2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 22:24
- Plumbing in the bathroom
- How to knock down an old tile with your own hands
- Plastering the surface - preparation for laying tiles
- Ceramic tile laying technology
- How to quickly put tiles in the bathroom video
If the enamel of the bathroom is damaged, the coating of the faucets is damaged by limescale, the streaks of rust from the sink are no longer washed off, and the tarnished tiles have fallen off in places. Well, it's time for you to renovate the bathroom. Such repairs are very expensive. The cost of building materials and plumbing can be reduced only due to their quality, but the repair itself is quite feasible. The cost of such repairs is approximately equal to the cost of materials. By making it yourself, you can cut costs in half. Prepare that the repair will take a long time and cause some inconvenience. Be careful and take your time - and the result will exceed your expectations! And now let's study in detail the technology of laying ceramic tiles on the floor and walls of the bathroom. After that, look at the video lesson to fix the video and you can put your own tiles in any room. See also an article on how to enamel a bath with your own hands.
Plumbing in the bathroom
First of all, remove the plumbing in the bathroom before you start installing ceramic tiles on the floor and walls. If your drain is made of cast iron, be careful - cast iron is a relatively brittle metal. Do not hit it hard with a hammer. As a rule, only a vertical common riser is left from the cast-iron sewer (if it cannot be replaced for subjective reasons). Cast iron sewer connections are usually sealed with a reel with cement. You can remove this seal by reaming it with a 2 mm drill. This will make it easier to dismantle the unnecessary part of the sewer.
Installation of sewerage and plumbing is beyond the scope of this article. Therefore, we will restrict ourselves to one rule. You need to know exactly where the plumbing will be located. If you decide to swap the toilet and sink, then you will have to redo the plumbing and drain system. You can read more specifically about the installation of a water supply system here.
How to knock down an old tile with your own hands
First, remove the old tile. This requires a hammer and chisel. Place the chisel at the smallest possible angle to the surface to be cleaned. Protect yourself by wearing safety glasses and gloves. If you have a hammer drill - great! It will significantly speed up your work. By lightly tapping, we determine how well the plaster adheres. In older houses, often a monolithic layer of plaster does not actually adhere to the wall anymore. In this case, it must be removed. Completely old coating is removed even if it is made of lime mortar. The most difficult case is an old concrete wall in the bathroom, painted with enamel. Manufacturers of tile adhesives guarantee the quality of the masonry when at least 80% of the tile surface adheres to the wall, so the paint cannot be cut. It must be brought down. Usually,the best result is obtained with a conventional hammer. But you can also try a hammer drill or a special attachment on an angle grinder. In the video examples, ceramic tiles have already been knocked down.
After you have managed to knock down the old tile with your own hands, we proceed to the next important steps. The cleaned surface is treated with a primer to increase adhesion (adhesion). If the surface absorbs it (typical for old brickwork), then the primer is made several times or a special primer "concrete contact" is used (one layer is enough). When priming the surface, you can use the principle "you can't spoil the porridge with oil."
Plastering the surface - preparation for laying tiles
The surface on which the tiles will be laid should be as flat and vertical (horizontal) as possible. This will reduce the consumption of expensive tile glue and improve the quality of the masonry. See the article on how to plaster walls with your own hands video, technology for installing beacons and other nuances. The fact is that any, even expensive, imported ceramic tiles have deviations from the nominal parameters. For domestic tiles of the first grade, these deviations are about a millimeter. It seems that this is not much, but a dozen tiles can give an error in a centimeter! So, one of these parameters is a deviation from the ideal plane. Therefore, an even surface will allow you to additionally control the quality of the masonry, making sure that the applied layer of glue has the same thickness. In addition, with an excessively thick adhesive layer,when installing the next ceramic tile, it may not squeeze out into the gap, but go under the previous one, squeezing it out. The verticality of the walls can be checked by repeatedly measuring them with a suspension. But another way can be applied. The bathroom wall is marked with vertical stripes. The outermost stripes are about 10 cm from the edge. The distance between adjacent strips is chosen depending on the tool with which the plaster will be applied with your own hands (usually a large spatula or polisher). It is better to use a rule that is at least a meter long, and mark the wall so that the distance between the adjacent three stripes is 10-15 cm less than the length of the rule. Holes with a diameter of 6-8 mm are drilled in each strip at a distance of 0.5 m. Plastic dowels are inserted into them, and screws are screwed into the dowels. Sequentially screwing and unscrewing the screws, using the rack level, we place them in one "virtual" vertical plane. The final "virtual plane" will be the plaster surface. It is necessary that the layer of plaster is not less than 0.5 cm.
