checking if room is square

[i'mbgatty68]

i am going to tile the kitchen at the weeknd how do i mark out on the floor to check if it is square?? I know that if i mark 2 lines to find the centre of the room but that wont mean I am tiling squarely -if thats a word - any help would be appreciated

[GirlRacerRed]

hiya

I think if you actually come across a room that is square, you should come straight back and tell us!

Finding the centre as you rightly point out doesn't mean that the room is square. But by finding the centre and putting your first 4 tiles down around the centre point, you know that you will be working squarely from there. Unfortunately, as you get closer to each wall, you mind find that the tiles will end up being cut to fit the gap between the last tile and the wall/skirting.

It's a decision that either you or your customer will have to make. Start from the middle and work outwards, with the view that you could probably end up with some non-square cut tiles at the edges, or work in another formation that may hide those awkward shaped tiles under kitchen cabinets for example.

However I don't think you will always get a square room and you may end up with awkward shapes all the way around. And don't forget, the tiles may not be square either!

There's a few factors here that could affect where you start laying the tiles.

Anybody else got any views?

[SandyFloor]

As above very few rooms are square. Start by marking out a centre line. From that you can check where the tile joins will be and if working off the centre line is best. You may have to redraw your line half a tile off. There are several objectives in setting out and it mainly comes down to what is visually best. Set out so a majority of the cut tiles are as large as possible. One of the reasons for this is that if anything is off square the further the tile join is the less conspicious it is. For example if you have a tile cut 100mm one end and 90mm the other it will stand out. However if it is 300mm on end and 290mm the other it won't stand out.

Take you're time setting out and tweaking your lines a bit when necessary.

[Dan]

Get a length of wood, some old skirting or a 3 inch strip of plywood or something. Stick a tile butt up to the end and mark the tile width on the stick (we call it a gauge staff or rod). Stick another tile after it being careful not to knock the first and put a couple of spacers between the two tiles, mark another line on the stick and do that all the way up the stick. When you get to the end that isn't a tile width, scribble on it so you know it's a dead end.

You then find your feature wall and you probably want that one to be the most square. Use your 'staff' to mark out where the tiles will fall across the whole width of the floor from that focal point. And then use a square and do it the opposite way across the floor. You'll have a bit of a grid marked at this point and will know the sizes of the cuts around the edges of the floor and into doorways etc.

You can then keep adjusting your set out to give the most appealing look overall, with the biggest sized cuts possible, preventing slithers.

Once you have your set out, it doesn't matter where you start providing you stick to your lines!

Knowing where the centre of the floor helps, but it's not crucial providing you use a gauge staff well and have a square to hand so you can ensure both width and length set outs are square to each other.

[Dave]

Find the centre of the floor along it's length, then do a 3-4-5 squaring to true up the opposite line..

[TF Ed]

hi

you can find out if 'a room is square' by snapping a chalk line from one corner of the room to the opposite diagonal corner of the room. then do the same at the other corner to the opposite corner..

you will have then formed a 'cross' ..then measure from the corner of each line, to where the chalk line cross and if they are the same length, then the room is perfectly sqaure.... if not, then you have to set out to make your tile layout sqaure...

[timeless john]

As we are not talking about a perfectly square room but keeping the tiles square, you will be best advised to follow Daves 3/4/5 triangle (pythagoras theorem - the square on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides ) or bisect the line at 90degrees.
Once you have a basic cross section of two 90 degree lines using Dan's staff method you can work out how much you need to move these lines parallel to get the best cuts and eliminate any small slithers of uneven tiles.
Setting out can make or break you tiling so if in any doubt get back on and ask for more input.
Good luck and enjoy.

[TF Ed]

its also worth mentioning that you may be in a room where there are many different recesses to all the walls, maybe even curved walls, irregular areas so, if this is the case then you can do the following..

1. strike a chalk line parallel to the longest section of the exterior wall (exterior walls are normally? the most accurate)
2. measure the same distance from the wall at each end of the line ie 1 metre.
3. then, go to one end of the room and put you square, on the parallel line to create a 90 degree line/angle..once again, start this 90 degree line around 1 metre from the end of the parallel line you first created.
4. from these 2 lines, you can take all your measurments to each point of the room, helping you to eliminate slither cuts or at least enabling you decide on the best setting out scenario..

[Dan]

So loads to mull over there. All top advice.

[faithhealer]

Whats a square room? new one on me

[Daz]

I've been doing a kitchen floor in a barn conversion this week - not a straight edge let alone square room in sight.

I worked out where the kitchen units will be and used them as my datum. I then used the 3,4,5 method and squared off from there. It was just a matter of adjusting the datums horizontally and vertically until I was happy with all the cuts.

I always choose my "feature" and square from that using Pythagorus.

Good luck.

[BoldreChris]

This is how I do it...

The key line is the one you look along as you enter the room. Stand in the doorway and imagine the tiles in place. Set your baseline so that the sight line along the key row looks right. Make sure that on average there is at least half a tile between the wall and the key row. Use the 3-4-5 method (or laser square) described above to generate an accurate square, again ensuring that there is at least half a tile at each end of the rows. You may end up with a tile in the middle or a grout line - depends on how the room measures up.

If there are two or more doorways, it's time for eeny-meeny-miney-mo !