How to tile a floor

Before you get cracking make sure that you've prepared the area for tiling.

What you'll need:

• Floor tiles
• Tile spacers
• Adhesive
• Chalk
• Tile cutter
• Notched spreader
• Floor sealer
• Tile saw
• Squeegee
• A damp sponge
• A clean cloth

Step 1: Set out the tiles

The secret of successful floor tiling is to spend time setting out (working out the tile positions):

1. Mark the mid-points of all the walls and use chalk to draw a pair of lines that cross in the centre of the room.
2. Place your tiles along the two lines to work out the best positions.
3. If necessary, adjust their positions slightly to use as many whole tiles as possible. You should avoid having cut tiles along the wall that is seen as you walk into the room.

Step 2: Apply adhesive

Spread a square metre of the adhesive into one of the corners formed by the chalk lines. Always use a notched trowel or spreader so that the adhesive is spread in evenly sized ribbons across the floor.

Step 3: Lay the tiles

When tiling the floor, it is vital to work outwards from the centre of the room using the chalk lines as a guide. Internal walls are rarely straight!

Start tiling, placing spacers between each tile and continue until you have covered half the room with as many whole tiles as possible. Then start on the other side of the line.

Step 4: Fill the gaps

Now fill in the gaps with cut tiles. Use a tile cutter to trim the tiles to size.

Before you cut make sure you have allowed for the grouting gap between tiles. If you have to cut around door arches or another shape, use a profile guide to copy the shape onto the tile.

Step 5: Grout

After you've let the tiles set overnight:

1. Use a grout float to spread the grout all over the tiles, making sure every joint is well filled.
2. Clean off any excess with a sponge. It's important to do this now as dried grout will be hard to remove from your tiles.
3. Leave the grout to dry for a couple of hours.
4. Polish the tiles with a clean cloth to get rid of any smears.

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