How to Tile a Bathroom Floor 

For this HouseCall, Ron was invited to North Charleston, South Carolina, where Kathy Schuh, a new homeowner, was anxiously awaiting his visit. There were many projects that she could use help with, but the large bathroom was what she chose to tackle first. Although the linoleum really was in pretty decent shape, Kathy just couldn't seem to get it clean. She wanted to replace the linoleum with ceramic tile, but she needed a little expert help. And of course, Ron is up for the challenge!

Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project.


See The Complete How to Tile A Bathroom Floor Segement.

1. Remove toilet:

• Begin by turning off the water at the shut off valve and flushing the toilet. Remove the water remaining in the tank with a sponge. Use an adjustable wrench to disconnect the water supply from the toilet tank.
• Remove the nuts holding the toilet to the flange on the floor, and lift off the bowl. Remove the toilet from the bathroom and set it on its side to drain.
• Stuff a damp rag in the flange opening to prevent sewer gas from escaping.

2. Remove old linoleum:

• Pry off the shoe molding and peel up the old vinyl flooring. There will probably be some adhesive left behind, and this will need to be scraped off with a putty knife to create a clean smooth surface for the new tile.

3. Lay out new tile:

• The island of green tile was laid first. The layout of the remaining tiles was dictated by the position of these first tiles that were put down. Once the position the island was determined, they extended the edges with a chalk line, creating guidelines for the rest of the room. Ron recommended applying a little hairspray to seal the fragile line, making sure it would not rub off as they continued working.

• To mark the edges of the center island, they attached strips of wood with hot melt glue, just in case the mortar covered up some of the lines.

4. Mix thin-set mortar:

• Pour the mortar, which comes in powder form, into about a gallon of water. Ron recommends mixing the mortar using a paddle mixer powered by an electric drill. They mixed enough mortar to use in a 6-foot square.

• For this HouseCalls project, Ron used a quick-setting, thin-set mortar. This allowed them to grout the floor after only a two-hour wait. Because a quick setting mortar dries so quickly, it also gives you less time to work. If you are not in a rush, it's probably better to use a regular thin-set mortar. It will take 24 to 48 hours to set, but you will have much more time to work with the mixed product.
• The trowel you will be using should have two sides, a notched edge and a flat edge. To prepare the mortar for the tile, you will use both of these edges.

• The flat edge is used first, to distribute the mortar and press it firmly in contact with the floor. The notched edge is then used by tipping the trowel to a steep angle and scraping it across the surface. These notches create furrows or ridges of uniform thickness.

• Take the first tile and drop it in place. As you put it down, give it a little wiggle to set it firmly in place.
• Insert a vinyl spacer between each tile to help keep all the joints the same uniform width.

• After the green island was complete, they removed the strips of wood and began laying a border of decorative tiles.

6. Cut the odd shaped tiles:

• Nearly all the tiles that have been set, up to this point, have been full sized tiles. Now it's time to begin cutting some of the odd shaped edge tiles.
• To determine where to cut the partial tiles that will go along the wall, Ron first placed a full tile directly on top of a tile in the row closest to the wall. Next, he used a piece of scrap tile placed up against the wall to simulate the grout line. He placed a third tile on top and slid it up against the wall and then traced the edge onto the tile underneath. This marked piece of tile will be exactly the right size to fit the odd space.
• Use a water-cooled tile saw, or a wet saw, to cut the tiles.

• To cut a tile to fit around odd shapes, like molding, use a template gauge to duplicate the molding's shape and then transfer that shape onto card stock, cut out the pattern and trace it onto the tile. Next, use the wet saw to cut narrow strips in the section you will need to remove.

• Use a tile nipper to cut the sections off as close to the line as possible and finally, use the saw blade to grind the rough edges down to the line. The precision work will pay off with a perfect fit.

• The last section to cut is around the toilet drain. Start by measuring the diameter of the drain hole then use a compass to draw a circle on a piece of card stock and cut it out. Before cementing the tiles to the floor, put the first two in position. After centering the template on the drain hole, trace the template onto each tile. Use the wet saw and the same cutaway technique that was used for the molding.

• Repeat the process for the other two tiles and cement everything in place.