How to lay tiles on a wall: choice, layout, laying technology, photo, video

Repair in the bathroom is rarely complete without replacing the tiles, especially if it has already served for 10-20 years. But, as usual, the question arises: hire a master or do everything yourself. If you have a proven, tried and tested tiler in mind and a certain amount (usually they ask for the same amount of work as the materials cost), you can hire. Otherwise, try laying the tiles yourself. If the walls are at least relatively even, everything should do without much difficulty. But just before laying the tiles on the wall, carefully study the technology. 

It starts, as usual, with the choice of tiles. Just pay attention not only to her external data. You will definitely need to check its geometry, otherwise it will be difficult to work with it. If you are laying tiles for the first time, any curvature will greatly complicate the task. So let’s check:

• How flat is the face. Often the tile has a concave or convex surface. If the discrepancy is small – in the region of 1 mm, this will not be noticeable, but when checking verticality or horizontality already on the wall, it can become a problem. The choice is yours: look for the perfect surface (these are usually imported collections) or adapt to what is available.
  

• Check corners. They must be 90°. If this is not the case, it is advisable to refuse the purchase: it will be very difficult to exhibit it. But again, the choice is yours.
• Check how the thickness of different tiles is the same. The difference will be exact. These are features of the technology, but it is desirable that the discrepancies be minimal. Certainly not more than 1 mm, although 2 mm is allowed by standards. But with such a tile you are tormented.
• You need to check how much the height and width match. Take a few pieces and apply. Here there should be no differences. Otherwise, how do you get the same seams?

From experience it is worth saying that the ideal parameters are extremely difficult to find. If you like it externally, there are no cobwebs of cracks or glaze defects on the surface, the edges are even, the dimensions are the same, you can take it despite some non-linearity (first point). Otherwise, you’ll be tired of running around the shops. What you should not do is to take a tile “to order”. How can you control its quality if you already pay for it. Take only what you hold in your hands.

What is the tile on?

Previously, tiles were laid on a cement-sand mixture, to which PVA glue or Bustilat was added. You can, of course, do this, but it will be more difficult to work. For more comfortable work, use ready-made compositions, they are also called “tile glue” for the fact that the composition contains adhesive components, therefore it is sometimes said that tiles are “glued” to the walls. Compositions are of two types:

• in buckets – mastics, ready for use;
• in bags – dry mixes that require dilution with water.

Professionals mainly use dry mixes. If necessary, they can correct an imperfect wall by making the layer a little thicker or thinner. Another plus: they retain plasticity longer, which allows you to make adjustments some more time later. They work with mastic on an ideal wall and there can be no deviations here: the layer is too thin.

When choosing a tile adhesive, you can choose it for specific tasks. So there are compositions in which there are additives that increase the water-repellent properties of a wall or floor. This is important in the kitchen and bathroom. There are frost-resistant, it will come in handy if you put it in an unheated room or on the street. You can find glue that has bactericidal properties: it will not allow fungi and mold to develop, which is in demand in wet rooms.

Preparatory work

Before laying the tiles on the wall, a number of preparatory activities are carried out. This is a long and unpleasant process, but it is highly undesirable to skip it: not every master, not to mention beginners, can normally lay tiles on uneven unprepared walls.

Leveling the surface

First of all, the old coating is removed from the walls and what can fall off. If there are greasy stains, they are removed, or they simply cut off part of the plaster along with the absorbed oil. The walls are tapped with a wooden mallet, determining by the sound whether there are voids. They occur if the plaster has peeled off, but has not yet blown out. If you stick a tile on such an area, everything will collapse under its weight. Therefore, you cover all such places yourself.

A flat bar is applied to the cleaned base and it is estimated how smooth or curved the walls are. If the surface of the wall is strongly convex or curved, it is better to correct everything with plaster to the level. Then laying tiles on the wall will be very simple. If the walls are relatively even, only too large indents are leveled: irregularities (protrusions or pits) that are more than 5 mm. The protrusions need to be cut off, the pits should be filled with a plaster mixture, the cracks should be widened, moistened and also covered with plaster.

Let’s prime

It is desirable to treat the prepared wall with a primer. Best suited for these purposes is “Betonokontakt” or another composition with similar characteristics. It penetrates a sufficiently large thickness deep into the wall, binding all the particles. After drying, the surface becomes rough, tile adhesive is very well “molded” to it.

