket (any capacious container) for stirring solutions;
• primer cuvette;
• roller and paint brush for applying primer;
• building level;
• Master OK;
• a set of spatulas, including a metal spatula with teeth for applying glue;
• soft (rubber or plastic) spatula for grouting joints;

• rubber mallet (mallet);
• roulette;
• pencil;
• soft sponge or rags.

Selection of glue and grout

A lot of amateurs think that selecting tile adhesive is easy. First, the tiles were installed on a cement-sand mortar several decades ago, and the mortar held for many years. Second, retail outlet consultants are available to assist in the event of difficulties. It’s not all that easy, though.

If we look at the first point, then either the quality of the cement has deteriorated or they have forgotten how to properly prepare the solution. However, tiles attached with this type of glue only last for six to seven years before starting to come off one by one. Sadly, it should be mentioned that dishonest vendors occasionally attempt to pass off stale merchandise as high-quality goods. This brings us to our second point.

As a result, you should consider the following factors when selecting an adhesive:

• weight of the tile (for some reason the size is often written in the instructions). Heavy tiles require greater adhesion of the adhesive to the base. Otherwise it will slide. For a wall this figure should be one and a half times higher. The corresponding inscription on the packaging will help you understand the issue;
• operating conditions of the tiled floor (walls): room humidity, temperature, or rather temperature difference, presence of a floor heating system, mechanical loads. Here you need to opt for moisture-resistant mixtures;
• base material – tile adhesive must be compatible with the wall material (concrete, brick, plasterboard, etc.d). Thus, with gypsum and cement plaster, the best adhesion is with universal cement and two-component epoxy adhesives. For a gypsum plasterboard wall you need a dispersion adhesive that has good adhesion, but does not penetrate deeply into the base. If it is not possible to combine a concrete floor with plasterboard walls using glue, you need to select appropriate primers and use them to increase adhesion;
• place of installation. Dry mixtures or ready-made mortar of any class are suitable for walls (it’s cheaper to buy C1), for floors you need C2 glue.

The brands Litokol, Knauf, Vetonit Ultra fix, Ceresit, and Unis Plus are the most worth considering.

A crucial component of the entire technological process is grouting the joints between ceramic tiles, which solves the following problems:

• tile adhesive is protected from moisture penetration through the seams;
• the masonry is strengthened;
• small chips are hidden on the edge, the connecting line between the laid tiles is aligned;
• the appearance of the floor or wall is improved – the correctly selected grout color allows you to effectively shade the color scheme of the finishing material and create a unified composition.

It should be chosen based on the grout’s stated purposes.

1. Sand should not be present in the cement grout for small joints (less than 5 mm). Add sand to those that are wider than 5 mm to stop the solution from spreading. The sand fraction should be higher the wider the seam. When making your own grout, this tip will come in handy.

2. Polymer or epoxy compounds should be chosen when buying ready-made compounds. You can use cement mortar for inexpensive repairs.

3. According to some experts, silicone sealants should be used to seal the seams. It’s best to avoid doing this. These seams nearly always become darker with time.

4. Expensive and exquisite tiles can lose their impact if the grout color is chosen incorrectly. Here, you must adhere to a few basic guidelines:

• grouting to match the color of the tiles is a simple but win-win option. Here, errors are eliminated with any color of the tile, since a single, harmoniously constructed surface is created;

• white grout comes to the rescue when it is difficult to make a final choice. However, it can only be used on walls, as it instantly gets dirty on the floor. In this case, gray color is suitable for the floor;

• transparent, rather translucent, grout with the addition of colors or particles to match metals: gold, bronze, silver, used for mosaics. Looks beautiful and original;

• contrasting grout – can emphasize the color scheme, or can ruin it. It all depends on the taste of the owners. But even here, taste is taste, but there are principles for constructing compositions with different colors. So, for brown tiles, different tones of beige grout are suitable. Yellow tiles can be rubbed red. The main thing is that there are no more than two bright colors. Another important detail: when choosing a contrasting grout for the wall, its color on the floor should be neutral, preferably gray, so that the toilet does not look tacky.

