Flooring defines an important part of any property's aesthetics and offers a smooth look, and enhances the class of living. For Tile flooring, always consider quality materials and professional solutions to withstand the loads and offer the convenience of maintenance. Tiles are your best bet to create an aesthetic look that can be installed in any room and offers an impervious walking surface. Get the best tiles flooring contractors for your house through Sulekha, where you can find professional flooring contractors in your city to help you choose, buy and install quality tiles for your property.
Types of tiles flooring
If you're installing tiles for the first time, you might get surprised by the wide range of many tiles available for flooring purposes. Some of which are:
- Ceramic: Affordable and most commonly used for flooring.
- Porcelain tile: All-purpose tiles that can emulate the looks of stones, bricks, or wood and offer an elegant finish
- Cement tiles: They are highly versatile and can provide you with amazing patterns and colors.
- Marble tile: An exquisite choice of tile that stays cool even in summers
- Granite: A natural stone tile that is very commonly used and is a cheaper alternative to marble tiles.
Tiles flooring installation
A clean, precise tile installation requires professional assistance and is way more technical than you might think. A good amount of planning, preparation, and expertise goes into installing tiles that will give your floor an aesthetic look and quality cuts that are easy to maintain. Here we have mentioned few key steps involved in installing tiles at any home:
Surface preparation
The first step is to make sure the surfaces are cleaned, dried, made smooth, and evened in all areas. It might take some repair to patch and level any damages and uneven parts. There should be no interference of any kind that may hamper the process of tiles application.
Mark the layout
For walls, floors, or tops, an efficient installation requires layout planning before tile application. Pinpoint the center of the room and chalk lines between all corners to understand the necessary adjustments required in the shapes and size of tiles so that the intersection creates perfect squares. Once you reach the walls, you'll need to cut tiles for a proper fit, and for this, professionals are always prepared with tile cutters and sappers.
Applying adhesive
For different types of tiles, different combinations of adhesive are recommended, but some common rules to follow are, start sticking tiles before 30 minutes of mixing or opening the adhesive container, apply adhesive as soon as tiles are to be fixed, don't use excessive adhesive, and cover your eyes, nose, and mouth to avoid harmful fumes.
Cutting the tiles
Always use tile cutters to achieve precise cuts. You can cut straight or diagonal as per the requirement and get professionals to make masterful curved cuts with tile cutting tools as rod saw, nippers and chippers. After the cuts are made, smooth out any sharp edges with a carborundum stone to give your tile a soft finish.
Setting the tiles
Once you have prepared the surface, made the layout, applied the adhesive, and cut the tiles, you can now move on to actually installing the tile. Begin by installing tiles in the center of the room, set tiles one at a time, and avoid sliding them into place. Be sure that each tile is set to leave equal joints between tiles and leave a 1/4th inch gap between the tile and wall.
Once a set of tiles is completely installed, tap in all the tiles with a rubber mallet or hammer and wood block to ensure a solid bond and remove excess adhesive from joints to prevent an uneven appearance.