How to Attach Ceramic Tile to a Fireplace

Change the look of your fireplace.

If you're tired of that old brick fireplace facade, give it a face lift with ceramic tile. There are many different designs and colors of ceramic tiles to choose from, including natural stone. Your fireplaces is the focal point of your living room. Resurface your fireplace with ceramic tiles and the entire room will benefit. Tiling a fireplace takes planning, but it's a job that can easily be finished in one weekend.

Things You'll Need

• Tile
• Roll of painter's tape
• Pail
• Thin-set mortar
• Tape measure
• Level
• Pencil
• 1 wood strip, 1 by 2 inches by 8 feet
• Electric drill
• Masonry screws, 2-inch
• Tile spacers
• Grout
• Grout sealer

Instructions

1. Remove the mantle of the fireplace. If it's not removable, tape it off with painter's tape underneath, where it meets the brick. Mix a pail of thin-set mortar and trowel it on the face of the brick to create a smooth surface. Let the mortar set overnight.

2. Locate the center of the fireplace facade. Mark it with a pencil, then set a level vertical with its edge against the mark. Move the level until it reads plumb -- the bubble in the clear tube must sit over the center mark in the tube -- and draw a vertical line along the level's edge.

3. Take a 1-by-2-inch-by-8-foot strip of wood and line its top edge with the top of the fireplace opening. You will use this as a ledge to hold the tiles in place until the mortar sets. Screw the wood to the face of the fireplace with an electric drill and masonry screws.

4. Mix a new batch of thin-set. Trowel some on at the center plumb line, just above the wood strip. Rake grooves through the mortar with the notched edge of the trowel. Set the first tile so it's centered over the plumb line. Work out and up from this first tile. Use tile spacers to insure adjoining tiles are at an equal distance apart. Remove the wood strip when the mortar has hardened sufficiently.

5. Tile the fireplace legs, the vertical spaces on either side of the mouth of the fireplace.

6. Wait for the mortar to dry, then pull out all tile spacers and grout. Seal grout lines with a grout sealant, for sealing the pores of the grout and for easy cleaning.

Tips & Warnings

• Stand back periodically while setting the tile and check to see that the tile edges are plumb.

• After grouting wait a week for the grout to thoroughly dry before applying grout sealer.

References

• ThisOldHouse: How to Tile a Fireplace Surround