5. Although there is a wide variety of grouts available on the building materials market, many experts favor Ceresit and Knauf.

One satisfying do-it-yourself project that can help you save money and personalize your space is installing tile in your toilet. You can get results that look professional with the correct supplies, equipment, and patience. This post will walk you through every step of the process, from surface preparation and tile selection to cutting, grouting, and laying the tiles to make sure your bathroom makeover is long-lasting and gorgeous.

Preparatory work

The preparatory work in the toilet comes before the tile laying. This requires a lot of work:

• the toilet is freed from old plumbing;
• Old ceramic tiles are removed from the floor and walls using a hammer drill (if the walls are painted, then paint);
• the walls are repaired and then leveled using plaster or gypsum board. The technology for leveling walls is described in detail in the articles “How to level walls in a bathroom” and “How and with what to plaster a bathroom”;

Important to note: the plasterboard beneath the tiles is solely fastened to the frame. Plasterboard and moisture-resistant gypsum fiber sheets adhered to the wall will crumble under the weight of the ceramics.

Instructions for installing a false wall

The owners have a challenging task to complete while doing repairs in the restroom: hiding communications. Here, water resource consumption meters are positioned close to the back wall of the room, along with a riser, eyeliner, and emergency cold and hot water overlapping. It is not possible to build a large wall out of brick or foam blocks in a small space. As a result, GVL, drywall, PVC and MDF panels, and other materials are used. D.

The majority of the aforementioned materials, however, don’t seem to be very popular when used as a screen for different pipes. With the introduction of invisible hatches to the market that allow access to cranes and metering devices, the use of GKL’s tile-trimmed false steering wheel is becoming more and more popular.

The following steps are taken in order to install the screen:

• The height of the wall is measured, as well as the width of the bathroom on the floor and ceiling;
• The guide profile is cut off by a grinder to the dimensions obtained;
• the line of the metal profile is drawn on the floor, walls and ceiling with a pencil or marker;
• a profile is applied to each wall in turn, and then to the floor and ceiling and holes for dowels are drilled through it in 40 cm increments. Before drilling holes in the wall, the verticality of each rack is checked with a plumb line;
• dowels are driven into the holes;
• A damper tape is attached to the base of the guide profiles;
• guides are attached to the wall;
• ceiling profiles are screwed to the guides using “bug” hardware (along the walls, floor, ceiling and two in the middle). Their location can be horizontal or vertical. There is no fundamental difference here. The main thing is that the middle profiles opposite the water consumption meters are located at the width of the invisible hatch when mounted in a vertical position and at its height when mounted horizontally;

• a window under the hatch is formed. To do this, short sections of the PP profile are used to install jumpers between vertical or horizontal risers;
• a hatch is attached to the ceiling profile;
• cutting out plasterboard. It is important here that the plasterboard lies on the profile along the entire perimeter, and in the middle on one half (the other for the second sheet of drywall);
• GKL is attached to the profile, forming a false wall. Drywall is also attached to the hatch;

• drywall joints and recessed heads of hardware are sealed with putty. To strengthen the seams, sickle tape is glued to the first layer of putty.

We recommend that you review the work "How to level walls with plasterboard with your own hands" if you still have questions.

Following the putty’s drying, work is carried out as normal, with a deep penetration primer being applied to the floor and wall surfaces.

By performing this operation, you can improve the tile adhesive’s adherence to the walls and floor’s base. If "Betonokontakt" is not used, the soil is rubbed into the brick and concrete surface until white foam forms, which indicates that the substance is moist.

It is best to apply the first layer in the afternoon so that you can start laying tiles around lunchtime and apply the second layer in the morning since it doesn’t need to dry.

Laying methods

The bathroom’s compact size restricts the amount of tile layout options available in this space. Additionally, they are typically limited to three techniques for the floor and five for the walls. First, let’s examine how to install tiles on a toilet wall.

