How to Lay Out Tile

One thing that’s easy to skip when planning out tile is the lay out. I know, I know- you have your supplies and you’re ready to see progress. But taking the time to  figure out the perfect starting point is worth it! Think about it, if you get your tile started off right, the result will be level tile with out tiny little slivers of pieces that are hard to cut. So that’s the goal! Here is how to lay out tile.

how to lay out tile

For this tiling project, I’ll be putting up subway tile on the walls of my garage laundry room. This is probably our 7th room tiling and we’ve figured out some tricks to make it go smoothly. My husband and I are self taught tilers and believe it’s a project anyone can do. I have some tips for beginners tiling here too.

TOOLS

• tabletop wet saw
• square notch trowels
• margin trowel
• pre-mixed mastic
• unmixed grout in Delorean Gray
• Tile Sponge
• Grout float
• Microfiber cleaning cloth
• Laser Level 
• Tripod for Laser Level
• Marble Subway Tile
• Pink Pencil Tile
• Cornice Tile

Grab your tools so you’re ready to tile!

think it out

Before putting tile adhesive on the wall, take some time to think through where the tile will go. To begin to figure out the lay out, answer these two questions-

1. What is the part of the tile that is the priority to see?
2. What pattern are you putting the tiles up as?

Common tile pattern options are running board, stacked, staggered, or herringbone. I’ll share a visual of the most popular tile patterns-

dry fit

Next, start placing the tiles on the wall or floor without adhesive and use the answers from the last step to translate them into a lay out.

To dry fit tile on a wall find- 

1. The part of the tile that is the priority to see first should be where you draw out a level line on the wall. I suggest using a laser level on a tripod to project a line on a wall. Trace that with a pencil.
2. Next, put the tile on the level line and experiment with the chosen pattern and see if you put the tile in different spots how that effects the cuts on either side of the wall or floor. If you center a tile in the middle how does that effect the ends? If you put a full tile on one side how does that effect the ends?

To dry fit tile on the floors-

1. Find the middle of the longest straight wall. Mark that point on the floor. On the opposite wall, once again find the middle and mark that point on the wall. Then snap a chalk line to connect those two center lines.
2. Once that chalk line is down, mark the center point and use a carpenter square to create a second line that is perpendicular to the first. Snap another chalk line on that perpendicular line. And now you have the middle of the room and a straight line on the floor.
3. Next, put the tile on the level line and experiment with the chosen pattern and see if you put the tile in different spots how that effects the cuts on either side of the wall or floor. If you center a tile in the middle how does that effect the ends? If you put a full tile on one side how does that effect the ends?

keep experimenting with the dry fit

Experiment with the layout and dry tiles until you have the following-

• The tile looks ideal at the priority spot / focal point / eye level
• The tile terminates with easy to cut pieces (not too small) 
• Check all the way down the wall and/or across the floor to make sure the wall or floor doesn’t get too wide or too narrow to mess up the layout. This is important to do since most walls and floors aren’t perfectly straight. For example, if you’re putting a full tile on one end and the wall gets wider as it goes down, you’ll have to cut tiny pieces and that won’t work.

draw it on

In our little laundry nook, my priority with the tile layout is that the cornice tile runs flush with the bottom of the window ledge. We put up a level line and figured out that placement first. Next we laid out the pink pencil tile. Finally we laid out two rows of subway tile. 

Since we’re doing a running board pattern, the rest of the rows of the tile will repeat the first two that I have planned out. We made sure to trace the tiles to the bottom of the floor to make sure that when the tiles hit the ground, we didn’t have too small of pieces to safely and easily cut.

And now, trace the tiles with a pencil so that the ideal layout that was found with the last step is now the plan on the wall or the floor!

Taking a picture can also be helpful to reference.

Here’s the tile pattern I drew on the last wall we tiled.

This is the first wall we tiled. You can see to the left, the tile lay out is drawn in pencil on the wall.

choose where to begin tiling

After you took all that time planning out the tile, now it’s time to choose where to begin tiling. Now this might surprise you, but when tiling the wall, I don’t suggest starting at the floor unless it’s perfectly level.

Why not? Well, if the floor isn’t level and you put full pieces on it, then none of the tile will be uneven. Who wants to see a crocked line of tiles across a wall?! It might bug you for years to come. Instead, starting tiling in the center of the wall where a perfectly level line is possible and next working up and then down is more ideal.

