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| RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM Hurray! I finally tiled my floor with rectified porcelain floor tiles using a self-levelling system...and did it well! What a relief! I've lost sleep over the last six months worrying about having to do this dreaded task and fearing I'd make a total mess of it. I put my success down to using Mapei 'Super Flexible' tile adhesive and me having some experience in icing cakes! |
I spent months searching for the right floor tiles, ordering about twenty samples. I discounted this one straight away as it was too smooth and straight-cut (rectified). I didn't know at the time how hard rectified tiles are to lay: I just didn't think such a clean-cut tile would look good in a Victorian house. However, several samples later, I had another look and had an epiphany: it complimented the grey and brown colouring of the exterior stone and, as it was plain, would compliment the busy texture of stone. I'd had the right tile all along and it also happened to be the cheapest at £10/m from Walls and Floors. It was on offer when I bought it but it's shot up to three times that price now. So I really did get a bargain!
After pouring a layer of self-leveling compound onto my kitchen floor (see video), I primed it twice with Setcrete primer from Screwfix.
I credit Mapei 'Super Flexible' tile adhesive for my tiling success because it takes hours to set, meaning I had plenty of time to get it right and that made all the difference. I think, with rectified tiles, you have to either have a perfectly pool-table flat floor and help with the mixing, or you need to use a self-leveling system to ensure there is no lippage. Given most tile adhesive is rapid set and goes off after 45mins, there's no time to make a mistake or make corrections. That's fine if you're sure all factors are going to be perfect. But with an imperfect floor and a one-man job, it's going to be a nightmare. See my video on Mapei Super Flexible tile adhesive here to see why I liked it so much.
I spent a lot of time doing dry-runs with various tile layout patterns, including brick, basketweave and herringbone but, in the end, I gave up trying to be clever and went the easy route...'stack bond'. Sometimes the simplest method is actually the best and I think that's true for my kitchen floor as it feels right now it's all finished. With the brick layout, which is popular at the moment, you have to be sure your tiles are completely flat or you'll have lippage in the middle of each long side. One way to find out if they're flat is to put them on a flat surface and push on the corners one at a time to check for any rocking....then turn it over and test again. I thought mine were flat as I did test them but discovered a bit of curvature with some tiles as I was installing them, so it's good I didn't go for the brick layout.
Once I'd decided on the layout, I then had to decide on the positioning. One aspect of this is whether to lay the tiles horizontally or vertically. There were three factors that helped me to choose a wide look from my front door. Firstly, my house is almost a 'shotgun' house, meaning it's not wide but very deep and you could almost fire a shotgun from the front door to the back door. In fact, you could almost fire it right to the back of the garden! It's a very thin but long plot. So laying the tiles wide would give the illusion of width. Secondly, I knew the focal point of the room was going to be the chimney breast where my cooker will go. A small breakfast table will go opposite the chimney breast wall and, therefore, that wall will be even more of a focus. It's better to lay rectangular tiles so they look wide as you look at them from the place you're most likely to be. Thirdly, I wanted them to compliment the layout of the exterior stone wall so that there was no jarring from wide to long.
My layout pattern and orientation chosen, I then had to locate my starting point. As my kitchen is not 'square' in any direction, I had to find a compromise that didn't create a noticeable diagonal line along any of the four walls. This was quite a balancing act! I probably didn't do this part the correct way but, as luck would have it, the result could not have been better. All the lines running alongside the walls look right and there are no trapezium shapes as you look down the walls. I did a lot of measuring with my tape measure, put one tile down in the middle of the room, did a lot of measuring again, did dry-runs to see how the tiles would look at each wall, at the front door and at the living room doorway and settled on my starting point. I then marked around the master tile with black marker pen and then marked a line from that tile down to my exterior wall to help as a straight edge. You have to be careful your master tile doesn't move or all your lines will be out.
One decision I made, which is probably not standard, was to not go from the middle of the room but go from the middle of the chimney breast, which is going to be the focal point. It's not in the middle as I have room width on one side for the exit area to the stairs and living room. I'm happy I decided to offset the center-point as I think, once all the kitchen furniture is in, it's going to feel right and that's what's important.