• Method 1 – basic or standard: ceramics are laid in even rows with a small seam between the tiles at an angle of 90° to the floor. This is the simplest and most economical method due to the minimum number of trimmings. Fewer prunings, less labor intensive.
• Method 2 – diagonal: the tiles are glued in a diamond shape in relation to the floor, resulting in the seams being a diagonal at an angle of 45 o . The method is complex and time-consuming. If there are tiles of several colors on the wall, it is advisable to draw up a layout diagram in advance so as not to get confused during the work.
• Method 3 – with offset or “staggered”. This method imitates brickwork, when the tiles of the top row are glued in the middle to the connecting seam of the two lower tiles. For example, if the first row began to be laid with a whole tile, then all odd rows should start with a whole tile, but the second and all even rows should start with half a tile. There is a lot of trimming here, but the material consumption is minimal.

• Method 4 – chessboard, when two colors of tiles are laid alternately in the standard way, in the form of a chessboard.

Method 5 – “kaleidoscope”. In this version, a complex geometric or chaotic pattern is laid out from tiles of different colors. The method is based on a basic or diagonal layout.

A little trickier on the ground. The toilet’s compact space sets its own regulations. As a result, we will discuss how to install tiles in the toilet separately.

Immediately, it should be noted that there are only three ways to lay tiles on a floor: offset, diagonal, and basic. The most expensive and labor-intensive layout is the basic one, where 30–40% of the tiles are used excessively. This is because asymmetrical layouts don’t look good in cramped spaces.

Trimming the tiles all the way around the perimeter is also necessary for symmetry. Let me clarify. On the floor, vertical and horizontal lines are drawn precisely in the center of the space. The first tile is placed in the middle of their intersection without the use of glue. Entire tiles are arranged from it to the distant wall, leaving space for the seam. The latter’s location is indicated. The question of where to begin laying tiles is resolved by these actions. from the location indicated.

We mention in passing that the principle of symmetry applies in the same manner to large-area walls.

The diagonal method is cost-effective but labor-intensive. It is noted that the rate of tile consumption is not higher than 15%. The least amount of trimming is needed for the toilet floor’s staggered installation. Thus, lower labor intensity and lower material consumption.

Installation instructions

Expert builders start cladding toilets in a variety of ways: some from the walls, some from the floor.

If the owner performs all of the repairs themselves, it is best to begin with the walls because a dropped tool could cause a chip in the tile’s surface, and a dropped tile could result in a broken floor.

On the wall

The wall tiles have an inclination to slide down all the time, unlike the floor. As a result, the first row needs to be applied precisely evenly and firmly. Different types of seam defects almost always occur when one of the conditions is not met. Problems can be avoided with a ceiling profile fastened with screws.

In this instance, the tasks are completed in the order listed below:

• the joints between the walls and the floor are sealed with silicone sealant (an additional barrier is created on the way of water downwards);
• Using a level and a thread, find the lowest corner of the floor base. Given the small area of ​​the toilet as a basis, you can take any angle, since a significant height difference here, in principle, cannot be. Otherwise, it would be visually visible;
• roulette or ruler (you can simply put the tile on the floor) marks the height of the tile. 3-5 mm is added to it (depending on the size of the purchased plastic crosses);
• Through the set point around the perimeter of the walls, the horizon is drawn;
• A ceiling profile (PP) is applied to the drawn line of the upper edge to the wall;

• The level of it is once again checked by its horizontal;
• an electric drill or a perforator with a step of 60 cm in the wall through the metal metal of the profile is drilled for dowel-samers;
• The profile around the entire perimeter is attached to the wall;
• work starts from the door and go from left to right around the perimeter of the walls (for right -handed ones);
• an adhesive solution the size of one or two tiles is applied to the wall with a spatula;
• ridges are created using a notched trowel (thanks to them, when pressing the ceramic into the glue, it does not protrude through the seams);
• apply the facing element to the wall, and using a pressing force with translational up-and-down movements of small amplitude bring it to the required position;
• plastic crosses or SVP elements are placed;

• glue the second tile, after which they begin to form the plane of the future finish using a mallet and a level or a tile leveling system;

• in the corners of the tile edges are either cut at an angle of 45 o, which is long and difficult, or they overlap each other. Touching the ribs is prohibited;

• As the tiles are laid, holes for pipes or sockets are immediately cut using a hammer drill with special crowns;
• after the bottom laid row has dried, the profile is removed and the tiles of the first row are glued. To prevent it from falling, it is attached to the second row with tape.

