If you are looking to get new marble tiles put into your home or if you have tile made of marble that you would like removed, you should call a licensed home remodeling contractor to do the work for you. Applying the grout, digging and laying the tiles can be a struggle and is best left up to a professional home improvement contractor. Your local residential contractor can assist you with any tiles that you want removed or installed.
But if you are looking for a small project that you can do yourself, you can think about laying ceramic tiles in your kitchen or bathroom. The three easiest tiles to install are vinyl, ceramic and laminate. The most popular are ceramic and laminate. Vinyl is soft and very easy to install. If you have younger children, it’s a good idea to go with these tiles for your floor. It’s very soft to walk on and all you have to do to install it is to peel and stick them to your floor.
Ceramic is durable and is very easy to clean, which is why it’s great for kitchen areas. Though it is very likable, it isn’t so forgiving when you drop something onto it. Ceramic tiles break easily. Laminate tiles come in various designs, such as wood, stone and ceramic layouts. It is kind of like the material used for countertops, but harder. These are usually found in bathrooms because they don’t need a lot of upkeep, unlike wood tile which would be horrible in the bathroom since it is always damp from people taking showers and using the sink.
To install laminate tiles onto any room in your home, you will first need to measure the perimeter you will be installing it into. You should begin measuring from the starting wall to the finishing wall and divide it by the length of the laminate board. The good thing about the laminate tiles is that it can be laid over the current tile or flooring that you have in your home already – everything but carpet of course. After dividing the measurements (if you’re lucky you will get an even number), if you come up with an odd number, you will have to trim the first and last boards to allow the pattern to be centered.
If you are doing the bathroom, you will need to remove the toilet. The cabinet with sink can stay. You now roll out the foam underlayment along the beginning wall and cut to length. You can roll out more underlayment as needed while you’re installing the laminate tiles.
To allow expansion options, you should use ¼” spacers between the tiles and the vertical services like walls, showers and tubs. The space can be covered later with the molding, so don’t worry. You then install the next piece by lining it up with short ends of the board and clicking them in place. You should use a tapping block and a hammer to tap on the short end and seal the rows into place. Don’t forget to glue each joint.
Last, you wait 24 hours, then remove the spacers and install the molding pieces. You can use a silicon caulk, if you are installing in the bathroom. Use the silicon caulk to seal around the walls and toilet and the caulk and molding to seal the around the tub. Make sure that you aren’t fooled by the labels that claim that all you have to do is click the tiles into place, always remember to place the glue on the seams to ensure that they are water tight.