I only installed about eight tiles at a time because that's what one bucket of adhesive covered and I liked to wash out the bucket after each mix. It took a lot longer than you would think to lay eight tiles and get them as damn near perfect as you would want to have to live with! It's tiring too...for an old girl!
I used the plastic self-levellers to help reduce lippage. I bought 500 clips and 200 wedges as the latter can be washed and reused. THIS is a good buy with the same product at the same volume as I bought. I didn't buy pliers so did all the pinching my hand, which was ok but a bit painful after a while. I could tighten them just as much as pliers could by clicking back, sliding the wedge further in, clicking back, etc. The next day, you can pull off the clips and wash the yellow wedges.
As I completed the installation in stages, I couldn't use the self-levellers on all edges all of the time. These levellers didn't work miracles but they did help, mostly by eliminating the risk of the tile sinking too low. However, you still have to lower the tile down to the right level yourself as the self-levellers will not do it all for you, unless your adhesive is very thin, which is not a good idea. I used various methods for levelling; pushing down, sliding from side to side, hammering with a plastic hammer and standing on the tile if it was really stubborn. Once I'd got the tile level with its adjacent tiles and level itself, I then fitted the plastic wedges and, lastly, the 3mm spacers I bought from Screwfix. You can use smaller spacers with rectified tiles but I wanted a noticeable grout line.
After pouring a layer of self-leveling compound onto my kitchen floor (see video), I primed it twice with Setcrete primer from Screwfix.
I credit Mapei 'Super Flexible' tile adhesive for my tiling success because it takes hours to set, meaning I had plenty of time to get it right and that made all the difference. I think, with rectified tiles, you have to either have a perfectly pool-table flat floor and help with the mixing, or you need to use a self-leveling system to ensure there is no lippage. Given most tile adhesive is rapid set and goes off after 45mins, there's no time to make a mistake or make corrections. That's fine if you're sure all factors are going to be perfect. But with an imperfect floor and a one-man job, it's going to be a nightmare. See my video on Mapei Super Flexible tile adhesive here to see why I liked it so much.
I spent a lot of time doing dry-runs with various tile layout patterns, including brick, basketweave and herringbone but, in the end, I gave up trying to be clever and went the easy route...'stack bond'. Sometimes the simplest method is actually the best and I think that's true for my kitchen floor as it feels right now it's all finished. With the brick layout, which is popular at the moment, you have to be sure your tiles are completely flat or you'll have lippage in the middle of each long side. One way to find out if they're flat is to put them on a flat surface and push on the corners one at a time to check for any rocking....then turn it over and test again. I thought mine were flat as I did test them but discovered a bit of curvature with some tiles as I was installing them, so it's good I didn't go for the brick layout.
RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM
Once I'd decided on the layout, I then had to decide on the positioning. One aspect of this is whether to lay the tiles horizontally or vertically. There were three factors that helped me to choose a wide look from my front door. Firstly, my house is almost a 'shotgun' house, meaning it's not wide but very deep and you could almost fire a shotgun from the front door to the back door. In fact, you could almost fire it right to the back of the garden! It's a very thin but long plot. So laying the tiles wide would give the illusion of width. Secondly, I knew the focal point of the room was going to be the chimney breast where my cooker will go. A small breakfast table will go opposite the chimney breast wall and, therefore, that wall will be even more of a focus. It's better to lay rectangular tiles so they look wide as you look at them from the place you're most likely to be. Thirdly, I wanted them to compliment the layout of the exterior stone wall so that there was no jarring from wide to long.
RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM
My layout pattern and orientation chosen, I then had to locate my starting point. As my kitchen is not 'square' in any direction, I had to find a compromise that didn't create a noticeable diagonal line along any of the four walls. This was quite a balancing act! I probably didn't do this part the correct way but, as luck would have it, the result could not have been better. All the lines running alongside the walls look right and there are no trapezium shapes as you look down the walls. I did a lot of measuring with my tape measure, put one tile down in the middle of the room, did a lot of measuring again, did dry-runs to see how the tiles would look at each wall, at the front door and at the living room doorway and settled on my starting point. I then marked around the master tile with black marker pen and then marked a line from that tile down to my exterior wall to help as a straight edge. You have to be careful your master tile doesn't move or all your lines will be out.
RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM
One decision I made, which is probably not standard, was to not go from the middle of the room but go from the middle of the chimney breast, which is going to be the focal point. It's not in the middle as I have room width on one side for the exit area to the stairs and living room. I'm happy I decided to offset the center-point as I think, once all the kitchen furniture is in, it's going to feel right and that's what's important.
I only installed about eight tiles at a time because that's what one bucket of adhesive covered and I liked to wash out the bucket after each mix. It took a lot longer than you would think to lay eight tiles and get them as damn near perfect as you would want to have to live with! It's tiring too...for an old girl!
I used the plastic self-levellers to help reduce lippage. I bought 500 clips and 200 wedges as the latter can be washed and reused. THIS is a good buy with the same product at the same volume as I bought. I didn't buy pliers so did all the pinching my hand, which was ok but a bit painful after a while. I could tighten them just as much as pliers could by clicking back, sliding the wedge further in, clicking back, etc. The next day, you can pull off the clips and wash the yellow wedges.
As I completed the installation in stages, I couldn't use the self-levellers on all edges all of the time. These levellers didn't work miracles but they did help, mostly by eliminating the risk of the tile sinking too low. However, you still have to lower the tile down to the right level yourself as the self-levellers will not do it all for you, unless your adhesive is very thin, which is not a good idea. I used various methods for levelling; pushing down, sliding from side to side, hammering with a plastic hammer and standing on the tile if it was really stubborn. Once I'd got the tile level with its adjacent tiles and level itself, I then fitted the plastic wedges and, lastly, the 3mm spacers I bought from Screwfix. You can use smaller spacers with rectified tiles but I wanted a noticeable grout line.
Edit: I have since been advised that I should have used larged and stronger self-levelling clips that would have done more of the work for me.
Once I'd installed the middle of the room, it was time to cut the edges. I tried using an angle-grinder with an expensive diamond disc but it took a long time and the cut was quite wide, removing too much tile. So I invested in a table-top water-cooled tile cutting machine. I'd used one before to install 130m of ceramic floor tiles so knew what to expect.
I bought a Ferm 180mm 600W Wet Electric Tile Cutter Saw which came with a free diamond cutting blade. I quickly chose to scrap the plastic blade cover, leaving the blade completely exposed, because it was very fiddly and hindered my view of the cutting. It's much better without the cover, although you do get wet! Make sure you wear goggle as shards of tile will hit you in the face. The cutter was excellent and the blade was still working well after 16sqm, although it was starting to chip a bit. I didn't break a single tile while using this cutter. In fact, not one tile was wasted during the entire installation. I think that's in part due to the fact the tiles had a 5 hard-wearing rating.
I didn't use the self-levellers on the edges but just relied on feeling with my hands and using my small vintage spirit level. I didn't fit the last two tiles at my living room doorway as they can wait until I've sorted out my living room floor. I did, however, finish off the edge at the front door by making a rounded-off slope out of grout to match in the very old and badly worn stone threshold. I used grout from the bottom of my bucket so it was more like modeling clay. It's probably not ideal but I'm happy with it. I might, in time, think of a way to improve my step and bring it into line with my tiling.
Once the tiling was complete, I cleaned out the gaps using a small flat-head screwdriver. I grouted with Mapei Anti Mould Tile Grout and found it to be easy to use and I got a nice finish with no pinholes. I think the water ratio is a bit out as it was better with less water. It went a long way though...1.5 bags for 16sqm. I didn't clean off the grout residue as much as I should have done as I was totally exhausted, so had to use a tile cleaning liquid from QEP at B&Q. I used it neat and it fizzed to work straight away. A quick rub with a plastic scourer and all the tile adhesive was wiped off. I had tried caustic soda to no avail, so this cleaner really is powerful stuff. I will probably put some sort of polish onto the floor to bring out the taupe colour and add a bit of a sheen.