On the floor

How should tiles be installed on the floor of the toilet? The floor can be tiled using the same method that is used for the walls. The work only begins at the central tile close to the far wall, not at the far corner. The sheer quantity of cuts is the only challenge. Using a tile cutter is preferable as employing a glass cutter can cause significant delays in the task.

Finishing work

The exposed seams between ceramic-tiled floors and walls give the material an ugly appearance. The final touch is their sealing. When the glue has fully dried, which is at least two days after laying, the seams can be filled.

A thin solution flows from the seams, while a thick solution is unevenly and poorly rubbed in.The grout is diluted until it resembles thick sour cream, thick enough for a spoon to stand in. Using a rubber or plastic spatula, rub the grout in between the tiles. In a single pass, an area of about 3 m2 is processed. The procedure is easy to follow:

• plastic crosses are removed;
• stir the grout solution (if the fugue was purchased dry);
• use a spatula to scoop up the solution;
• the composition is applied across the seam;

• the final rubbing is carried out by passing a spatula along the seam, holding it at an angle of about 30 o .

It is not necessary to apply strong pressure with the spatula against the wall. A mediocre effort will do.

Since a wet rag or sponge leaves behind stains that are difficult to remove, any remaining grout traces on the tiles should be removed using a dry rag. The filled seams are closely examined three to four hours after the work is finished. Using your fingers, rub the grout in the areas where the fugue failed or gaps were made. Next, a foam-based sponge is used to sand the seams.

Prior to grouting the floor, the walls must be completed. Silicone sealant is applied to all joints and corners where walls and floors meet.

Laying nuances

When it comes to tiling a toilet, master tilers have a few little secrets.

• There is no difference between laying tiles in a toilet on drywall and concrete (brick). The technology is the same.
• The toilet is installed on already laid tiles.

• Jointing should only be done on a clean tile surface. Adhesive protruding from the seams must be removed.
• Minimum seam size – 2 mm.
• The height of laying tiles on walls may vary. Here the golden ratio rule practically does not work due to the small area. What is perceived visually on large walls is seen completely differently on small ones. Therefore, here, first of all, everything is determined by finances, secondly by the taste of the owners.
• In order to save money, tiled flooring can be laid in an asymmetrical way, when trimming is carried out only from the side of one wall. However, cheap and fast does not mean beautiful and stylish.
• When laying diagonally, work begins from the far left corner of the toilet.

To wrap up the discussion of potential marriages while working. "Laying tiles in the bathroom with your own hands" takes into account all new scenarios.

DIY tile installation for your toilet can be a satisfying and economical project. You can revamp your area and give it a brand-new appearance with the correct supplies and a little perseverance. It’s crucial to take your time and pay close attention to every detail, from surface preparation to tile grouting.

Plan your layout and gather all the materials you’ll need first. This will assist you in avoiding errors and guarantee a polished outcome. Never forget to measure twice and cut once, and take your time. A good result depends on careful planning, which includes surface cleaning and leveling.

Use spacers as you start to lay the tiles to maintain even lines and a consistent appearance. Evenly apply adhesive, then firmly press the tiles into position. Before applying grout, let the tiles dry after they have set. To guarantee a smooth finish and prevent gaps, take your time when grouting.

Lastly, thoroughly clean the tiles to get rid of any extra grout, then take pride in your work. You can install gorgeous, long-lasting tiles in your toilet with careful planning and attention to detail. Savor the satisfaction that comes from finishing the project on your own and saving money on labor.

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