4. Tiling Technique

Fitting tile supports and fixing tiles are the important steps in tiling technique.
Use masonry pins (tacks) to fix the support to the wall, aligned with the guideline. Drive the pins in only part of the way so that they can be pulled out to remove the batten later. When tiling large areas or whole walls, pin a vertical guide batten to the wall as well to help keep the tile coloumn truly vertical.
Once all the necessary setting out work has been done, the actual technique of fixing tiles is quite simple : spread the adhesive and press the tiles into place. However, there must be an adhesive bed of even thickness to ensure that neighbouring tiles sit flush with one another. To obtain this, use a toothed spreader (usually slip with the tile adhesive and draw it across the wall with the teeth pressed hard against the plaster to leave ridges of a standard height of the wall. Apply enough adhesive to fix about ten or twelve at a time.
Bed the tiles into the adhesive with a pressing and twisting motion, aligning the first tile with the vertical guideline or batten. If using tile spacers, press one into the adhesive next to the top corner of the first tile, and place the second tile in the row.
We occasionally need to cut the tiles. To tackle any cut tiles that are needed at the ends of the rows, and along the base of the tiled area beneath the horizontal tile support. Remove this, and the tile spacers, only when the adhesive has set; allow 24 hours. When cutting border tiles, measure each cut tile individually at top and bottom or each side as necessary. The walls, floors and ceilings of houses are rarely true and you are likely to find that the gaps to befilled will vary from one tile to the next. Straight cuts can be made with a small cutter or cutting jig, while shapes will need to be nibbled out with nippers or cut with a tile saw.