When doing complete tiling of all 4 walls in a bathroom.
How do you ensure the grout lines meet up when you get to the end?

Do you just use laser or level & draw lines all around room & stick to them exactly?

Or some other kind of wizadry maybe?

just as you say mate....use a level line around the room, once you have set out and stick to this...then no probs....

just use spirit level and mark your lines all the way around the room, rotating the level around each time. Sometimes I find even doing this that my grout lines dont meet up perfectly, best thing you can do is finish above the doorway, that way it is not that noticable.

Cheers fellas, was planning to finish above the door for that reason.
Thanks again

The biggest problem I find is when there is an obstruction, ie sink or toilet. I tend to start my datum line around the bath and follow it round but then have to drop it to go round toilets etc, that's where I lose it. It's hard to get it back again, as stated before, I try to lose it above the door but the grout lines then slope. I notice it but hopefully the customer doesn't.

Is it best to tile a full line aound the bathroom first to ensure the grout lines meet?

Hi there,

I use more than one line, pretty sure some of you do to. First I have a datum line which is marked on each wall at the same height. I then take my gauge rod and stand it up against the wall and mark the height of the datum line on it.

From here I can easily gauge setting out lines based on the rows of tiles in relation to the datum mark on the rod, does that make sense? So no matter where I start the grout lines will always meet as long as the datum line was correct in the first place.

Spot on dave! Thats how I would do it too. I would mark my datum line on my staff and find the lowest point in the room and start tiling from there after I have set out and established my best cut sizes

Sibs

why do you specifically start from the lowest point in the room?

Originally Posted by Paddyh2

Sibs

why do you specifically start from the lowest point in the room?

Because otherwise you'd risk a gap between the floor and the last row of tiles on the wall, if the floor isn't level. That's if I didn't missinterpret what he wrote, as I'm a bit tired, you see...

Well I would certainly set out from the lowest point of the room so that if you have to do raked cuts you will know what your biggest and smallest raked cuts are gonna be at the bottom and you do the same thing above the datum line... ie find the highest point in the ceiling and do the same. You can then play about with it, moving the grout lines up or down until you get the best outcome around your obsticles and good cuts at the top and bottom. So the lowest point in the room is as good a place as any to start tiling as long as the setting out is the best you can get it but I guess you could start anywhere. There are other ways of doing it but if you are new to it and not sure where to start it is a good point of reference. This is just an overview of how to set out using this method. I was taught to the British Standard of setting out but I realise there are quicker ways once you get used to what you are doing. If you want to know the full method paddyh2 pm me because it is a bit more detailed than I have said in this post.
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Spot on sWe cheers for that

Originally Posted by sibs

Well I would certainly set out from the lowest point of the room so that if you have to do raked cuts you will know what your biggest and smallest raked cuts are gonna be at the bottom and you do the same thing above the datum line... ie find the highest point in the ceiling and do the same. You can then play about with it, moving the grout lines up or down until you get the best outcome around your obsticles and good cuts at the top and bottom. So the lowest point in the room is as good a place as any to start tiling as long as the setting out is the best you can get it but I guess you could start anywhere. There are other ways of doing it but if you are new to it and not sure where to start it is a good point of reference. This is just an overview of how to set out using this method. I was taught to the British Standard of setting out but I realise there are quicker ways once you get used to what you are doing. If you want to know the full method paddyh2 pm me because it is a bit more detailed than I have said in this post.
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Spot on sWe cheers for that

a customer vof mine has local authority people working at there house and are unhappy WITH THE SITUation so sorry

i run a batten around the room and tile around it so i know im at the same height. Then im able to continue this allthe way around so i know im going to meet.

Even if it finishes above a door way i know my battens are right and working below them is the same but upside down!

I butter the backs of around 20 tiles then throw them against the wall wiv my eyes shut! This keeps everything messed up just the way i like it!

Well thats what i may a s well bloody do!!!!

ha ha nice method

Thanks sibs,sWe

It makes good sense.
As a nervous novice I always tend to go as mid-tile as possible on the bottom row so any deviation doesn't catch me out, and making sure there's no small cuts anywhere else.

Originally Posted by Paddyh2

Thanks sibs,sWe

It makes good sense.
As a nervous novice I always tend to go as mid-tile as possible on the bottom row so any deviation doesn't catch me out, and making sure there's no small cuts anywhere else.

Have you read my "guide" to centering tiles? I'll post it here in case you'll find it usefull.

Originally Posted by sWe

Stop reading if you haven't got a few minutes to spare.
I figure most of the people on these forums know the things I'm about to write, but I'm going ahead anyways, as there's sure to be people who don't.

There are a few things you need to consider when centering tiles on a surface.

First you need to measure it. Remove say 4mm from that number for 2mm margins on both sides of the surface, as tiles could come loose or crack from building movement otherwise. Then divide that number with the width of one tile plus the width of the grout. That give you the number of tiles you'll be able to slap onto that surface. Here's what to do next:

1. If the number of tiles is a whole number, say 11, just go ahead and use whole tiles all the way, unless the costumer wants something else. If the decimal numbers are very low, or very high, say 11.1 or 10.9, then you might be able to compensate by altering the width of the grouting, depending on the size of the surface, the size of the tiles, and the customers wishes. Pretty much self explanatory.

2.If the number of the last whole tile you can fit onto the surface is UNEVEN, for example 5.4, then you can go ahead and just mark out the centre on that surface, unless 1. is applicable. This is because the border tiles will always be half of a tile (which can only happen if the number of possible tiles is a whole number) or LARGER. The centre of the surface is found by dividing the width by 2.

3.If the number of the last whole tile you can fit onto the surface is EVEN, for example 4.7, then you need to approach it sligthly differently. I will get to how in a sec, but as to the why, it's because the border tiles will always be half of a tile (for the same reasons stated ), or SMALLER, if you work from the center of the wall.

Instead, you need to offset the centre of the wall, and work from the center of the middlemost tile. You can just adjust it so that it sits centralized on the centerline, but if you want use that line as a guide, you can do like this:


Divide the width of the surface by two, and then substract (or add) the width of half a tile. Mark the result on the surface, and work from there. You just made an offset central marking. It's offset by half a tile, and thus, the border tiles will be half a tile or larger.

If you want to check that your markings are correct, and that the border pieces really are as big as they can get, here's one way:


Add 1 to the decimals from the result of the calculation where you figured out the number of possible tiles.

For example, if the result was 6.7 tiles, then do 1+0.7. That gives 1.7. Multiply 1.7 with the width of one tile, and then divide that number by 2. The result is the largest possible width of two equal sized border tiles. Mark them out on the surface if you want additional guide lines.


I probably don't need to say it, but all of the above works vertically as well as horizontally.

I hope someone finds this usefull. Proper measuring and planning makes work sooo much easier.

Originally Posted by wivers

I butter the backs of around 20 tiles then throw them against the wall wiv my eyes shut! This keeps everything messed up just the way i like it!

Well thats what i may a s well bloody do!!!!

never thoght of that one

you have a good technique there wivers......lol

hi m8 new member from northern ireland see u support rangers nice 1 i am going over 2 the game flying out 2day! r u going?

Ian-garretridge

I like the batten method, but have lately been drawing my reference line around the perimeter for the first course, cutting those, mortar in place and then I have a nice level foundation to work up from.

I used to use a nice grout line dating site to get mine to meet. Sorry couldn't resist.