Kitchen Floor Tiling

Hi all

Looking at tiles for the kitchen floor and because it's a dark room, we were considering fairly light tiles to brighten the place. Does anyone have light tiles in the kitchen? Is it workable, or do they get stained by flying food stuffs? Also, we are considering a dark grout to avoid obvious staining of the white alternative.

What dictates the notch size for the adhesive spreader when laying? I have a float/spreader with 6mm deep tapered notches from some other job if that will generate the right sort of floor tile laying bed.

Finally any personal recommendations on web sites for step-by-step guides please?

TIA

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster
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Yes, a light beige colour, cheap from B&Q a few years back

No problems, we have five cats and believe me, they can spread muck about like nobody's business. Just mops clean.

We went for a beige waterproof grout close to the tile colour, reasonable quality. I think you'd find the much darker grout an annoyance after a while.

The recommended is a square section notch about 1/4". Make sure you get a decent layer down. it's quite easy to finish up with 'thin' areas of adhesive.

Your best bet is to spend a few minutes measuring and drawing out the floor.

What you need to try and arrange is to have 'wide' part tiles at the edges, i.e. if the floor is a notional 10 1/2 tiles wide, arrange it so you finish up with 9 whole tiles and two 3/4 wide tiles at the edges, rather than 10 whole and two 1/4 wide tiles, IYSWIM. Much easier to cut, and if you think about it, you still use the same number of tiles. A cheap power cutter makes life much easier, decent floor tiles are bloody hard!

Always, always start at the centre and work to the edges. A chalk line is invaluable for laying out. Depending on the layout, you could either start with a tile centrally over the mid point of the room, or four tiles laid around the mid point, depending on how many whole tiles to give you 1/2 tile+ at the edges.

Final tip, wide spacers, at least 5mm.

Reply to
The Wanderer

"The Wanderer" wrote

Thanks Wanderer for comprehensive response. One further question please - will a score-and-snap-type tile cutter work on floor tiles?

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

Ceramic tiles - absolutely yes. My low end Rubi made a lovely job of cutting my 300mm floor tiles.

Reply to
Tim Watts
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I second the cheap power cutter advice. Well worth it.

Reply to
Vortex7

BTW if Topps stock the tiles you want there's 6% cashback from Quidco.

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Reply to
Vortex7

Really no point for the vast majority of straight cuts, although the odd cut may not be possible any other way. Takes at least ten times longer than a snapper, which gets a bit tedious after a while.

Reply to
stuart noble

Yes but they are dearer on-line compared to in the shop or at least they were with the ones I ordered. Tell them you are in the trade and you get a further discount (usually)

For the OP, some good advice here

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Reply to
RoundSquare

My fairly robust score and snap cutter was passed on via freecycle when I got the power cutter. It was just too hit and miss for a nice clean break. It worked well on wall tiles but wasn't much good for floor tiles. Too many breakages despite trying all manner of scoring tools.

Be warned, the power cutter operates with a shallow water bath, and is quite messy!

I found a waxy crayon was best for marking the tiles, as the water would wash off a marker pen.

I'm assuming you know how to mark tiles around the edges to make sure you get a decent fit.....

Reply to
The Wanderer

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