Laying tiles in the bathroom (age-old question: bottom-up or top-down)

Before laying tiles on the walls, it is necessary to check the quality of the plaster. If there are voids and bulges, you will have to whip the plaster down to brick or concrete. Next, we check the surfaces for verticality using a plumb line.

In addition, the technology for laying tiles requires even corners in the room, so you will have to use a square. If deviations in excess of a few millimeters are detected, it is necessary to level the walls with a layer of plaster. We do the same with the floor, if its facing is also supposed.

When choosing a tile, you need to know that there are special types for floors and walls. Floor tiles are more durable, and their surface is not slippery. When calculating the quantity, it is best to include a small margin in them - some part may accidentally break, burst during cutting, etc.

Together with the tiles, you should purchase all the planned curbs, patterned decorative tiles etc. It is best to choose the glue from a number of dry building mixtures.

Wall cladding is carried out upwards, a rail is placed under the very first row, its horizontality is checked with a spirit level (level). This ensures that the rows are laid evenly. You can fix the slats in the corners by checking the verticals with a plumb line. In the course of work, the tile laying technology prescribes checking the horizontal and vertical of the entire plane with a level and a plumb line.

The adhesive is applied with a spatula to the back surface of the tile, after which the tile is applied to the base (wall). It should be lightly pressed down so that the adhesive on the back side evenly lies on both surfaces. We insert special plastic crosses between the adjacent tiles, which help to maintain the evenness of the rows and corners (they are removed later).

The optimum seam thickness between rows is 2-4 mm. The extreme tiles of each row, if they do not fit into the corner, are cut to the required length with a tile cutter. Some skill is needed here. We reduce such "cut" corners to where it is supposed to hang a cabinet, boiler or shelf in the future, which will cover all the irregularities.

Practically the same is required by the technology of laying paving stones or tiles on the floor. The direction is always towards the door from the farthest corner. For convenience, it is best to pull a horizontal thread or even several over the floor. The horizontal is also checked with a spirit level over the entire plane. When tiling the floor, it is required to use a rubber or wooden hammer to tap the tiles.

After the glue has completely dried, the front surface of the tiles on the walls and on the floor should be cleaned of its excess, and the voids in the seams should be filled with a joint using a rubber spatula. After the surplus is removed with an ordinary wet rag, the work can be considered completed.