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SenorRaul722 Jul 2019 08:04Hi,
currently, the screed drying process is underway as part of our house construction. This will probably be completed in 2-3 weeks, and today we have the so-called “tile discussion” with the site manager and the tiler. We will go through the house room by room to decide how/much/where/in which pattern/in which direction the tiles will be laid.
We have already chosen the tiles themselves some time ago. Tiling will be done in the entrance hall, guest toilet, utility room, open living/kitchen area, and the main bathroom (upper floor). The tiles are 30x60cm (12x24 inches). A shade of gray for the floors, and a slightly lighter gray for the bathroom walls.
I assume every homeowner has such a tile discussion with the construction company or tiler as long as it’s not done as DIY, so I’m hoping for your ideas and experiences.
What should we be prepared for? Are there important things to consider?
- Tile layout pattern lengthwise/crosswise (does it depend on the room? More elongated or square rooms?)
- How high are tiles usually installed in bathrooms nowadays? Should the shower be tiled completely up to the ceiling?
- Tiles only behind the toilet/washbasin, or also on the sides if there is a wall immediately next to it?
One thing we will definitely bring up is that in the “nice” rooms, i.e., entrance hall and living room, we do not want a classic tile skirting but rather normal baseboards.
Thanks in advance for your tips!
currently, the screed drying process is underway as part of our house construction. This will probably be completed in 2-3 weeks, and today we have the so-called “tile discussion” with the site manager and the tiler. We will go through the house room by room to decide how/much/where/in which pattern/in which direction the tiles will be laid.
We have already chosen the tiles themselves some time ago. Tiling will be done in the entrance hall, guest toilet, utility room, open living/kitchen area, and the main bathroom (upper floor). The tiles are 30x60cm (12x24 inches). A shade of gray for the floors, and a slightly lighter gray for the bathroom walls.
I assume every homeowner has such a tile discussion with the construction company or tiler as long as it’s not done as DIY, so I’m hoping for your ideas and experiences.
What should we be prepared for? Are there important things to consider?
- Tile layout pattern lengthwise/crosswise (does it depend on the room? More elongated or square rooms?)
- How high are tiles usually installed in bathrooms nowadays? Should the shower be tiled completely up to the ceiling?
- Tiles only behind the toilet/washbasin, or also on the sides if there is a wall immediately next to it?
One thing we will definitely bring up is that in the “nice” rooms, i.e., entrance hall and living room, we do not want a classic tile skirting but rather normal baseboards.
Thanks in advance for your tips!
SenorRaul7 schrieb:
What we definitely want to address is that in the "nice" rooms, like the hallway and living room, we prefer to install regular baseboards instead of classic tile skirting. You can certainly do that, but your tiler will likely advise against it. My parquet installer also advised against it, even though he would have benefited from the work. The problem is that a straight wooden baseboard can’t conceal the 1-2mm (0.04-0.08 inch) height differences between some tiles. This means you will have to do a lot of touch-up work with acrylic around the wooden baseboard.
Tile discussions, haha. There’s no need to make it complicated. Here’s what we cover:
- Where everything will be placed
- Installation direction and pattern
- Grout color
- Silicone joint color (top and bottom)
- Tile height in the bathroom (for us, 4x30cm (12x12 inch) plus grout everywhere except the showers)
- Type of corner profiles and where they will be installed
Aren’t you possibly a bit late with some of these points? We already had the wall tile height taken into account by the plasterer, and baseboards need to be ordered at some point too (we had separate contracts for each trade).
What comes to mind right away: clarify what color the grout should be.
For joints ("Fugen") in the screed, these have to be transferred to the tiles—where necessary/possible, I would adjust the tile laying direction to these joints and make sure that a regular tile grout line runs over the screed joint.
Pay attention to the “edge pieces,” for example if only about 5 cm (2 inches) remain at the wall and you might need to start the tiling pattern differently. This gets especially tricky when different dado heights need to be considered for wall tiles—usually somewhere it doesn’t fit perfectly, leaving only a tiny tile piece.
Also look at the tiling pattern to see if you want certain symmetries.
The tiler might potentially have a veto on the pattern itself (I wanted a staggered pattern, but he rejected it due to some tiles not being perfectly flat, as this pattern highlights height differences the most).
Personally, I would always tile the toilet area far enough to cover possible splashes, meaning yes, the walls beside it and not just behind.
We chose about 150 cm (60 inches) high on the walls except in the shower, where it’s fully room height. We just had to carefully consider where the transition from full room height down to 150 cm (60 inches) happens, but in my opinion, we managed that well. By the way, the approximately 150 cm (60 inches) height results from full tiles and the finishing border tile.
What comes to mind right away: clarify what color the grout should be.
For joints ("Fugen") in the screed, these have to be transferred to the tiles—where necessary/possible, I would adjust the tile laying direction to these joints and make sure that a regular tile grout line runs over the screed joint.
Pay attention to the “edge pieces,” for example if only about 5 cm (2 inches) remain at the wall and you might need to start the tiling pattern differently. This gets especially tricky when different dado heights need to be considered for wall tiles—usually somewhere it doesn’t fit perfectly, leaving only a tiny tile piece.
Also look at the tiling pattern to see if you want certain symmetries.
The tiler might potentially have a veto on the pattern itself (I wanted a staggered pattern, but he rejected it due to some tiles not being perfectly flat, as this pattern highlights height differences the most).
Personally, I would always tile the toilet area far enough to cover possible splashes, meaning yes, the walls beside it and not just behind.
We chose about 150 cm (60 inches) high on the walls except in the shower, where it’s fully room height. We just had to carefully consider where the transition from full room height down to 150 cm (60 inches) happens, but in my opinion, we managed that well. By the way, the approximately 150 cm (60 inches) height results from full tiles and the finishing border tile.
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SenorRaul723 Jul 2019 09:45So, we have finished and discussed all the rooms.
In both showers, we will tile up to the ceiling. Otherwise, in the bathrooms around the toilet and elsewhere, the tiles will be 1.20 m high (3 feet 11 inches), for example on shelves.
We have chosen anthracite floor tiles and lighter gray wall tiles. As a "highlight," the shelves at the washbasin, etc., will also be tiled with the darker floor tile. So basically, all horizontal surfaces will have the floor tile.
For the layout pattern, we decided on a "random bond" in all rooms. The tiles will be installed perpendicular to the entrance of each room.
In the hallway and living room, as planned, we will omit the tiled skirting and instead use regular baseboards. We will see how we manage to seal the gaps there. In the utility room, kitchen, and bathrooms, the classic tiled skirting will remain.
In both showers, we will tile up to the ceiling. Otherwise, in the bathrooms around the toilet and elsewhere, the tiles will be 1.20 m high (3 feet 11 inches), for example on shelves.
We have chosen anthracite floor tiles and lighter gray wall tiles. As a "highlight," the shelves at the washbasin, etc., will also be tiled with the darker floor tile. So basically, all horizontal surfaces will have the floor tile.
For the layout pattern, we decided on a "random bond" in all rooms. The tiles will be installed perpendicular to the entrance of each room.
In the hallway and living room, as planned, we will omit the tiled skirting and instead use regular baseboards. We will see how we manage to seal the gaps there. In the utility room, kitchen, and bathrooms, the classic tiled skirting will remain.
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