Tiling a Wall

Steps

1. Use a tile gauge, held vertically, to plan the positions of the tiles, starting at the top of the skirting board. If you are left with a sliver of tiles at the top, adjust the position of the first row of tiles so that neither the bottom nor the top row is too thin - avoid having less than about a third of a tile's depth.
2. If you want to tile half the wall, for instance up to a dado rail, use the tile gauge to space the tiles so that there is always a whole row of tiles at the top. Make any cuts at the bottom.
3. Temporarily nail a guide batten to the bottom of the wall, level with where the top of the bottom row of tiles will fall. This batten must be horizontal, so check with a spirit level. If you're tiling over tiles, you can drill holes through the tiles to screw on the batten - you will need a masonry drill bit for this.
4. To make sure the tiles are spaced evenly across the wall, find the centre of the wall and mark it with a vertical line.
5. Nail a second, upright batten (use a spirit level to make sure it's vertical) along the outer edge of where the last complete tile on the bottom row will be. This will make an exact right angle for you to begin tiling.
6. Work outwards and upwards from the corner formed by the two battens, about 1 sq m (10 sq ft) at a time.

Cutting Tiles

Use a tile-cutting jig to trim tiles to fit around edges or awkward areas.

1. Measure the gap to be tiled, allowing for any spacers.
2. Using a thin fibre-tip pen, mark the tile to be cut and place the tile on the cutting jig.
3. Hold the tile firmly and use an even pressure to score along the line.
4. Break the tile along the line by pressing down on the arm of the tile cutter.