For tiling the floor, begin tiling with the end in mind. Where can you start tiling so that you tile yourself out of the room and still keep your beautiful lay out? That might mean putting down a few full sized pieces and then putting in a corner cut piece and working towards the door.

For tiling a backsplash, full pieces of tile can usually be laid right on top of the countertop since the cabinets and countertops are probably perfectly level. Just make sure to see if having a full piece on the bottom will make for a tiny cut piece on top. Putting up tile on a backsplash is a great beginner project!

In our laundry nook, since the cornice board needed to be level across the wall and flush with the window ledge, we began tiling at the top and working our way down.

In my rainbow tile bathroom, I wanted the rainbow tiles centered on the wall so we started in the middle then worked our way up and then down. It worked perfectly!

You can see the layout drawn on the wall. We were extra precise on this project since there were so many colors of tiles that we used!

a laser is your bestie

When tiling a wall, a laser level is going to be invaluable. We use our laser ALL the time! For example, we use it for hanging matching art around a room, for putting up trim on the wall, for hanging drapes. It makes lots of jobs quicker to execute in a professional looking way. So I 100% recommend it!

To keep your layout perfect as you tile, a laser is key.

Here’s what we do-

1. put the laser level on a tripod in the work space. Lasers are designer to be screwed on a tripod so it’s easy to twist it on.
2. On the side of the laser, there’s a on switch, turn it on.
3. The tripod can be adjusted higher or lower with a crank and the legs can go up and down so that you can make sure each row of tile is level as you work up and down the wall.
4. Make sure to turn the laser and check that the row you’re working on is level with the last row that was installed. This detail makes for professional looking installed tile
5. With the laser there is a horizontal and vertical line. Use the vertical line to make sure that the tile pattern is being repeated and that every other row is lined up. When we put up a new row, I move the laser to line up the vertical line from the row before. I put two tiles up so that line continues straight down. Then I keep tiling once those are perfectly in place. If the wall isn’t straight, it’s at the side where the tiles can be trimmed to account for crooked walls.

On a floor, since a laser level won’t work, on or parallel to the chalk line will help create a perfectly square layout.

And there you have it, perfectly laid out tile walls!

WHAT TO DO ABOUT FALLING TILE?

The downside with starting in the center of the wall when tiling, is the tiles want to slide down the wall. So what you can do? Here are a few options-

First of all, the most important thing to do is to use the correct product. There is thin set that is designed to dry quickly which prevents tiles from sliding down after they are in place. Also, using a notched trowel when spreading the thinnest will create suction to hold the tiles in place during drying time.

If you’re still having an issue (like we did- though we used normal thinset), you can put in screws to keep them from sliding down the wall. We did this on the evening of our first day of tiling.

You can use painter’s tape to hold the top tiles up on the wall. That will help the first ones from sliding and will help them set and not push the rest of the tiles down. 

Last, I’ve seen people screw up a piece of wood on the center of the wall and then tile above it. The wood gives the tile a resting place. 

grouting

Once the tiles were set and had dried for 24 hours, it was time to grout! I used a grout bag to apply grout to the spaces between tiles. I used a float to make sure the grout was in each crack and crevice.

Lastly, I washed it clean with water and a sponge. I loved using the grout bag because it saved a lot of time on the clean up! It only cost $5. I also liked that it kept the grout fresh longer and helped me not use as much grout. 

Once the grout had dried for 24 hours, I used a microfiber towel to clean up and get any grout haze off the tiles.

more details on the tile

For this project, I’m working with The Tile Shop. I’m so grateful they’re willing to help make my garage laundry room look beautiful!

I was originally planning on using an affordable faux marble subway tile. The tile that came were actually real, gorgeous marble subway tile. I’ve never used actual tile in my house so it was a lucky mix up! 

The tile has a beautiful depth and so much variation in the tones (grey! Whites! Golds) and in the veining. I love all of the differences. It feels luxurious and very special. I can’t wait to get the wallpaper up to see how it all pulls together. 

To top off the subway tile, I thought a cornice tile piece would be stunning and a nice classic look.

But I needed some fun and a little wink of color. For that, I added in a piece of pink pencil tile. It was an easy addition and gave just the right amount personality to the laundry room. Pencil tile comes in every color of the rainbow so it can be customized with anyone’s favorite color.

After priming the walls and putting down a faux wood floor, this laundry room is looking so close to complete! I’m hoping to finish up the whole renovation this week. Wasn’t the gorgeous tile a great starting point?!

I hope this project helps you know how to lay out tile! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments. 

 

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