Laying Ceramic Floor Tile for Your Kid’s Bathroom
Tiling specialists and home improvement experts generally concede that laying ceramic floor tile for a bathroom is much easier than on other household floors and areas like your kitchen, back porch, swimming pool, or the laundry room in your basement. Nevertheless, floor tiling no sweet chore — It’s a time-consuming project. Laying ceramic floor tile on your kids’ bathroom floor involves repetitive work of spreading thinset mortar, setting the tile spacers, pressing down the ceramic tile till it sets, waiting for that to dry, and then doing the grouting — and doing it again and again and again. So it requires a lot of patience, hard work and persistence. There’s no short cut to it, at all. But you can finish laying ceramic floor tile on your kids’ bathroom floor with the basic tiling installations below. Next thing you know, your kids might have too much fun to get out of the bathroom!
After buying your ceramic tile supply and other tiling materials, make sure you have the right tools. Safety always comes first, so get a pair of safety glasses, heavy leather gloves, and long-sleeved work clothes and heavy work shoes.
Begin by laying ceramic floor tile, it will be easier if you start by laying out your floor. This is done both to estimate your tiling budget and to get your bearing when laying ceramic floor tile begins. Use a measuring tape to get the length and width of your floor. Draw chalk lines over them. Where both lines intersect, that’s your reference point. That point will also serve as your starting point for laying ceramic floor tile.
For the laying ceramic floor tile itself, get a tiling trowel (with one side notched and the other flat), a generous amount of tile spacers, and a tile cutter (which you could rent from your local tool rental shop), a pair of tile snippers, and sandpaper (for sanding down tile edges you’ve trimmed off — these edges can be deceptively sharp, so beware!). Then, using the reference point you made, you may then start laying ceramic floor tile, working your way to one end of the floor, and then, doing the same thing toward to the other end. Make regular checks when you’re and starting point for laying ceramic floor tile. That way, you’ll know if you’ve kept a straight line, or your tiles have drifted off to different directions. After laying ceramic floor tile on the bathroom floor, let it set overnight.
Grouting is important. It keeps your mortar dry and the ceramic tiles in place. It keeps your tiles look clean as well as prevents moisture intrusion, which in the long run keeps the bathroom dry and sanitary. Use a rubber grout float to lay in your grout. When spreading the grout, hold it an angle and press down firmly. When you’re done, let it dry for half an hour and then, you can start cleaning up.
Get a few buckets, and some sponges, dry clean rags, when you’re cleaning up your kids’ newly finished ceramic bathroom tile floor. By this time, your kids might be eager to pitch in on the effort. And it’s safe to let them help you at this final stage of the tiling. So let them help out with cleaning off the excess grout from their newly-installed ceramic tile bathroom floor. After you’re done, leave your new ceramic tile floor overnight to set thoroughly.
Never forget to make your kid’s bathroom is a fun and child-friendly place. Try out different themes and designs — from beach, nautical or playground themes, to fishing boat and shell designs, to cartoon fish to and yellow duckies. There are a lot of possibilities available to you when you are laying ceramic floor tile for your kid’s bathroom.
