Building & Remodeling

Nothing can set off a room like beautiful tile. The only way to ruin it is with unattractive grout! Fixing grout is a great project to bring your room back to its glory. Some preventive methods...

Stepping on warmed ceramic tile or marble floors in your bathroom or kitchen is an affordable indulgence. We just installed one and oh, my! Radiant floor heat makes the whole bathroom more...

You can cut tile with a side grinder. Renting or buying a wet saw is expensive. For less money you can use a side grinder to get the job done. Side grinders are actually easier to use when cutting...

Turning your dated, dull bathroom into a gleaming spa-like retreat doesn't have to take a huge outlay of cash. Budget bathroom remodels can be achieved by employing a few penny-wise design ideas...

An average kitchen remodel costs anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. A budget kitchen remodel can be done without sacrificing a years' salary. Follow a few simple guidelines and a beautiful new...

Tile cutters don't actually "cut'' the tile, but rather break it to size, which is much easier. The cutter works by scoring the surface of the tile, then snapping it at the scored line. Cutting...

An inexpensive way to change the color of ceramic tile floors is the use of primer and paint. This type of renovation process should be considered a temporary application and not a permanent...

Ceramic floor tile is one of the most durable floor materials. Vinyl tile is also a good choice, but both require the same installation method when it comes to the door facing. It is much easier...

Grout is a type of mortar made to sit in the spaces between tiles, providing a solid connector. "Floating'' the grout refers to the method of pressing the grout into the lines and wiping off the...

Porcelain, when fully glazed, is one of the most solid and moisture-proof kinds of floor tile you can buy. But that won't mean much if moisture can seep under the tile through the grout in...

Flooring is an opportunity for homeowners to make a statement about their house, and doing so with style doesn't mean sacrificing practicality. Today, a wide variety of flooring options exist, and...

A fireplace can be one of the greatest focal points of your home. In days of old, a masonry fireplace was the only choice for homeowners. They could have rock, brick or painted brick fireplaces....

There are many types of flooring tile available these days, and each is best for a particular area. For high-traffic areas, VCT flooring is a great option.

It is possible to lay tile on a floor without installing backerboard, providing that certain preparations and precautions are respected. You will need to make sure that the floor onto which the...

Kitchens often produce a large amount of moisture and heat, and the flooring in a kitchen needs to be able to handle this. Tile and wood floors are both popular among homeowners, as both fit many...

White grout is not always the best choice for a ceramic tile application. White gets dirty quickly, creates a stark contrast with some tile colors, and is particularly impractical in high traffic...

Tile grout is the cement that fills the spaces between tiles. It looks rock-solid, but it's actually the most porous and vulnerable part of any tiled surface and is apt to absorb moisture and...

As trends, budgets and personal tastes change, you may decide to remodel part or all of your house to get the look you want. With any remodel, challenges may arise. During the remodel of a...

You want a new countertop and you want it tiled. If you think you can do it yourself, go for it.

Putting screws into ceramic tile without breaking it may seem impossible at first, but if you have the right equipment and do things in the right order, you will find that it is actually a very...

Whether for aesthetic reasons, wall clearance or just personal preference, a bathtub can be installed flush to the wall without a tiling flange. Although not commonly done, it can be accomplished...

Flooring is any surface that has been designed for walking on. Some types of flooring are soft and need to be vacuumed, whereas others are hard and require sweeping or mopping.

Cutting a perfect hole in a ceramic tile requires a specialized hole saw---and even then is difficult to get right. Luckily, you seldom need to cut a perfect hole in the tile. Usually, a hole is...

Grouting mistakes include colors that dry darker or lighter than expected or mismatched grout and tile color. A grout color change is also an inexpensive way to change your decor. No matter the...

Drywall is the standard wallboard in most modern homes. It's lightweight and very strong when dry. However, in areas where the walls may be in constant contact with moisture, drywall is a poor...