Guides are made on the basis of the exposed screws. A flat rail is pressed against the screws (for example, a starter metal ceiling profile for plasterboard "Knauf"). The plaster mixture is tightly hammered under the rail. If the wall drop is large and the mixture does not hold, then thin strips of drywall can be used as reinforcement, fastening them together with the same mixture. A few hours later, after the initial hardening of the mixture, the river is removed, the resulting strip is cleaned - the guide is ready. (The second option is shown from the side in the photo, screw the profile of the required length to the wall, set it on a level and start laying ceramic tiles on it). The video below shows an example of how else to lay flat. Ready-made guides are on sale - special T-shaped perforated beacons. For their installation, a strip of plaster mixture is applied to the wall, and then the beacon is pressed into it so that the mixture is squeezed out through the holes. The verticality of the rail is controlled with a level. It should be ensured that there are no gaps between the level and the beacon along the entire length. Learn more about plastering and working with lighthouses.
When the tiles are laid in the bathroom with their own hands, then according to the technology it is necessary to use cement-based plaster mixtures, they are more durable. Gypsum plasters are hygroscopic and cannot guarantee a durable installation and require waterproofing.
The mixture is poured onto the wall with a spatula or trowel with a sharp movement of the brush. If you are using a homemade mortar or an inexpensive ready-mixed mixture, it is best to wet the surface to which the solution is applied with water. The applied solution is leveled by a rule that slowly rises up along the guides and at the same time makes a reciprocating movement perpendicular to them. If there are pits in the finished surface, then they are filled with mortar and the alignment is repeated. For large irregularities in the wall, the plaster is applied in two to three layers. Each layer must be completely dry and primed. The finished surface can be sanded, if necessary, and primed.
Remember that at least one corner must be right. A bath will be installed in it. The floor is leveled using the same technique. The only difference is that it must be pre-waterproofed. Waterproofing must protect the entire floor and the bottom of the wall. For waterproofing, the easiest way is to use a special ready-made mixture. Its use is simple and detailed in the instructions on the package.
Ceramic tile laying technology
You must first mark the surface with your own hands. The video below shows an example of how to do this. It is desirable that the sink is located symmetrically relative to the tile, the bathtub does not cover most of the row of tiles, and the border does not go where the mixer will be (this will not allow the mixer reflectors to be firmly and evenly pressed against the wall). Ceramic tiles should be purchased with a margin of about 10% of the area of the walls and floor. Some of the tiles will go to waste after cutting and fighting. You can also put a pack of tiles in reserve, suddenly during operation it will be damaged - there will be something to replace immediately.
If the bottom row consists of cut tiles, then the laying should start from the second row (the bottom row is laid after laying the floor). To do this, an even rail is set around the perimeter of the room using a level. It will be a support for the tile. It is better to start laying each row with the central tile. This will help reduce the build-up of error due to dimensional differences between the tiles. Tile adhesive is applied with a notched trowel. According to the technology, the spatula is carried at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. In terms of density, the solution should resemble sour cream. A tile is applied and heated with a light tap of a rubber mallet. The excess glue is removed, the ends of the tiles are cleaned and the operation is repeated with the next tile.
The gap between the tiles is leveled with a plastic cross. The tile and the cross have a trapezoidal cross-section, therefore, the deeper the cross is recessed, the wider the seam will be, so you need to put it so that the tile does not look askew. After all, the difference in the size of the tiles must be leveled by changing the width of the tile joint. This can be done using special plastic wedges. The easiest way to achieve good quality is to keep the top edge of the row on a straight line. The next row should be started only after the previous one has been completed. This will ensure that the seams between the rows are aligned (the top edge of the row of tiles is horizontal). In addition, it will be possible to visually check the verticality of the masonry in the corners of the walls.
If required, the ceramic tiles are cut by hand using a tile cutter or a small "grinder" with a victorious disc. See the article on how to cut tiles correctly. When working with a grinder, be sure to use gloves, glasses and a respirator. With a grinder, you can also grind the tile to the desired size, make cutouts in it for plumbing hatches. If you need to make a hole, here are ways to make holes in ceramic tiles. In order to hide the chips of the glaze in the place of the cut, you can use plastic tile corners. The size of the corners and their color are selected depending on the tile.
It is better to lay tiles on the floor and position them so that the cut tiles are under the bathroom. You should not use a notched trowel here, it is better to apply an even layer of glue with a regular one. When using a notched trowel, there is a high probability of voids in the adhesive layer. This can cause the floor tiles to crack during use.
After about a day, the joints between the ceramic tiles are filled with grout. It is applied with a rubber trowel. After 15-20 minutes after application, the seam is smoothed out with a damp sponge. After another day, the remnants of the grout are removed from the tiles, first with a damp and then with a dry cloth. Find out how much grout is needed using a calculator. Now watch the video tutorials - examples of how specialists perform the same actions for laying tiles. The technology is the same. Now you are ready to do your own bathroom renovation.
How to quickly put tiles in the bathroom video
Two more videos for an example of how to lay tiles in the bathroom. The principle remains the same, but the approach is slightly different.
