Renovation guides

How to tile a bathroom or kitchen floor yourself: step by step

Draft guide written from standard practice, not yet reviewed by a licensed pro. Follow product labels where they differ.

Wet areas first, before the toilet and vanity go in. Everything depends on the substrate and the layout line: tile goes over cement board or an uncoupling membrane on a flat floor, never straight onto drywall or a bouncy subfloor.

Difficulty 4 of 5 · 2 weekends · careful

Photo of your room, the look you pick, then this guide with the materials counted for your room.

Step by step

1. Step 1 of 21

   Clear the room down to the subfloor

   

   Bathroom: the toilet out and its flange plugged (the fixtures job does this), and a vanity you are replacing out too. A vanity that stays can stay: tile up to its base and seal that joint with silicone. Kitchen: the range, the fridge, and the dishwasher out; cabinets that stay, stay, and the tile stops at their base — check now that the dishwasher will still slide out over the new, thicker floor. Old flooring gone. Tile goes down before anything comes back, so it sits on top of the finished floor.

2. Step 2 of 21

   Old floor in a pre-1980 building? Stop and test

   

   Old sheet vinyl, black mastic, and 9x9 tile can contain asbestos. Do not sand, grind, or break it. Have a sample tested, or leave it in place and build over it if it is flat and stuck tight. Never spread thinset straight onto vinyl, paint, or old adhesive. Build over it with a backer board or membrane whose instructions allow that floor underneath.

3. Step 3 of 21

   Check the floor for flex and flatness

   

   Bounce on it mid-span: any springiness or squeak gets fixed with screws into the joists first. Then lay a straightedge in five or six directions. For tile under 15" on every side, no gap over 1/4" in 10 ft (about 1/8" under a 6 ft straightedge). For large tile, 15" or more on any side, no gap over 1/8" in 10 ft (about 1/16" under 6 ft). Anything more gets self-leveler or grinding first.

4. Step 4 of 21

   Build the right substrate

   

   Over a wood subfloor (at least 5/8" plywood; if yours is thinner, stop, it needs another layer first): comb modified thinset with a 1/4" square notch, set 1/4" backer board rough side up, keep 1/8" gaps between sheets and 1/4" at the walls, and do not line up its seams with the plywood seams. Screw it off every 8" per the board's pattern, then mesh-tape and thinset every seam. Over concrete: the slab takes tile directly if it is flat, bare, and clean: no paint, sealer, or old adhesive. Any crack gets a crack-isolation membrane over it first. Over wood or concrete you can use an uncoupling membrane instead of backer board. Set it and the tile with exactly the mortar its instructions name. Some want unmodified thinset, and the wrong one voids the warranty.

5. Step 5 of 21

   Vacuum and dry-check the height

   

   Sweep, then vacuum. Dry-set one tile on the substrate and hold it at the doorway to see how far the finished floor will stand above the next room — that is what the transition strip has to cover.

6. Step 6 of 21

   Check the toilet flange height now

   

   Dry-set a tile next to the toilet flange. After tile, the top of the flange should sit flush with or up to 1/4" above the finished tile. If it will end up below, plan a flange extender or spacer kit now. If the flange is cracked or the pipe has to be cut, that is a plumber.

7. Step 7 of 21

   Find the layout lines

   

   Measure the room and snap two chalk lines at a right angle through the middle, squared with a 3-4-5 triangle — not off a wall. In a long narrow bathroom, square the line to the most visible wall (usually the one the door faces) so the joints run parallel to what people see.

8. Step 8 of 21

   Dry-lay a row each way and kill the slivers

   

   Lay tiles with spacers along both lines out to the walls. If either end lands on a cut under half a tile, shift the whole layout by half a tile. Do this before a single scoop of mortar.

9. Step 9 of 21

   Plan your way out of the room

   

   Start at the corner farthest from the door and work toward it, so you never tile yourself into a corner. Mark where you will stop for the day on a full joint line, never mid-tile.

   Ready to set tile?

