Tiles – the ideal floor covering

Cer­tain types of floor­ing require spe­cif­ic uses. This is why car­pets will nev­er be found in bath­rooms or gar­ages. Tiles, on the oth­er hand, are real all-round­ers, cov­er­ing the whole range of wall and floor applic­a­tion. Wheth­er in the kit­chen or bath­room, in the hall­way, cel­lar or on the ter­race – tiles can be used just every­where. When installing tiles, you should how­ever fol­low some prac­tic­al tips and make sure to use the right products.

Tip 1: Careful substrate preparation

Prop­er sub­strate pre­par­a­tion is of key import­ance before installing tiles. The sub­strate should be level, sound, clean, dry and free of adhes­ive residues. Espe­cially with large tiles pay atten­tion to uneven floor areas. If neces­sary, they must be smoothed over with a lev­el­ling com­pound. Also a primer may be neces­sary: either a deep-pen­et­rat­ing primer (e.g. for cement) or an adhes­ive primer (e.g. for con­crete) depend­ing on the sub­strate. In wet rooms, prim­ing should be done along with the water­proof­ing. When select­ing tiles, it is advis­able to take the later use or func­tion of the room into account. The lower level of wear in bath­rooms requires abra­sion res­ist­ance class 3, while the high­er wear level in gar­ages requires res­ist­ance class 5. It is recom­men­ded to buy one tenth more tile mater­i­al than required by the num­ber of square meters. This takes the cut­ting waste into account and ensures a suf­fi­cient amount of spare mater­i­al in case of later dam­age.

Tip 2: Tile installation and joint widths

Inex­per­i­enced do-it-your­­selfers are advised to start tile install­a­tion in the middle of the room and to pro­ceed in par­al­lel rows from the inside to the out­side. Tiles that have been cut to size are less notice­able at the edges. A diag­on­al pat­tern cre­ates a nice visu­al effect but is more demand­ing. It is espe­cially recom­men­ded for square rooms and helps to hide crooked walls. In addi­tion to the cen­ter lines, also a diag­on­al line must be defined. Install­a­tion then pro­ceeds from the cen­ter of the room diag­on­ally towards the corners. Since the tiles may slightly vary in col­or, it is advis­able to take them altern­ately from dif­fer­ent pack­ages.