How to Install Ceramic Kitchen Floor Tile

There are many choices of floor materials. For a kitchen, ceramic tile is one of the best. It's cheaper and easier to work with than stone but still gives the classic look and durability that wood, vinyl and other materials just can't match. Also, there is an infinite range of tile sizes and designs to choose from. Before laying the tile, you should have ceramic tile floor underlay in place to protect against moisture.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Long level
• Ceramic tiles
• Tile adhesive
• Adhesive trowel
• Plastic spacers
• Platform ceramic tile cutter
• Grout mix
• Grout trowel
• Five-inch putty knife
• Bucket to mix grout
• Large sponge

Instructions

1. Measure the kitchen floor from wall to wall in one direction, find the center reading, and mark it on the floor with your pencil. Move the tape measure about a foot over along the wall and mark again. Continue until you have a series of marks extending in a row across the middle of the room. With your level, draw a line along the marks to divide the room in half.

2. Repeat the process in the other direction, off the other two walls. You should end up with two intersecting lines that divide the room into four even squares. If there is a kitchen island in the room, adjust your intersection to miss it by at least two inches on all sides.

3. Lay your ceramic tiles, without adhesive, along the edge of each of the lines, to make sure that they line up evenly at all four walls. It's okay if a full tile won't fit at the end of the row against the wall, but the space that's left should be roughly the same at the walls on both ends of the row as long as those end spaces are more than 2 inches wide. Pieces that small are difficult to cut, so in that case, readjust your lines so that a full tile falls against one wall with a partial tile at the other end. For floor-mounted cabinets that stick out from the wall, kitchen islands and other obstacles that can't be lifted for tiling, use the same principle, adjusting your lines to make sure that no end pieces are narrower than 2 inches.

4. Working on one square at a time, from the center intersection, use your trowel to spread adhesive as far as you can comfortably reach from a kneeling position. Take care not to obscure the pencil lines you've marked. Press the tiles into place, starting at the lines and building inward, putting the plastic spacers between the tiles as you lay them. Work your way to the wall, stopping when full tiles will not longer fit. Don't kneel or stand on the tiles that have already been set. Repeat the process for each square in the room.

5. If you have to cut partial tiles to fit against the walls or obstacles, wait a day for the full tiles to fully set, so you can walk on them without moving them. Measure the spaces between the ends of the full tiles and the wall and use the tile cutter to cut the final pieces to size. Set them in place with the adhesive, working your way around the edge of the room. Remember that the cut sides go against the wall, not next to other tiles.

6. Allow the tile to set for another day before grouting. Remove your plastic spacers, popping them out with the edge of your 5-inch putty knife. Mix your grout in the bucket with the putty knife, adding enough water to give it the consistency of thick mud. Let the grout sit for 10 minutes before applying it to the seams between the ceramic tiles. Spread and press it into the seams with your rubber grouting trowel, scraping off the excess from the tile face.

7. Let the grout sit for half an hour. During that time, clean out your grout bucket and fill it with clean water. Once the grout has started to dry, dampen and wring your sponge in the water and gentle go over the seams. Do the whole room, rinsing the sponge frequently. Your goal is to wipe the remaining excess grout off the tile face and smooth out the grout in the seams, but not to dig it out. Allow to dry for another day before using the floor.

Tips & Warnings

• Ceramic tile floor underlay is a fiber cement sheet that provides a stable substrate for slate and ceramic floor tiles (see Additional Resources). To figure the number of tiles you need to purchase for your project, determine the square footage of your kitchen by multiplying the length by the width. Grouting will go easier if you make sure to wipe out any high collections of adhesive that come up between the tiles before it dries.

References

• Ceramic Tile Installation

Resources

• Ceramic Tile Underlayment