Questions on tiling a floor

abefroman

Are there any rules of thumb here?

IE. 1/8 for marble tiles, 3/8 for ceramic 12x12 etc.

How long do I wait before I wipe the grout off the tiles? Does it ever stick to the tiles (especially white or light colored tiles)?

How long after I put the tiles on the thinset can I start grouting?

TIA

oh'mike

Spacing of floor tiles is a mater of what looks right with the tile. 12" and 13" usually look good with 3/16"

As to grouting with conventional grouts--start your first wipe after 10 to 15 minutes---Read the instructions. If done properly nothing will remain on the face of the tile. Read the instructions.

Jazzman and Bud Cline on this site have had many informative posts on the subject--Search the site.

Set to grout time? usually safe after 12 hours--unless you are unusually heavy--then wait a bit longer.

--Mike---

abefroman

Should I remove the baseboards before tiling? They are 6" woodies

BigJim

I would, it will sure be tough to get it up if you ever need to without messing up the grout or even the tile.

Ole Jim

epson

Yes, I would suggest that you remove the base boards before you tile because 1) if you tile up to your existing base board you will not only have a gap from the tile as the tile should be approximately ¼’’ to ½’’ away from the wall. 2) The base board will be shortened or look lower. 3) You would have to use a ¼ round to cover your gap but unless you want that look. 4) Usually the base boards are removed tile set in place base boards put back on and you can either run a bead of caulk along the floor covering any in consistencies with the floor or add ¼ round. Hope that answered your question in a round about way…

abefroman

Thanks!

Makes sense to take them off.

abefroman

One more q, if I am going to be painting the walls, should I do that before or after the tile is in?

Carroll333

You can paint before or after, just remember when you paint after the tile is in, you need to put a drop cloth down to be sure you don't drip paint on to the tile.

FlooringDude

Take off the baseboard and then patch any gauges and holes in the wall with compound. Sand it and then paint. Do your floor and then paint the molding before putting it down. Install the molding and then caulk and touch it up.

abefroman

Thanks dude!

epson

It all depends on how much of a messy painter you are. Some people would prime and paint first and clean up the mess from the old floor and then lay the tiles, others would tile first and put a drop cloth over the finished floor but accidents do happen. For me, I would prime and paint first then lay the tiles down and finish with any minor touch ups…

FlooringDude

Grout spacing is a matter of preference. I seem to be using 3/16" spacers for most work on 12x12 tiles these days. Stone is usually 1/8" or less and you use unsanded grout.

Wait until the grout is hard enough that you can barely press your nail into it before sponging. If it is a rough/toothy tile I would suggest to wipe after ten minutes or so. Depends on the consistency and color of grout.

Wait a day or so before grouting after laying the tile. You are going to want to probably clean your joints anyway before you grout. I use white thinset on dark tiles and gray on lighter colored tiles to see if I made a mess anywhere and to aid with the cleanup. It does stick to tiles but not so much that you can't scrap it off.

abefroman

Thanks!

racebum

1/8" is actually the magic number that can go either direction. as a rule sanded grout is stronger and the way to go if you can. under 1/8" is mandatory unsanded since you would have to mix sanded grout really thin to get in there and strength would suffer since the sand would crowd out the mix.

abefroman

How smooth should the floor be before laying tile?

I am laying it on top of really thing tile, which has a few chips, should I file those before laying the new tile on top? or will the tileset take care of that? If I need to fill it first, what do I use?

TIA