Bathroom and Kitchen Tiling

• Bathroom wall tiles fitting: Full-height or half-height walls, bath surrounds, boxing-in and window reveals.
• Shower enclosures and walk-in showers: Walls and, where the tray allows, a tiled floor, with niches and shelves.
• Bathroom and kitchen floors: Ceramic, porcelain, stone and mosaic, on concrete or timber floors.
• Kitchen splashbacks: Between the worktop and wall units, behind the hob and around windows.
• Retiling one area: For example, a failed shower wall.

If plumbing needs moving before tiling, such as a new shower valve position, our bathroom plumbing team does that first, so nothing is tiled over untested pipework.

In the shower area, yes. Tiles and cement grout are not waterproof on their own, so water soaks through the grout to the wall behind. Tanking is a waterproof layer applied to the background before tiling.

• Liquid membranes: Painted on in coats, with reinforcing tape bedded into corners, board joints and around pipes.
• Sheet membranes: Bonded to the wall or floor with overlapping, sealed joints.
• Waterproof backer boards: Cement-based or foam-core boards with their joints and fixings sealed.

We tank the walls inside a shower enclosure, around a shower over a bath, and the whole floor in a wet room. Away from direct water, such as behind a basin, a moisture-resistant background is normally enough.

Most tiling problems start with the background, not the tiles:

• Plaster and plasterboard: Must be sound, dry and primed. They can only carry a limited weight of tiles, so heavy stone or large porcelain may need cement-based backer board instead.
• Painted walls: Paint is scored or removed so the adhesive bonds to the wall.
• Uneven walls: Levelled before tiling, because adhesive should not be used to fill large hollows.
• Timber floors: Overboarded with tile backer board or exterior-grade plywood, screwed at close centres, so the floor does not flex and crack the tiles.
• Concrete and screed floors: Checked for dryness, cracks and level, and levelled if needed.

• Setting out: We plan the layout from centre lines and focal points, so there are no thin slivers at edges or windows.
• Adhesive: Chosen for the tile and background, flexible on timber and heated floors. Floor and large tiles go on a solid bed, not spots, so there are no hollows to crack.
• Large-format tiles: A tile levelling system keeps the edges flush and reduces lippage.
• Trims and edges: Metal or PVC trims on external corners and exposed edges, or mitred edges where the tile allows.
• Movement joints: Flexible joints at internal corners, where floors meet walls, and across large floor areas.
• Grouting and sealing: Joints grouted in your chosen colour. Cement grout in wet areas is then sealed through our sealing tile joints for waterproofing service. Joints where tiles meet the bath, tray or worktop are finished with flexible siliconing, not grout.

A splashback is small but always on show. Metro and brick-bond tiles need straight, level lines along the worktop, and patterned tiles need setting out around the hob. We check the manufacturer's clearances behind the hob and cut neatly around sockets and switches. Tiling adds depth to the wall, so sockets may need longer screws, spacers or repositioning; any electrical changes are done through our domestic electrical installation service.

Tiles suit underfloor heating because they conduct heat well. The heating stays off while tiles are fixed and is brought back up gradually afterwards, following the manufacturer's instructions. We can tile over a system fitted through our underfloor heating installation service.