How to start

There are several possible starting points. If it’s quite simple, you can lay out the first row immediately from the corner, I’m guided along the floor line. But the first row will become even and without problems only if the floor is perfectly flat, without any deviations. Otherwise, you will cut the tiles to somehow get vertical seams. As a result of these trimmings, the second and all subsequent rows can “walk”. The work will be very hard and unpleasant. Therefore, it is better to spend time and mark the wall by finding the “start” points.

Wall marking

If you don’t really care about the small pieces of tiles that you have to put in the corners and at the top, under the ceiling, you can skip this step. But if you want the whole tile to lie symmetrically, before laying the tiles on the wall, you will have to do the layout:

• Find the middle of the wall. You can even draw a vertical line to some height.
• Relative to it, lay out the tiles. The middle can have a seam or the middle of a tile. Depends on how many pieces (whole) fit on the wall. To find out, first add the thickness of the seam to the width of the tile, then divide the length of the wall by the resulting figure. Find how many whole pieces will “lie down” on the wall. If the number is odd, put the center of the tile in the middle of the wall, if it is odd, the seam will be located on the marked line.
  

• Relative to this center, arrange (lay out on the floor) tiles on both sides, placing crosses between adjacent ones, which will mark the width of the seam.
• There is usually empty space around the edges. You freeze it. To this size, you will need to cut the extreme tiles. In theory, both right and left should be the same. If the discrepancy is large, recheck the installation. After everything matches, you can mark these boundaries on the wall with a clear line. We carry out from one side and the other. At these marks, the lighthouse tiles are then installed.

If it turned out that only narrow strips remain at both ends, it is advisable to redo the layout. If the middle was located in the center of the wall, try to expand from the seam, and vice versa. Should come out better.

With the placement of tiles in height, the situation is slightly different. In some cases, the seam is made at a certain level. In a bathroom, this is often the edge of an installed bathtub. If there are no such requirements, you can do the same: find the center, position (draw on the wall) the position of the tiles relative to it. Thus, you will find how you will need to cut the tiles of the upper and lower rows.

Vertically, you can arrange in another way: mark the first tile from the ceiling, and so on to the bottom. In this case, only the bottom row will have to be cut. This is not entirely correct, but the consumption of tiles is slightly less.

In any case, when calculating how to lay the tiles on the wall, mark the level where the first row ends. It usually serves as a starting point. This is where the tiling begins.

Start line

According to the results of the layout, you have a line where the first row ends. Here at this height they nail a flat bar. Leaning a tile on it, they put up the starting row, and all subsequent ones on it. The first row is installed last, in which the tile will have to be cut.

Profiles for working with drywall are usually used as a support bar, but a flat dry bar can also be used. At a given height, it is attached to the wall with self-tapping screws or dowels (depending on the wall material). In order for laying tiles on the wall with your own hands without problems, you need to fasten it often enough: so that there is no sagging. Be sure to check the horizontal position of its installation. Even the slightest deviation should not be.

How to tile on a wall

The technology of laying tiles on the wall is simple. It consists of several simple steps:

• Tile adhesive is applied to the wall with a wide spatula, the excess is removed.
• A layer approximately 3 mm thick is applied to the tile, leveled more or less evenly, making sure that the edges are smeared.
  

  

• The excess is removed with a notched trowel.
  

  

• The tile with applied glue is installed on the wall, pressed a little.
• Aligned by level or beacon tiles.
  

  

• Excess glue is removed, the surface is wiped with a damp sponge (it is difficult to wash the dried composition).
• Crosses are placed between two tiles. As you can see in the photo, there are two ways, and sometimes they are also combined: five pieces are placed at one intersection: in the middle and in each seam. One moment. Crosses should not be in the seam for too long: they will stick and it will be difficult to pick them out. Half an hour after installation, they are removed. By this time, the glue will already begin to set and the tiles will not “float”.
  

  

This is all. Further, all actions are repeated. There are, of course, different points that still need to be clarified – how to cut tiles, how to decorate corners, but the main steps are described.

A few points about the whole process. First, in the marked places on the installed plank, the extreme whole tiles (those that do not need to be cut) are glued. When laying out, you marked their position. It is very important to set them correctly. To do this, each is checked by a level in the vertical and horizontal planes. If the tile geometry is perfect, you can also check the verticality / horizontality at the edges. Then they take a long level or an even bar with a shorter level and check how evenly one beacon bar is set relative to the other. They must be in the same plane. Then, with the help of this bar, they control whether each next tile is correctly set.