I've now got a very clean tiled floor with no lippage having done all the work myself using tricky tiles in a sqewiff room for an absolute rock-bottom price. I'm pinching myself it all worked out well and delighted to see how beautifully it matches the exterior stonework. It's such a relief it's over and I didn't make a big mess of it. I must admit that I didn't enjoy taking on this daunting task but I had no other choice but to tackle it myself. I'm so glad it's over and floored with the result.....boom boom!
Watch the video of me installing the rectified porcelain floor tiling using the self-levelling system.
RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM
Once I'd installed the middle of the room, it was time to cut the edges. I tried using an angle-grinder with an expensive diamond disc but it took a long time and the cut was quite wide, removing too much tile. So I invested in a table-top water-cooled tile cutting machine. I'd used one before to install 130m of ceramic floor tiles so knew what to expect.
I bought a Ferm 180mm 600W Wet Electric Tile Cutter Saw which came with a free diamond cutting blade. I quickly chose to scrap the plastic blade cover, leaving the blade completely exposed, because it was very fiddly and hindered my view of the cutting. It's much better without the cover, although you do get wet! Make sure you wear goggle as shards of tile will hit you in the face. The cutter was excellent and the blade was still working well after 16sqm, although it was starting to chip a bit. I didn't break a single tile while using this cutter. In fact, not one tile was wasted during the entire installation. I think that's in part due to the fact the tiles had a 5 hard-wearing rating.
RECTIFIED PORCELAIN FLOOR TILING USING SELF LEVELING SYSTEM
I didn't use the self-levellers on the edges but just relied on feeling with my hands and using my small vintage spirit level. I didn't fit the last two tiles at my living room doorway as they can wait until I've sorted out my living room floor. I did, however, finish off the edge at the front door by making a rounded-off slope out of grout to match in the very old and badly worn stone threshold. I used grout from the bottom of my bucket so it was more like modeling clay. It's probably not ideal but I'm happy with it. I might, in time, think of a way to improve my step and bring it into line with my tiling.
Once the tiling was complete, I cleaned out the gaps using a small flat-head screwdriver. I grouted with Mapei Anti Mould Tile Grout and found it to be easy to use and I got a nice finish with no pinholes. I think the water ratio is a bit out as it was better with less water. It went a long way though...1.5 bags for 16sqm. I didn't clean off the grout residue as much as I should have done as I was totally exhausted, so had to use a tile cleaning liquid from QEP at B&Q. I used it neat and it fizzed to work straight away. A quick rub with a plastic scourer and all the tile adhesive was wiped off. I had tried caustic soda to no avail, so this cleaner really is powerful stuff. I will probably put some sort of polish onto the floor to bring out the taupe colour and add a bit of a sheen.
I've now got a very clean tiled floor with no lippage having done all the work myself using tricky tiles in a sqewiff room for an absolute rock-bottom price. I'm pinching myself it all worked out well and delighted to see how beautifully it matches the exterior stonework. It's such a relief it's over and I didn't make a big mess of it. I must admit that I didn't enjoy taking on this daunting task but I had no other choice but to tackle it myself. I'm so glad it's over and floored with the result.....boom boom!
Watch the video of me installing the rectified porcelain floor tiling using the self-levelling system.
You did such a wonderful job! I enjoyed watching you pour the self leveling underlayment and then the tile. I always wanted to do fixing up an old house, but now I am of the age that my energy and muscles argue with my imagination! I need to replace my kitchen and foyer floors and there is a bit of uneven cement to be leveled so I watched several videos and then I saw yours. I applaud you for taking on such a big project with only your dog for help. I will be excited to watch your progress. :)
ReplyDeleteSorry for not replying sooner. No notifications sent. I sympathise with the aches and pains...I have them too! How did your self-leveling job go?
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