Each person may experience such a situation when it is necessary to repair small sections of walls in the bathroom, shower or in the kitchen, where tiles are used as decoration. Of course, in such cases, you can hire a qualified specialist who will do his job in the short term for a fee. But if you have a desire and some skills in the construction industry, you can do it yourself. In addition, knowing how to lay the tiles on the walls in a small area, it will not be difficult to carry out this in a large volume, that is, to finish the entire bathroom. When performing these works, we can distinguish the main stages that we will try to cover in this article.
Preparatory stage
Before you put the tile on the walls, you need to do a number of preparatory work:
- Remove old trim. In this case, you must first free the room from plumbing and other items. To remove, you can use a chisel and a hammer, with which you can also clean the wall of adhesive (old mastic, mortar, and the like).
- Clean the walls. In this case, if the old layer of plaster has swelling and cracks, and when it breaks apart, it is better to completely remove it.
- Level the surface of the wall. This work can be performed using the device (load on the rope), which is fixed on the wall at the junction with the ceiling and the plumb line determines the angle of inclination of the wall from the vertical. With small values of this value, wall defects must be eliminated by applying a mortar of a stucco composition. With a large curvature, it is better to use additional designs.
- Check the surface of the wall for bulges and dents with a water level (length of at least 1 m). With small deviations (not more than 5 mm per linear meter), the depressions can be eliminated with plaster.
- Primer surface. Before putting the tiles on the walls, it is worth treating them with special compounds with antibacterial properties. Thus, the occurrence and propagation of fungi and other microorganisms can be avoided.
Laying finishing material
Also, before putting the tile on the walls, you need to decide how the connection of the finishing material to the wall surface will be carried out. This can be done in two ways:
- Using cement mortar. In this case, it is possible to simultaneously align the surface of the wall (with small deviations). It is preferable to install rails at the corners of the wall, as well as tiles for control, the position of which must be determined using a plumb line. They are installed along the edge (along the angular vertical) at intervals of about 50 cm, the other elements of the finishing material are laid out on them (you need to install the cords horizontally, which will act as guiding elements).
- Using adhesive (special mastics). At the same time, a layer of soil mixture (mastic) is adjusted about 2 mm thick. After that, you need to wipe the surface with a damp cloth and glue the finishing material.
Styling highlights
In order to understand how to glue the tiles on the wall, the following information will be useful:
- An adhesive composition (mortar or mastic) is applied to the back of the finishing element using a trowel.
- The tile must be glued by carefully pressing it to the wall surface so that the adhesive mass is distributed over the entire area of the element. Residues that come out at the seams must be removed with a trowel.
- So that the distances at the seams between the tiles are the same, you can use special wedges (thin slats or matches) that are stuck at the time of installation of the finishing element.
- For fitting, tiles can be cut with a glass cutter. To do this, you need to mark the line on the reverse side and, substituting the ruler, spend several times with a cutting device. Carefully break off the unnecessary part with a hammer.
Knowing how to lay the tiles on the wall, you can easily carry out repairs at home, while saving a significant amount of money. To do this, it is enough to have a little skills in handling construction equipment, patience and accuracy.