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After you have selected your new tile for a
surface in your home be it a kitchen counter, a
living room floor or a bathroom from a local
tile resource, you will have to have a tile
installer measure the space to determine how
much tile you will need for the job. Some people
prefer to have the area measured before they
begin their search. This just depends on whether
you will be hiring the installer yourself or
asking the tile company to recommend one. You
might even be tiling the floor yourself and
arrive at the tile store with your measurements.
In any case, once your selection is made it is a
good idea to talk to the store representative
about buying a bit more tile than is needed for
the job. There are many reasons for this which
will be outlined next.
When your new tile is selected you will
take possession of a shipment which has been
manufactured at the same time. This ensures that
all of your tile will match. This is true of
natural stones as well. Think of this as you
would a dye-lot with respect to the
manufacturing of carpet. While natural stone can
vary from crate to crate, tile, with an
artificial finish, will match in much larger
quantities, but there is still color variation.
Purchasing more tile than you need at the time
of installation will ensure that anything that
may have to be repaired in the future will have
a replacement that matches the originally
installed product. You can tuck these extra
tiles safely away in the attic or basement until
you need them.
Failure to do this may result in 2
problems. The first would be having to find out
if the tile is still in production if it has
been years since the tile was installed. The
second problem, even if the tile were still
being produced, is would it match the original
floor? A little planning ahead will save you
time and the hassle of locating the same
product. You can almost guarantee in the case of
natural stone, that you will not be able to find
a match with the same color and pattern. Any
replacement you do with a non-original piece
will always look replaced.
If you do find that you need to replace a
tile in the future, here are a few tips that
will assist you. Whether water damage in a
bathroom, or movement in the floor, sometimes a
tile will need to be replaced. You might have
noticed that when you walk on a tile, it will
have a hollow sound underneath it. This means
that bond between the tile and the adhesive that
it is set in has broken.
To replace this tile you will need to first
remove the grout from around it. This can be
done with a grout saw or similar tool. Always
wear safety goggles to protect your eyes from
any debris. Once the grout has been removed you
will need to break the tile and remove the
pieces. To break the tile uses a hammer and a
chisel.
Once the tile is shattered you need to pry
any pieces which may still be adhered to the
wall or floor. A sturdy, flathead screwdriver
can be used to do this.
Next you will need to chisel out the
adhesive and clean the area in preparation for
new adhesive and grout. If you are working on a
wall, make sure that you are careful not to
damage the drywall behind the tile. In some case
this might need to be patched and replaced if
moisture has compromised the wall’s integrity.
You will not know until you get into the
project. Cleaning the area is an essential step
because you want the new tile to be level with
the rest of the wall or floor.
Once the area is free of adhesive you can
then apply new adhesive and place the new tile
in the open space. It is recommended that you
use spacers that are the same size as the
original grout lines. These can be obtained at a
home improvement or hardware store. After the
adhesive is dry, it is time to grout. It is best
if you take a piece of the old grout and match
it to what is currently available on the market.
The color of grout has a tendency to age over
time and you will want an exact match to avoid
having the tile look like a patch job. Any
questions you may have about replacing your tile
should be directed to a quality tile installer
or tile company.
Plan ahead
when tiling your home. Whether it is new
construction or a new tile addition to an
existing home, a few extra tiles will save you
major frustration and make any repairs hard to
detect. |
