Tile floor in a kitchen or bathroom?

[SarahLovesJS]

Did you do it yourself or hire someone?

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

We did it ourselves. Tiling is one of the easiest and fastest home improvement projects. You can rent a tile saw at home depot or buy an inexpensive one ($80 is where they start in price). I love tiling!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Awesome! It looks like it can be a big money saver. Any good websites to use or whatever to learn the process? I don''t want to mess it up that''s for sure!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I found the DIY channel''s site (DIYnet.com or DIY.net) to be really helpful. They have how-to articles and videos to walk you through the process and they have great forums if you have questions. In my experience the most difficult parts are choosing what foundation product to use (depends on area and what you''re tiling over) and how to lay out the pattern/grid if you''re working in a space that''s complicated (corners that aren''t at a 90 degree angle for example).

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Ohh I see, sounds good. I will check it out. The house we''re looking at has a vinyl floor in the kitchen and I HATE vinyl. So I was looking for a less expensive way to put tile in since it''s not a very large area. Thank you tons!

 

[April20]

I think it depends on the tile and the timeline. I didn''t do mine. I had hex tile done in two bathroom floors and the shower done in one bathroom. I didn''t have the time to do it myself and wasn''t convinced I wouldn''t jack up the hex tile.

 

[HVVS]

I'd rather have vinyl or wood in a kitchen. Any dish or glass that falls onto tile is gone, with subsequent broken glass mess to clean up. And possibly chipped tile as well. Some of it is slippery when wet. It's a lot of grout to clean or bleach and maintain. And it's hard on the feet and back if you stand or walk on it all the time. If you or "they" don't get the underlayment / foundation built right, the tiles will crack with time and traffic. If you get tired of the vinyl and want to change, it's easy to rip it out and redo it yourselves.

I don't like Pergo and it's copycats for much the same reason. Pergo over a slab has to be sound deadened somehow or you get clak...clak...clak when you walk on it.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

HVVS, I agree with your post to a point, but disagree otherwise. I hate linoleum, but it is durable and easy to care for. I currently have hw in my kitchen and I HATE IT!!!! Yes, it''s easier under your feet and dishes do not break as easily, but it''s a PITA to keep clean and I''m always paranoid about water. What if my fridge or dishwasher leaks? HW is too expensive to replace.

 

[MustangGal]

DH and I have done both bathrooms and our kitchen/laundry room/hallways. It wasn''t that bad, and saved a ton of money. Rent a real tile saw, we didn''t do that for the bathrooms, and the cut edges are really horrible looking where DH cut them with just a diamond blade on his normal saw.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

we did it ourselves for our kitchen, bathroom and laundry room in my previous house and 2 bathrooms at my DHs parents house.

Definitely get the tile saw! As long as you rent that, it''s not that bad of a project and you can save a ton of $$$

 

[Clairitek]

DH and I are doing our own bathroom renovation right now. I tiled the shower walls myself and just laid the floor yesterday. I was able to borrow a wet saw from a friend who owns one so I saved that cost. It is very labor intensive (or perhaps I just made it tough on myself by choosing complicated patterns) but I love the result. I can''t wait to get my floor grouted so I can see the finished product!

I got high quality tile cheaply through craigslist. If you decide to go this route I would highly recommend sifting through some ads to see if you can pick something up for a good price.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

I hired someone. The tiles were fairly expensive and I didn''t want to mess up then hire someone.

I think I could have done a reasonable job, but I''d rather have a professional job because I would be way more critical of my own efforts than of anyone else''s and any imperfection would have annoyed me forever.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Depends on how handy you are. DH is actually a very good tiler so we have never hired anyone. I believe you can rent a tile saw at Lowes/HD (we own one) and it can save you money for sure.

 

[Steel]

Tiling is easy. Having patience is the difficult part. On the whole we didn''t trust anybody to do a good enough job so we DIY''ed it. GO for it.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I''ve done it myself in the past - we even laid under-floor heating.. not too challenging

 

[Pandora II]

I would only put porcelain tiles on a floor, never ceramic (they''ll break if you drop something on them). Porcelain tiles are much harder and generally more expensive, so I''d get a professional in. Even my builders have cursed my porcelain tiles when cutting them!

 

[ksinger]

Date: 3/22/2010 7:44:24 PM
Author: Pandora II
I would only put porcelain tiles on a floor, never ceramic (they''ll break if you drop something on them). Porcelain tiles are much harder and generally more expensive, so I''d get a professional in. Even my builders have cursed my porcelain tiles when cutting them!

Yep. Porcelain all the way. Much more durable. We hired out: We decided that our late 40-something backs and knees could not really handle the obscene positions require on the floor and under the cabinets. He did a good job - mostly - as in a good job laying and grouting but didn''t caulk. At that point I said screw it, and did it myself. I figured I was pickier than he would have been anyway.

The caulking was for the backsplashes BTW. We had large ceramic tiles put on the floor, and pre-mounted small tumbled travertine in a pattern, put on the backsplashes and behind the stove. To be fair, our tile guy did do a whole bunch of hand piecing of that pattern. A real job.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Just realized I didn''t thank everyone again, wanted to say thank you for your input!