ᐅ Installing tiles yourself to save 6,000 to 8,000 euros?

kaho674 schrieb:
Should we take the plunge? Are there any tools to make the job easier?

Adjacent room and small tiles, smooth new screed? Definitely!

Tool 1: Your head – measure the room and match it with the tile sizes. It’s very frustrating if you end up missing 2 cm (0.8 inches) of tile on one side or have to fit a 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 inches) wide piece in. Always make sure the visible side looks nice and place cut edges, for example, on a side where there are already many cabinets or built-in wardrobes.

Tool 2: Guide string – if the room is not perfectly square or the dimensions are tight, start tiling in the center of the room or 1–2 rows away from a wall, and stretch a guide string in the desired tile direction.
OR: if one side is permanently blocked by built-in cabinets, etc.

Tool 3: Tile spacers – don’t place them inside the grout joint but place four on top at each intersection. This results in a much more consistent grout line. With 3 mm (0.1 inch) spacers, you can sneak off about 1 mm (0.04 inch) where things are uneven, which is hardly noticeable. With 2 mm (0.08 inch) spacers, that becomes tight.

Tool 4: Notched trowel and feeling – don’t mix the tile adhesive too thickly so the tiles easily slide into position and fully adhere to the substrate. Using a notched trowel is essential; otherwise, it just turns into a mess!

Tool 5: Tile cutter – for 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) up to 8 mm (0.3 inch) thick tiles, a standard cutter around $30 will do. For larger formats, spend more for better tools. Cheap cutters for large tiles often don’t make clean edges or cuts, and when big tiles break, you don’t save much money in the end.

The trickiest part for me was grouting afterward. Getting the grout consistency right takes practice: too firm and you get voids and it becomes a sweaty job; too runny and it runs everywhere. Timing the final cleaning is also tricky—too early and you pull grout out of the joints, too late and it’s ten times harder. On the floor, I preferred working with a grout float rather than a grout board/rubber board for applying the grout. When wiping, use a sponge float and fresh water very often, but not too much of it.

Alex85 schrieb:
Merazzi was immediately ruled out for us when we saw it in person.

It was the same for us with Merazzi.
It’s just a pity about the sample order.
The Rovere model looked amazing in the photo, but in reality, I would have wanted to smash it right away. If I had ordered and installed 105m² (1130 sq ft) of it, I would have been upset with myself for the next 20 years.

If you live in the northern region, you don’t need to order anything—there’s a Harry’s tile market nearby. You can always find a good selection and good prices there. The staff are knowledgeable, too. And you can take the items with you right away. My go-to Harry’s was the one in Lübeck. There are also locations in Kiel, Hamburg, Rostock, and I believe in Itzehoe as well.

My husband has now done half of it himself. I don’t have to do anything – oh, how nice!
So far, it looks quite okay. At one or two spots, some adhesive got on the tile. Now I’m wondering if it will ever come off after drying? Does anyone know?

It depends on whether the surface is rather smooth or rough. A glass-ceramic cooktop scraper is your friend.

I've been through this as well. My husband acted as laborer and mortarer. Using 30 x 30 cm (12 x 12 inches) tiles with tile spacers.
What you really can’t find documented anywhere is the fact that the adhesive often squeezes out into the joints, causing problems with the grout lines.
Surely you don’t want grout lines, but that won’t be easy. The adhesive always squeezes out somewhere or sticks to the tiles. Or the tiles become hollow... anyway: craftsmanship is something you have to practice until you can do it well.
By the way, as a beginner I laid out the tiles across the whole room (open living-dining area in a townhouse), corrected it 3 times until everything was straight...
After 7 days, 50 sqm (540 sq ft) including corners were installed, and I ended up with a slipped disc and burned fingertips because I couldn’t manage with the gloves.

... and that damn mortar everywhere ...

Honestly, I would rather build the shell walls myself because you can save more there and you don’t have to work as precisely.
With poor tile installation, you ruin the entire look.