Installing Stone Tile in Your Bathroom

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Installing stone tile in your bathroom can not only add the beauty of natural stone to your bathroom walls and floors, increasing the value of your home, but the best part is that installing stone tile in your bathroom is just as simple as installing ceramic tile in your bath, the only real difference in the tile installation process is that you will require a wet saw with a diamond blade due to the hardness of natural stone.

Limestone, marble, and granite are the bathroom designer’s stones of choice and while natural stone tiles may be slightly more expensive than ceramic tiles, the price has actually come down in recent years. The trend in stone tile size selection has increased over the years from subway sized tiles to much larger 12×12 inch or bigger tiles.

“Summary: Installing stone tile in your bathroom can add the beauty of natural stone to your bathroom walls and floors giving your bathroom a sense of elegance. When handling and installing natural stone tile in your bathroom, you do have to be a little more careful than when working with ceramic tile. When installing stone tile in your bathroom you need to do a dry run by laying out your tiles to see if they will fit in the allotted space on your bathroom floor.”

When handling and installing natural stone tile in your bathroom, you do have to be a little more careful than when working with ceramic tile. This is primarily due to the fact that natural stone is not a manufactured material therefore the minerals that make up the stones pattern are distributed unevenly throughout the tile which could potentially make it brittle and subject to fracture along the mineral lines so try not to jar the tiles too much.

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Another unique feature of natural stone tiles that you should be aware of when installing stone tile in your bathroom, is that some tiles may be slightly thicker than others, therefore you may need to adjust the amount of thinset underneath your tiles to compensate for this difference in thickness to make sure your stone tiles are level.

Tips For Installing Stone Tile

Due to the natural properties of natural stone when it is cut, there will be a thin layer of stone dust on the bottom of your tiles. This dust residue needs to be wiped off with a damp cloth and clean water before you install the stone tiles in your bathroom. If this is not done, it will reduce the adhesive ability of the thin-set to bond properly with the tile, to create a snug and stable tile floor. And don’t forget to let the stone tiles dry completely before you lay down your tiles.

Just like ceramic tiles, when installing stone tiles in your bathroom you need to do a dry run by laying out your tiles to see if they will fit in the allotted space on your bathroom floor. Next, you need to mark your layout grid lines on your lavatory floor by snapping out chalk lines to serve as guides to keep your tile square with your bathroom walls.

Pick up, count, and stack your tiles strategically in different sections of your bathroom floor so you won’t have to be going back and forth each time you need a tile. Mix your thin-set with a low speed (below 300 rpm) mixing drill or use a mortar paddle from your tiling toolbox and let it sit for about ten minutes before applying the mixture to your floor.

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Apply the thin-set using a trowel to your bathroom subfloor inside the grid lines on the floor, but do not cover the chalk lines or else you won’t be able to see your grid. Also, apply some thin-set to the back of your stone tiles (called buttering the tile). Set and level the tiles (using a straight edge) on your bathroom floor within the confines of each grid, use plastic spacers between the tiles and adjust the tiles with a slight twisting motion to align your tiles along your layout lines. Continue installing your stone tiles in your bathroom, spacing the tiles as you go.

When installing stone tile in your bathroom, it’s sometimes a good idea to let the rest of your floor tiles (sometimes called field tiles) set overnight before you attempt to finish off your edge tiles as these will normally need to be cut because your bathroom floor is rarely if ever completely square and your tiles will sometimes be different sizes.

Cut the edge tiles using a wet saw with a diamond blade and bevel off the edges with a sanding block or sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood. Set your edge tiles in the thin-set mortar, remembering to butter the back of the stone tiles. Let the mortar cure for twenty-four hours. To finish up the process of installing stone tile in your bathroom you need to mix up a batch of unsanded grout, just enough to work on one small section of your bathroom at a time.

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As a special note, when installing stone tiles in your bathroom, they are naturally porous, so to avoid your tiles absorbing too much moisture from the grout you need to mist them using water from a spray bottle before you apply the grout to the tiles. Using a float, apply the grout over your stone tiles and remove the excess grout, wait about fifteen minutes and then using a damp sponge or cloth wipe off the grout haze from off the surface of your stone tiles.

It’s important to work in one small section of your bathroom floor at a time; this will ensure you are able to wipe off any excess grout haze before it has the opportunity to harden on your stone tiles. Continue the grouting process until your bathroom floor is completely grouted.

