Laying of Wall Tiles and Skirting

Before thinking about laying of your wall tiles, you must have tested all your water pipes against leakage. Since wall tiles are used majorly at kitchens, toilets and bathrooms where water outlets are, water pipes should be tested before tiling.
Unlike floor tiles, the processes involved in laying wall tiles successfully are quite different from that of floor tiles. Taking the picture below as a a case-study:

The processes are explained in the following steps :

i. Sock the tiles in a drum of water. This is a necessity when using ceramic tiles. Why so? Ceramic wall tiles can be so porous that they absorb the moisture content of the cement paste between them and the wall, thereby causing a weak bond between the wall and the tiles.

ii. Take the measurements of the wall to determine if you’ll be needing a cut at the bottom and top or not. If you’ll be needing a cut, then the cut must be equal at both top and bottom. Take your measurements as regards this and take a level at the bottom where you’d start your tiling with whole sized tiles.
However, if you don’t need a cut, then start tiling with whole sized tiles from the bottom to the top as shown above.
Please note that this depends on the design given.

iii. Unlike floor tiles, we don’t need and obviously we can’t use cement-sand screed on the wall. A mixture of cement and water is prepared in a head pan to form a moderate paste. This paste is then placed on the back of the tiles and slapped gently on the wall.

iv. Continue by repeating step iii. If you are using a spacing arrangement, ensure equal spacing otherwise, close up the gaps perfectly.

v. For a spaced arrangement, fill up spaces at the end of tiling with the paste earlier prepared, tilers call this putty filing.
That’s it! You’ve successfully laid your wall tiles!

Skirting; has a similar process with wall tiles because it’s laid on the wall too. It is done to cover up the edges of the floor tiles, moreso, for aesthetic reasons. However it is important to do the skirting after floor tiles. Some people use seasoned and polished timber in lieu of ceramic tiles, it all boils down to personal choices.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela

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