How to Install Accent Floor Tiles
Tile and stone floors can be beautifully enhanced by the incorporation of borders, bands, unique shapes, patterns, designs, colors and finishes. These are collectively called accent tiles. It is quite difficult to install accent tiles into existing tile floors but remarkably easy to install accent tiles as part of a design plan when you are installing new floors, walls or any tile surface. The trick is to prepare for the accent tile as part of the installation.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Accent tiles
- Field tiles
- Spacers
- 1- inch scale graph paper
- Pencil
- Colored pencils
- Thinset
- Grooved Trowel
- Tub
- Grout
- Grout float
- Sponge
- Water
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1
Lay out a row of your field tile. Field tilecover the majority of the tiled surface. Position your accent tiles in the arrangement that you desire. Use the tile spacers to properly replicate how the tile will look after installation. Try to select accent tiles that are the same depth of tile as the field tile; this will produce a more even finished tile surface. Make sure the field tile can be spaced evenly around a larger accent feature.
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2
Transfer your tile design to graph paper. Use 1-inch graph paper to make the design easier to see. Sketch how you want each accent tile placed. Your accent tile may be a small-colored square every 4 feet or it may be an intricate tile border that goes all around a floor or wall. You want to draw a good sample of how it should look.
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3
Label your drawing carefully to describe each different tile by manufacturer name and number. You can draw arrows to point out the tiles and write the labels to the side. Color the drawing using color pencils to show how the colors should look. You want your drawing to look as similar to the real-tile sample you have created as possible because you will use the drawing to remember your design during installation.
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4
Measure and mark the location of your border or large accent design on the subfloor. Check that the design is parallel with walls. For accent tiles that are added at regular intervals you will not need to draw the pattern on the floor but the tile floor should align with your longest wall. Tile cuts should occur in nondescript areas when possible.
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5
Mix thinset mortar and use a grooved trowel to tile your floor. If you are incorporating a large focal design in the center of the floor, then you should install your large design first and then your field tile afterward. This is why you have a developed design plan that ensures that your design will be easy to incorporate into your field tile.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Select accents from the same manufacturer as your field tile to assist in choosing tiles that are the same depth and of similar finishes.
