Laying Tile

[engteach64]

I want to lay tile in my bedrooms. With dogs, carpet just is not good, and I really don't like wood floors. I have wood in the dining room and living room and hall, but kitchen entry and bathrooms are tile. I want to tile the bedrooms, but do not know how to do this. Are there any tips out there for doing it yourself, or is this just something I should hire out? I would really like to do this with my son again, we feel such a sense of accomplishment when we do these things.

[CenTexDave]

If you have never done it before, get a contractor or someone who knows how to do it.
It's not real complicated, but if you do it wrong you'll just have to re-do it later.

[Ludwig]

Vinyl or ceramic. Big difference in prep and procedure. Vinyl is definitely a DIY project.

[siamcat]

My hubby and me tiled our kitchen with ceramic tile. It looks nice, but was a pain to get right.

When we tiled one of our bathrooms he hired somebody to lay the tile and he's a do it your selfer.

The process of laying tiles is not that hard, the part of figuring out where to start to make it look even and cutting the tile to make it fit at various angles is a pain if you never did it before.

[cnjbond]

Not sure if you have the time or not, but Home Depot and I think Lowe's both offer classes for DIY projects.

[CenTexDave]

Learn how to pop a chalk line and that's where you start.

[Night Owl]

There are many sites on line. Laying tile is simple but simple can bite you in the butt. On a scale of 1-10 I would say tile laying is a 5. My best advice is use a tile cutter to ensure the cut lines are smooth and straight.

Give it a try in a smaller area first and don't try to tackle a bedroom as your first project.

The first thing to get is a good pair of knee pads.

[TheOldProgrammer]

Check some of the DIY sites online like Ron Hazelton, This Old House and Hometime... Then decide for yourself whether or not to tackle this project...

[sojourner truth]

After having it done twice in my home, I have come to the conclusion that as simple as it seems, it isn't. It's a lot of hard work, and getting it right makes all the difference. For one thing, a good tile job means pulling off all the baseboards so you don't have edge grout showing. My advice, hire someone. Someone who has all the tile cutting equipment. If you do it yourself you will have to buy a cutter. Don't use some fly by night crew either. If they won't remove the baseboards, find someone else.

[Ang]

It's a big job. If you have the $...hire it out. In the long run, you'll be glad you did.