The Right Kitchen Tiles

Before you even start to get your kitchen tiling area ready to tile you will need to decide what kitchen tiles you want for your chosen tiling area. To help with this you can get kitchen tile samples from any of our tile stores which you will find under our Tile Store Finder, the reason for tile samples is so you can hold a number of different tiles on your kitchen wall to see which you like the most.

Once you know what tile you want to get an its sizes you will need to work out how many tiles you need for your kitchen tiling project. For thie how to tile a kitchen we will say the kitchen wall has around 14 metres to cover, and the tiles need to be 0.5m high. So we round that up 1 – 2 metres to be safe as most times you will not do a tiling area without some broken tiles.

What Kitchen Tiling Equipment

You will need to buy some kitchen tiling tools to do your tiling job including Tile adhesive, Tile grout, Tile edging strip, Tile adhesive spatula, A tiling chisel, Putty spatula, Spirit level and Tile spacers.

Preparation For Kitchen Tiling

You may want to remove any old kitchen tiles but if you do not mind the extra tile space its ok to tile on kitchen tiles.

Now that you have removed your old kitchen floor tiles its tempting to jump straight into putting up your new kitchen tiles, but you need to finish your wall before you can tile it!

You need to clean the kitchen tiling area first, remove any dust and durt etc thats in the kitchen area, and once clean you will have to fill in any holes and gouges in your kitchen wall.

How To Set Out Kitchen Tiles

Yet again you could just jump in and slap your kitchen tiles down, but first of all you should think about where your kitchen tiles are going, how many will fit on the tiling area and where you will need to cut the kitchen floor tiles.

One thing to remember above all when you come to do this is that its almost impossible to cut a tile smaller the 1cm, this is why its a good idea to check how many kitchen tiles will fit your tiling area, as you dont want to get to the end and have a small gap you cant tile.

As long as you measure up correctly to start with you should spot if you will have a gap at the end, and adjust your starting point for tiling. If you notice that you will have a gap at one end the easiest and best way to get around this would be to start your kitchen tiling with half a tile or similar.

How To Lay Kitchen Tiles

You will now need to get your adhesive and spatuala and start laying your tile adhesive down on the walls nicely. It is highly worth you getting good quality or at least half descent tools for tiling as for that little extra cash you could save a lot of time and money in the long run as your kitchen tiles will look much better done correctlly.

The easiest way to apply kitchen tiles is to apply the adhesive to each tile one at a time and stick it in to place in the kitchen. Put the tile adhesive onto the back of the tile and evenly spread it about 1/2cm thick across the whole tile. Its also best to roughen the tile adhesive rather then make it smooth as it will allow for a little more movement once your tile is placed in position. You will find this gets easier as you get on and your technique will improve.

source: tilesdepot are uks leading stockists of cheap floor tiles and cheap wall tiles

After all these steps it’s your responsibility to look maintenance of these tiles and prolong their life. The companies have done their part and took every step to ensure that your floor tiles keep looking the best for times to come. A solution of mild soap and water applied the surface of the tile on a regular basis is generally enough to keep your floor clean and looking its best. But from time to time, depending on the level of household traffic, it may be necessary to spruce your floor up with a few readily available treatments. There are ways to ensure that your floor tiles lasts for long in good condition, although it is impossible to avoid wear and tear that comes with time. This article is about some of the tips that can help you protect your floor tiles :

1) Stains – These are the biggest problem with floor tiles. Stains from kitchen mishaps or dirt from shoes can imbed themselves in pores of your tiles and can make them look ugly. There are many household cleaners that make the claim about removing stains from your tiles, but most of them not even come near to time honored method of diluted muriatic acid.

Dilute the acid to a 60/40 acid/water solution and carefully remove the stains. Eye protection masks and heavy gloves are imperative.

2) Be very careful when moving anything heavy over floor tiles. This can break your tiles and make them look ugly. Avoid dropping something heavy on tiles too.

3) Be very careful with ceramic floor tiles and avoid using acidic or alkaline cleaner. These kinds of cleaners can lessen the gloss of your tiles. Avoid using soap and vinegar too for similar reasons.

4) Although a bit costly lamination or protective coating can be used to protect the floor tiles. They help floor tiles against weathering, cracking, oil, chemicals and other moisture.

5) If tiling yourself make sure that you handle tiles properly. Improper handling may cause it to break and you might get hurt.

6) Sub floors usually help floor tiles lasting longer by preventing them from loosing and breaking.

7) Remember to clean stains immediately to prevent them from setting into the tile flooring.

I hope this article is clear some basic doubts about floor tile maintenance.

source: tilesdepot are uks leading stockists of cheap floor tiles and cheap wall tiles