Let the grout cure based upon the manufactures specifications. Once the grout is dried, seal your tile and grout lines to care and protect your stone tiles and prolong the stone’s natural beauty. As you can see installing stone tile in your bathroom is not that different from installing ceramic tile in your loo but the elegance and atmosphere it creates are well worth the effort.

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Squaring and Leveling Bathroom Tile

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Squaring and leveling bathroom tile is a skill you must learn when installing a ceramic tile floor. A problem that many novice bathroom renovators have when laying tile for the first time is uneven bathroom floor tiles. Creating beautiful professional-looking floor tiles is not that hard if you know the skills necessary to square and level your bathroom tiles.

Many beginner bath renovators are surprised to find that most bathroom walls are rarely perfectly square, so in order to compensate for this problem, you have to determine if your bathroom floor tile will need adjusting for a visually appealing fit. Finding the center of your bathroom floor and dry-laying your floor tiles will help to minimize squaring and leveling your bathroom tiles if you simply mark and follow layout lines you have chalked in on your bath floor.

Similarly, using a four-foot carpenter’s level on the edge of your ceramic tile will also ensure your tiles are straight and lined up properly and as a final measure, gently tapping high areas with a beater block and a rubber mallet will flatten any surface abnormalities for a professional-looking tiled bathroom floor.

“Summary: Squaring and levelling bathroom tile is a three step process. To begin squaring and levelling your bathroom tiles your first must square your tiles to the rest of your bathroom. Developing a grid, utilizing a carpenter’s level and tapping down uneven tiles with a beater block and rubber mallet will ensure a professional look when squaring and levelling bathroom tile in your lavatory.”

Read more: How to Use a Ceramic Tile Saw

The last thing you want to do is stub your toe or trip over raised tile when stepping out of your shower. Squaring and leveling your bathroom tiles will alleviate this concern. When laying out the tile on your bathroom floor it will be necessary to square and level your bathroom tiles to create a professional-looking and safe ceramic tile floor.

Perfectly square bathroom walls are a rarity in any home so here is a simple way to determine if your bathroom floor is at right-angles in order to visually square your tile layout with the rest of your bathroom. Find the center of your bathroom floor area by first finding the midpoint on opposite walls and snapping a chalk line across the room to form a perpendicular (cross hairlines) at the midpoint of your lavatory so the lines are at right angles to each other.

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From the center point measure out three feet on one line and four feet on the other perpendicular line and mark the points. Now connect the two points to form the third line of the triangle, if that third line measures five feet exactly then your bathroom floor is square. When squaring and leveling your bathroom tile you may need to adjust the lines until the third line measures five feet exactly. Unfortunately, if your bathroom walls are really out of whack you may need to cut your edge tiles to accommodate your bathroom’s skewed dimensions since you need to start tiling from the center of the room and work your way out towards the edges.

When squaring and leveling bathroom tiles, your next step to ensure straight tiles is to dry-lay your bathroom tiles in both directions along the chalk lines from the center of the room. You are laying down the ceramic tiles without the mortar but using the joint spacers in between the individual tiles so you can get a feel of how many tiles you will need and later create a grid to place your tiles in. Initially, you are forming a plus sign in the center of your bathroom with the tiles you have laid on the floor. Use a four-foot carpenter’s level on the edge of your ceramic tiles to make sure all the edges line up along the level.

When you are satisfied that your tiles are straight when squaring and leveling your bathroom tile, mark the floor beside the tiles at the juncture of each tile where the grout will be filled in between the tiles. Pick up your tiles and then using the marks on the floor, snap chalk lines in the center of the marks on your bathroom floor. Using the remaining center marks on the floor, continue snapping chalk lines along your bathroom floor to form a grid of chalk lines you will later use as a layout when setting your ceramic tiles.

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To continue squaring and leveling your bathroom tiles, spread thin-set inside the lines of your chalk layout and set in your floor tiles, inserting spacers between the tiles to ensure you will have enough room between the tiles for the grout.

Needless to say, some spots of thin-set mortar will be thicker than others and you will have to gently tap the tiles level. To rectify this problem take a two-by-four and wrap it with a piece of carpet or similar shock-absorbent material (lovingly called a beater block) and using a rubber mallet, which should be part of your tiling toolbox, gently tap the tile in place so it is flat and level with the other tiles.

And to ensure your bathroom floor tiles are straight, run your handy carpenter’s level along the edge of your bathroom tiles to straighten the joints. As you can see squaring and leveling bathroom tile is straight forward and doable by anyone. Don’t be intimidated by bathroom tiling projects because just like the professionals, once you know how, the sky is the limit. Happy tiling!

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