Tiling question.

**Jesus Jones** · 15-04-2009, 08:29 AM

I 'm going to be re-tiling the living room and kitchen floor sometime over the next couple of weeks.

Can i just take up the old tiles and the use an adhesive on the concrete that was used to bond the original tiles, or can i use a think skim of cement to do the same? Or does the old concrete have to be taken up first?

**splitlid** · 15-04-2009, 10:18 AM

depends really.

1. are your current floor tiles at the same level as the threshold on you external doors?if they are the you will probably have to remove existing tiles and some of the cement they are bedded on, removing some will probably mean removing all, as thats the way it will come up.

2. if they are currently lower than the thresholds then you may get away with just removing the tiles and laying a thin amount of tile adhesive to lay them with.

3. do you have skirting?

**Felix Sphinx** · 15-04-2009, 11:12 AM

1 Wear gloves tiles are v sharp 2 If you have wooden doors andscreens you may be able to raise a fraction so laying ontop of old slab 3 Good luck I paid a local man who didi 106m square for 4800baht a good jon too Grout expectations

**Lee4Life** · 19-04-2009, 01:38 PM

If your old tiles were laid with cement there's a good chance that they will have to be jack-hammered out, a friend of mine just finished retiling an older building. One of the guys that looked at it wanted to use a tile saw and cut grooves in the old tile and then tile over it but he opted to remove all of the old tile instead. He had to jackhammer all the old tile out and it came out very uneven, some tiles took out a whole bunch of cement when they came out, some not much. It took a whole bunch of cement to relevel the floor and retile.

**Jesus Jones** · 21-04-2009, 04:35 PM

I'm tiling the bathroom this weekend and was just after some tips.

Should i use a batton around the bathroom at the bottom just above what would be the final tile to get my level. I'm also curious about slipage and the batton would pressumably act as a support for the tiles above, assuming i also use spacers between each tile. I have bought ready mix tile cement and i'm not sure of its stickyness. Or do i just tile from the bottom up. Is there a procedure to this?

I'm assuming the cement adhesive is the correct thing to use on bathroom walls?

Is it better to start with the floor first or the walls? Obviously the floor has a slight slope for drainage. At present there is a water trough at one end which will be removed, and drawers for towels etc will be placed there instead. I'm planning on making half the floor level with a slight slant from the centre towards the end of the bathroom where the drain is. The shower at present is in the middle, while the trough is at one end putting the whole floor on a gradual slope.

**hillbilly** · 22-04-2009, 05:56 AM

Start with the walls first. If you don't then chances are the floor will end up scratched, cracked, stained and ruined.

**Lee4Life** · 26-04-2009, 04:37 PM

Hillbilly has a good idea as far as starting with the walls, I just finished the bathroom in our servants quarters, it had no plumbing so I had to cut troughs in the floors and walls to lay the pipes into and then tile walls and floor and install all fixtures. I started with the floor first, used a level and chalk lines on the walls to get my angles right to the drain, it was really hard to keep sloping because my mind automatically wanted to lay the tiles level.
The problem then was how to tile the bottom row of wall tiles on a level when the floor is sloped? I figure out the lowest point and laid out my lines so that I had to cut the bottoms off of the other tiles in order to keep the tops of the tiles on a level line, maybe if you did the walls first and then the floor it would be easier, assuming you would lay the floor tiles right up to the wall tiles.
The hardest part of my wall tiling was keeping things even as the walls were not flat at all, this resulted in tons of cement behind some tiles and very little behind others. I used regular cement on this job but have just finished tiling a back splash on a kitchen counter and used more expensive tile cement and was happier with the results from the tile cement.
Make sure you don't leave any air pockets or the tiles will be more apt to crack or break there, you may also want to figure your layout so that if you have to drill to install any sinks, mirrors or other accessories you don't end up drilling very close to the edge of a tile or right on a tile corner.
just my 2 cents, hope it helped

**DrAndy** · 26-04-2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Start with the walls first. If you don't then chances are the floor will end up scratched, cracked, stained and ruined.

fair enough, but I have always done the floor first, especially in bathrooms

you get less chance of a leak at the bottom edge like that

cutting the wall tiles to sit on the floor is easy enough; do a row of horizontal tiles a bit less than one tile height off the floor and tile the wall

then cut in the bottom row to fit exactly, easy enough with a grinder or good cutter

if you are worried about the floor tiles getting cracked or stained, then cover with sheets of thin board where you are working. Tiles are usually pretty tough though!

**hillbilly** · 26-04-2009, 06:01 PM

My initial response was somewhat misleading. While I have seen Thais lay the floor first, I have also seen them start with the walls.

The best job I saw involved our bathroom in BKK. We had a limited supply and expensive tiles to work with. The worker laid the walls first except for the 2 bottom courses. He then did the floor and finished up the walls.

**DrAndy** · 26-04-2009, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by hillbilly

My initial response was somewhat misleading. While I have seen Thais lay the floor first, I have also seen them start with the walls.

The best job I saw involved our bathroom in BKK. We had a limited supply and expensive tiles to work with. The worker laid the walls first except for the 2 bottom courses. He then did the floor and finished up the walls.

That sounds like it solves all the problems!

**Jesus Jones** · 01-05-2009, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by hillbilly

My initial response was somewhat misleading. While I have seen Thais lay the floor first, I have also seen them start with the walls.

The best job I saw involved our bathroom in BKK. We had a limited supply and expensive tiles to work with. The worker laid the walls first except for the 2 bottom courses. He then did the floor and finished up the walls.

Never thought of that. Simple but great idea. I was planning to leave off the bottom tiles anyway as i'm running a level batton across the wall to level and support the tiles.

Glad i checked this again as i start the tiling today.

**Marmite the Dog** · 01-05-2009, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

I'm assuming the cement adhesive is the correct thing to use on bathroom walls?

Tile adhesive is the correct thing to use. You can buy it in places like HomePro, but check the date on the packets as I don't think Thais know of its existence.

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