   • Substrate is cement board, a membrane, or a clean, flat, bare concrete slab — no drywall or bare plywood
   • Straightedge shows no gap over 1/4" in 10 ft for tile under 15", or 1/8" in 10 ft for large tile, and the floor does not flex
   • Seams taped and mortared, screws set flush, floor vacuumed
   • Layout lines snapped square from the center or the most visible wall
   • Dry run done: no cut under half a tile at the door or the main wall
   • Wet saw on site and tested on a scrap

10. Step 10 of 21

    Mix mortar and pick the notch

    

    Mix to a peanut-butter consistency, let it slake the time on the bag, remix — do not add more water. Mortar and grout are caustic: wear gloves and glasses while you mix. Trowel size follows the tile: 1/4" x 1/4" square notch up to about 8", 1/4" x 3/8" for 8–15", 1/2" x 1/2" or a U-notch for large format. Tile 15" or larger on any side: use a mortar labeled for large tile (LHT / medium bed). Mix a batch you can use within the pot life on the bag. Only comb out as much floor as you can set within the open time on the bag, before the ridges skin over; if the mortar does not stick to your finger, scrape it off and re-spread.

11. Step 11 of 21

    Comb the mortar in one direction and back-butter big tile

    

    Flat-trowel a skim coat, then comb straight parallel ridges in one direction only — never swirls, which trap air. For tile 12" or larger, skim a thin layer on the back of the tile too.

12. Step 12 of 21

    Set the first tile on the line and check coverage

    

    Press the tile down and slide it slightly across the ridges to collapse them, then set it on the chalk line. Pull this first tile back up and look: you want mortar on at least 80% of the back in a dry room and 95% in a shower or other wet area, with every corner and edge supported on large tile. Adjust trowel size if it is short.

13. Step 13 of 21

    Work outward with spacers and leveling clips

    

    Keep joints at 1/16"–1/8" as the tile spec allows — rectified tile can go tight, pressed tile needs the wider joint. Slide a clip under each shared edge and wedge it so neighboring tiles pull flush; a lip you can feel with a bare foot is a lip forever.

14. Step 14 of 21

    Clean joints as you go

    

    Wipe mortar off the tile face and out of the joints before it skins over — every ridge left in a joint is one you have to chisel out before grouting. Check the run with a straightedge every few rows.

15. Step 15 of 21

    Undercut the door casing and check the door

    

    Undercut the door casing and jamb with a jamb saw resting on a tile and a scrap of backer, so the tile slides under. Check the door still swings over the new floor, and trim its bottom if not.

16. Step 16 of 21

    Cut the perimeter, the flange, and the doorway last

    

    Measure each cut individually; the walls are not parallel. Around the toilet flange, cut a hole with the grinder so the tile clears the flange but the gap stays under the toilet's footprint. Leave a 1/4" gap at every wall, tub and cabinet, and keep it free of mortar and grout. It hides under the baseboard or gets silicone.

17. Step 17 of 21

    Let the mortar cure before you walk on it

    

    Stay off the floor and do not grout until the mortar has cured for the time printed on the bag — normally at least 24 hours, longer in a cold or unventilated bathroom. Pull the spacers and clips once it is firm.

18. Step 18 of 21

    Grout the field

    

    Mix the grout to the bag: sanded for joints 1/8" and wider, unsanded under 1/8". Spread it diagonally across the joints with the rubber float held at about 45 degrees, and pack every joint full. Scrape the excess off with the float on edge, then wait the haze time on the bag before sponging with clean water and a barely damp sponge.

19. Step 19 of 21

    Caulk every change of plane

    

    Wait until the grout has set for the time on its bag. Then floor-to-wall, tile-to-tub, around the shower curb, and at the threshold get 100% silicone in a grout-matched color — not grout. Cut the tip small, run one continuous bead, tool it once, and stop touching it.

20. Step 20 of 21

    Seal only if the label says to

    

    Cement grout usually gets a penetrating sealer after the full cure time on the bag (often several days); epoxy grout gets nothing. Follow the grout label, not a video.

21. Step 21 of 21

    Walk it and sign it off

    

    Bare feet are the best inspector — you will feel any lip long before you see it.

    Quality check

    • No lippage you can feel barefoot across any joint
    • Tap test: no hollow-sounding tiles
    • Joints uniform in width and packed full, no pinholes or low spots
    • All changes of plane are silicone, not grout
    • No grout haze left on the tile face
    • Transition strip set in every doorway
    • Toilet flange sits at or just above the finished tile
    • Door swings clear over the new floor

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