Porcelain or ceramic tile flooring can last for a life time if its installation is followed by professionally recommended guidelines. It gives a startling look to your home and you can find a huge variety of colors in ceramic tiles. The difference between porcelain and ceramic tiles is just that porcelain doesn’t have protective coating over it and ceramic tile is a sealed product. If we talk about the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring, it’s not difficult at all; and you can easily accomplish it by making best use of these tips and steps.
Floor
- You need to prepare the surface of the subfloor where you want to install any kind of flooring. Same is the case when you are planning to install porcelain or ceramic tile flooring. You will have to pass through regular preparation of subfloor which includes cleaning and sanding. However, you need to lightly sand the subfloor for the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring, making sure that the surface of the subfloor is completely flat. If it is not, work on it with a chisel to remove any raised spots and balance the level of the surface. Porcelain or ceramic tiles are not flexible at all. Therefore, you will need to double check the surface of the subfloor before the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring.
Take out the Baseboards and Clear you Doors
- The baseboards need to be removed and replaced later after the porcelain or ceramic tiles have been laid. So, it is better to remove them before even you begin with the installation. Besides, you also need to have clearance for the doors where you will need to have at least a space of the heights of two tiles. Otherwise, the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring would look devastated near your door, causing problems in its opening as well as closing. However, if you do not have that much of space available, you can make it work by trimming the lower end of your door.
Center of your Room
- The best idea for starting the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring is to draw a cross on the floor – determining the center of the room – with the help of a chalk. However, you can also proceed with other ideas of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring installation for any reasons that sound valid to your artistic sense.
Porcelain or Ceramic Tile Flooring Installation
- When you are done with the initial preparation for the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring, you need to move on the next step where a moderately thin grout is applied on the floor and porcelain or ceramic tiles are laid on it in rows, along with the lines.
- Do not apply it over the entire surface. Instead, apply it over a small area, lay porcelain or ceramic tiles over it and lightly tap them with the help of a rubber malt to firmly fix them. You can use grout marker for marking and a notched trowel for perfecting the entire procedure.
- Porcelain or ceramic tiles should fit perfectly throughout your room and it usually is easily to arrange them in an order than helps them fit in. However, at some edges, the length of ceramic tiles might exceed more than the requirements. In that case, you can trim it with the help of a cutting tool, which you can find in any local hardware store.
- Once you are done with all these steps of the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring, you need to clean the surface of the flooring and let it dry for at least 24 hours.
- Examine the Porcelain or ceramic tiles flooring carefully and following manufacturer’s directions, mix the grout. Make sure that you fill all the empty spaces between the porcelain or ceramic tiles with grout.
- Rinse the porcelain or ceramic tile flooring with a soggy sponge to wipe away any excessive grout that is left on the surface or outside the empty blanks and repeat this process for 10 minutes.
- After that, leave the porcelain or ceramic tiles flooring for at least 10 days before you seal it.
This way, you would be able to efficiently finalize the installation of porcelain or ceramic tile flooring in your home. It won’t cost much and you would also be saving your money by doing it yourself. Use that money for some other home improvements that you might be interested in.
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