A bathroom is often a welcome home addition, especially if there are several frustrated people sharing a single bathroom. Adding a bathroom to your home is often easier said than done and average...

Shower tile are always problematic because of their tendency to retain moisture between the grout joints. The moisture is retained in the base materials--usually plywood or wood framing--and the...

Marking and cutting holes in tile is fundamental to complete many tiling projects, particularly in bathrooms where pipes and spouts must pass through tile walls. The ideal tool for cutting holes...

Tiling a floor is not difficult, but you need to proceed carefully and methodically in order to get the results you desire. Tiling is a simple skill which is handy to have in your knowledge base...

If you're updating your kitchen or looking for a project to make a splash, you may want to consider a modern metal backsplash instead of tile or plain old paint. Metal backsplashes require no more...

Diagonal designs catch the eye, especially when framed with a border. They look as if they use more tile and require a high degree of skill; actually, neither is true. Therefore, laying out vinyl...

Installing ceramic tile to an outside corner involves "hiding" the tile edges from view. To obtain a sharp and symmetric look, both sides of the corner must be flush to the corner evenly. A butt...

How flat a concrete slab needs to be depends on the sheen of the tile finish, the size of the individual tiles and your personal standards. Filling an occasional low spot in a slab is a simple...

A wall tile that's loose, cracked or broken can ruin the look of an otherwise nice tiled wall. It can also literally ruin the wall, if moisture gets under it and migrates beneath the other tiles,...

Whether you're building a new shower floor or want to replace an existing one, there are many choices on the market for the type of shower floor you can have installed or install yourself. If you...

Ceramic tile is generally the easiest kind of tile to cut, owing to its relative softness compared to stone, and its tendency to break in a straight line. For straight cuts, all you need to do is...

If you are planning to resurface a wall or floor, it is important to get as much of the tile cement removed so that you have a smooth surface to work with. Don't attack this project by busting...

When tiling a wall it is very important that you have enough tile to complete the job before starting. If you run out in the middle of the project, you will have to stop to get more tile and you...

What if you have to a cut a hole in a tiled wall to install a plumbing fixture? The simplest way is to buy a masonry hole saw, which bores through the tile at any size you want and makes a perfect...

Changing the color of ugly ceramic tile is possible by painting right over the original surface. imperfections that are already part of the floor and tile, however, will be magnified by doing so....

Installing towel bars over ceramic tile in a bathroom space used to involve cutting tiles around the fixture itself. Today you can glue them directly to the ceramic tile with 100 percent silicone...

If you are looking to replace the floors in your home, it is a project you can easily tackle by yourself. You just need a little know-how and the proper supplies. What you will need depends on the...

Ceramic tiles are the easiest kind to cut, because if you score the surface and apply pressure on both sides of the scored line, it will snap in two right at that line. This is the principle on...

Cutting a straight line in ceramic tiles is about the easier tile-cutting chore you could ask for---you just score and snap it with a manual tile cutter. Angled and corner cuts can be made with a...

Installing marble in your home can add both beauty and value to your most valuable investment. Installing marble is similar to installing ceramic tile and uses some of the same tools, so any...

Tile border moldings are used for applying a finishing touch to tile installations. Tile border moldings are placed after the tile surface has been laid, both for decorative reasons as well as to...

Since it's introduction, laminate flooring has become one of the most popular flooring choices, and it's easy to see why. Available in a variety of styles, laminate flooring can bring a touch of...

Unlike in drilling other types of masonry, you cannot use a hammer drill for a hole in hard yet brittle porcelain. You need to have a masonry or diamond-tipped drill bit to cut through the tile;...

This grout coloring process uses a liquid applied epoxy-base grout stain that is painted onto the old grout. This can be applied to both sanded and non-sanded grouts. You can apply any color...

Vitreous is a term used to describe a tile that is impervious to water. They are usually glass, ceramic or porcelain tiles. Cutting vitreous tiles should be done with a wet saw, which is has a...