Article 4 - Determining the Layout for Your Bathroom Wall Tiles

7/31/2019 Article 4 - Determining the Layout for Your Bathroom Wall Tiles

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Determining the Layout For Your Bathroom Wall Tiles

If you are competent at DIY then there is no reason why you cant tileyour own bathroom. It is essential for a professional finish that you

have prepared the surfaces thoroughly and you can read more abouthow to do that in the article Achieve Perfectly Tiled Walls byPreparing Your Surface Properly.

If you are tiling your own bathroom it is essential that you planexactly where the tiles will be positioned on the walls before you startif you want the finish to look professional.

Assuming that all the wall surfaces are ready for tiling then the nextstep is to determine how exactly the tiles will be positioned on the

walls. Just like preparing the walls this is an essential step if you wantthe finish to look professional. It is crucial to get the layout rightbecause you want to see the tiles at their best from the main viewingangles of the room i.e. when you enter the door, are lazing in thebath or even sitting on the loo! Narrow sections of tiles that are cutawkwardly in a corner will be an annoying eyesore if you notice themevery day.

You need to start by marking horizontal and vertical lines on eachwall or wall section which will act as a guide when fixing the wall tiles.The best place for the horizontal starting line is just above the sink

and toilet cistern so they do not break the continuous line around theroom. But it also important that this line does not then leave a smallsection of tile above the bath this will depend very much on the sizeof the tiles you have chosen.

A good way to get the right height for this line is to divide the heightof the bathroom in half, then use that line to mark the position ofeach tile below the line until you reach the bath. If less than half a tileheight is left just above the bath then adjust the starting line up ordown until either exactly half a tile or a whole tile will be positionedabove the bath edge dont forget to take into account the width ofthe grouting. Once you are happy with the line for the bath you thenhave to check it for all the other major elements of your bathroomsuch as the window, sink, toilet etc. to make sure no narrow stripsare left in obvious areas. If there is no option but to have somenarrow strips somewhere (which is often the case) then try to arrangethe layout so that they appear above doors or windows or near thefloor i.e. away from normal sightlines. With a bit of trial and error youshould be able to establish a good horizontal guide line now mark itclearly on the wall using a spirit level to make sure it is perfectlystraight.

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Next , you need to establish your vertical guide line in a similar way.Start by marking a line half-way along the longest wall and, againusing your tile width plus the grout joint width, check all corners andedges of your sanitary ware to make sure there are no narrow stripsof tile in the most obvious locations. Most rooms and corners are not

entirely square so starting tiling from the middle of the wall willcreate a balanced layout. If you start in one corner and it is notperfectly square then by the time you reach the next corner you riskthe tiles looking skewed as the tiles at the top of the room could bewider than at the bottom, or vice versa.

Finally mark vertical centre point lines on all the other walls in thesame way and with your wall surfaces well prepared and your layoutguide lines marked you are finally ready to start spreading theadhesive and fixing the wall tiles of your choice whether they areceramic wall tiles, porcelain tiles or one of the variety of natural stonewall tiles. Look out for the next article in this series on how to installyour chosen tiles