Description is one thing, but seeing everything with your own eyes is another. The video demonstrates the technology, after watching, you will understand exactly how to lay tiles on the wall.

The thickness of the adhesive on the wall

For those who are laying tiles on a wall for the first time, there may be questions about how thick a layer of glue is needed. This value depends on how smooth the walls are. If they are perfect, you can apply the minimum layer allowed in the instructions for the composition. If the walls are only relatively even, the “starting” layer can be 3-4 mm. Further, as necessary, it can slightly decrease or increase, correcting the unevenness of the wall.

There are several techniques for laying ceramic tiles. Not always glue is applied to both the tile and the wall. Some masters apply the composition only to the wall, others only to the tile, someone recommends dipping it in water before applying the glue, others do not. Choose the option that seems more correct to you. But it is more convenient for beginner tilers when the solution is both on the wall and on the tile: it is easier to move and level it.

Manufacturers of tile adhesive advise applying it to the wall, removing excess with a notched trowel, but this means a perfectly even base. Based on these recommendations, the cost of laying one square is calculated.

With another technique, the consumption increases by 50% or even 100%, since the wall has to be adjusted. But it is definitely worth listening to the prescribed dimensions of the spatula teeth.

How to cut tiles

There are several ways. For small volumes and not very thick tiles, a manual tile cutter is suitable. This is a device consisting of a platform on which tiles are laid. Overlays are attached to the platform, along which the cutter moves. The cutting torch moves with the help of the handle, ripping up a strong covering. On the same handle, a stop is usually installed, with which the tile is broken along the line drawn by the cutter.

Another way is with a grinder, but it is very noisy and dusty. In addition, it will not work to make a perfectly even cut, but it will go in an emergency.

If necessary, round holes are cut out using a crown of a suitable diameter, which is put on a drill. During drilling, so that there is as little dust as possible, the place of work is constantly watered. The result is a perfect hole, everything looks decent.

If you need to cut a strip that is too thin, you won’t be able to do it on a tile cutter: it simply won’t break off. Then, after drawing a line with a cutting disc or rod (for some firms, the cutting element is made in the form of a rod), the thin edge is broken off. In general, there are special tongs for this, but it works well with pliers.

If at the same time the edge turns out to be very uneven, it can be leveled a little with a file or sandpaper fixed on a bar.

Corner design

If the tile is laid evenly, the inner corners do not cause problems. Difficulties may arise only with the installation of crosses. Just turn them so that they do not interfere or break off the protruding parts. In general, they are joined neatly in the corners, and the seam is finally formed using grout.

There are also profiles for internal corners. They are selected to match the grout, installed in a corner, leveled, and then attached to self-tapping screws or dowels. When laying tiles in a corner, tiles are supported on them. It turns out a finished corner seam.

Outer corners are more difficult. If you just join the tiles by overlapping the edges, it turns out ugly. To properly form the outer corner, you have to cut the edge at 45 °.

This can be done on a professional tile cutter. But not everyone has such equipment. Then you will have to work as a grinder. The first cut, approximately at the desired angle, is made with a smooth diamond disc. It should not have slots and holes, the spraying should also be even.

It turns out not very smoothly, and the outer edge has a rather large thickness. But this is only preliminary processing. We cut the cut to the desired parameters with a grinding nozzle with the same disk. See the video for more details.

If you don’t want to mess around with such a pruning, there is another possibility – to decorate the corner with a special plastic corner.

Another video on how you can arrange adjunctions and seams when laying tiles.

To make laying wall tiles with your own hands completely clear, watch another video tutorial.

How to tile an apron in the kitchen

When finishing a kitchen apron with ceramic tiles, the technology is practically no different from that described above. There is simply no need to calculate the number of vertical rows. The place of “start” is determined by the height of the countertop: it should start 5-10 cm above the edge of the tile. Fasten the bar at the required level, align it exactly to the horizon, and you can start.

An apron in the kitchen is usually made on a work wall. If this is not one wall, but two or three, you can start from one of the corners.

If it is laid out from a small tile, the undercuts may not be very conspicuous. If you want everything to be symmetrical, repeat the layout and start from the center, as described above.