Common DIY Tile Installation Mistakes

What many people do not understand is that improperly installing tile and grout can lead to many potential problems and issues with your tile installation. In many cases people would like to save money by doing their own tile installation. A properly done tile installation can look beautiful and add beauty and value to your home. The problem with many DIY tile installations is that they often look sloppily done and can actually detract from the beauty and value of your home. Many DIY tile installations can also have additional problems that may not be immediately apparent. It is only after peoples DIY tile shower installation leaks or a DIY tile floor installation starts cracking or grout starts breaking up do people realize that their DIY tile installation has failed.

One of the most common DIY tile installation mistakes is tiling over an unstable sub floor. Many people will just remove their old carpet or vinyl flooring and believe that they can just tile right over the existing sub floor. What is a capable sub floor for carpet or vinyl flooring may not be a suitable sub floor for a tile installation. A quality tile installation needs to be done over a sub floor that does not shift or move when weight is applied to it. A licensed tile installer must follow strict guidelines for how much shifting and movement a sub floor can have before tiles can be installed. If there is too much movement in the sub floor then no matter how good the tile installation is the tile installation will fail.

The most common signs of a tile installation over a sub floor with too much movement is broken or cracked grout. The broken and cracked grout is due to movement in the sub floor and this broken and cracked grout is usually evident in the middle of the tile installation. The middle point of a tile installation is where there will be the most movement in a sub floor. Often people try to patch up their cracked and broken grout and realize that the new grout cracks just like the old grout did. Often times people will resort to using caulk instead of grout in these cracked sections of grout. Caulking will be more flexible but will be difficult to clean and will not look the same as the surrounding grout. There is no real fix for installing tile and grout over a sub floor with too much movement and the only solution in the end is to rip out the floor, correct the sub floor movement issues and re tile and re grout the floor.

Many people fail to realize that you can not just tile over your existing sub floor or on to existing dry wall. In most cases tile should be only installed over approved cement board, hardibacker or other approved tile installation materials. Often the tile adhesive will not properly adhere to unsuitable sub floor or dry wall materials and the tiles will become loose. Loose tiles will cause a hollow sound when walked on and the loose tiles can often crack with normal usage. Also loose tiles can shift in place which will also cause the surrounding grout to crack and break around the loose tiles. In some instances the loose tile can be re adhered to the sub floor or wall but this is only a temporary fix for a bad tile installation.

Properly aligning and spacing your tiles for a beautiful tile installation can be a difficult task. Often times DIY tile installers will methodically plan out their tile installation only to discover errors in their calculations or errors in their tile installation layout. What can happen is the tile installation looks asymmetrical or uneven. Often a poorly planned tile layout can leave small slivers of tiles on one end of a wall while the opposite wall has a full tile. In some cases people try to accommodate a badly laid out tile installation by increasing or decreasing the width of the grout joints so the tile installation looks more even. While the tile installation may look more even the excessively wide or excessively narrow grout joints will distract from the beauty of your tile installation.

Applying the tiles to the sub floor may seem like a simple and straight forward procedure but this can be anything but the truth. Learning how to properly align tiles next to each other can take years of experience. It takes more then just a straight edge and a trowel to properly align your tiles up next top each other. Often DIY homeowners will try to rely on spacers to get the correct spacing between individual tiles. Often what happens is bad lippage forms between the tiles. Lippage is when one tile is higher than the adjacent tile. Often bad lippage can cause people to trip and fall when walking over their tile installation. In most cases bad lippage just looks sloppy and walking on a floor with bad lippage will give you the feeling of an uneven tile floor installation.

Applying grout may seem somewhat fun and adventurous to many DIY homeowners. What may DIY homeowners fail to realize is that a poorly grouted tile installation can literally ruin the tile installation and all the time and money that went into installing the tiles can be wasted. One of the most common mistakes many DIY homeowners make is mixing the grout with too much water. When grout is mixed with too much water or too thin as it is called the grout will not set up properly. Too much water in the grout will cause the grout to be loose and not hard and firm. Many times grout mixed with too much water will wear away and become loose over time. Also when the grout is mixed with too much water it will loose its color pigments when it is installed. The result is grout that looks hazy or whitish and will look a lot lighter than the color that was originally chosen.

Many people will also not properly wipe away and clean up all the excess grout when grouting. It is a common DIY mistake to see excess pieces of grout particularly in course uneven tiles. If the grout is allowed to set on a tile installation it can be next to impossible to remove. Also many DIY homeowners fail to remove all of the grout haze from a tile installation. The grout haze is the cement residue from applying grout. In most cases grout haze can be easily removed within the 24 hours of applying the grout. Often the grout haze is allowed to set for many days and weeks and removing grout haze that has been allowed to set for a while can be a difficult process.

Installing shower tile and grout is not a DIY tile installation project. While many DIY homeowners can install a quality tile floor, countertop or backsplash installing a tile shower presents many difficult processes and procedures that should be left up to a professional tile installer. A DIY tile shower installation can leak for a multitude of reasons and most often a leaky tile shower installation can not be fixed or patched to make it stop leaking. Professional tile installers spend many years perfecting their trade and there are many details involved in a tile shower installation that even the best DIY tile installation books or manuals do not cover. Also the potential to damage other areas of your home with a faulty DIY tile shower installation is real and a DIY tile shower installation should never be attempted.

Often DIY homeowners apply grout between horizontal or vertical planes of tile. Whenever you tile between adjacent walls or between say a countertop and a backsplash you should caulk between the two planes of tile. There will almost always be some shifting between the walls or tile planes that causes cracking of the grout in between these tile planes. Therefore you should always use caulking to seal up areas between tile planes.

Many industrious DIY homeowners will read a tile installation book and take the time and patience to perform a beautiful tile installation. There are also many DIY homeowners who do not understand that you can waste a lot of money, time and energy by not properly installing your tile and grout. It is important to spend the time and read at least one good tile installation book before you waste a lot of time and money to improperly install your tile and grout.

Tile installers can spend many years learning the various tricks and techniques to correctly installing tile. It is always best to hire only a professionally tile installer that is licensed and bonded in the state that you live in.

You can click here to learn more about how to hire a professional licensed, bonded and insured tile installation contractor.