Tile Tips

• Use a product like Dura Rock, not Sheet Rock, Dura Rock is basically a sheet of concrete, your Tile will last a long time. If you use Dry Wall, even the Green Board, if water gets under the Tile it will start rotting it , with the concrete board, the concrete will absorb the moisture and evaporate it.
• Use a Level or straight board to level out the tiles as you set them, so no tiles are higher then another tile.
• When you mix the Grout be sure to use a Fortifier additive, it makes it stronger and more flexible.
• When you Grout make sure you work the grout down in between the tiles good, if you get void spots it will crack.
• Make sure you select the right tile for where you are using it, some tiles are for walls some are for walls or floors.
• I just recently put in Floating Wood Flooring and Tile in my Kitchen, I have tile at the entrance and the wood flooring on both sides, I also put tile in the newly remodeled Bathroom, I used a fibered mat as a subfloor, been 3 years and the tile still looks good. I also used the fibered mat in the kitchen under the tile, had very little clearance between the subfloor and the bottom of the door. That tile is also holding up good to.
• Put a sealer on your Tile and Grout, keeps it cleaner longer.
• Never use a pure white grout, use an off white, white really shows the dirt.
• Remember that if you use a shinny Tile on the Bathroom Floor, it is slippery when wet, be careful when stepping out of the tub! Buy a rug with rubber backing or use a Tile that is Designed for wet area's.

Flooring Tips

• If you have a bubble in your Vinyl Floor and they want a fortune to fix it, get a Hypodermic Needle and a small can of Flooring glue, use the hypo to inject some glue under the vinyl flooring, run a rolling pin over it a few times, then lay a stack of heavy books on it for a day or two.
• If you have a small room and you would like to do it yourself, try those stick down tiles easy to install and if one gets damaged, pull it up and replace it.
• For you do it your selfers, those 12" x 12" stick down Tiles are slick, I used them in my house, just make sure the floor where you are putting them, has been cleaned good, if there are any holes or cracked seams, fill the holes and smooth it out good with something( putty knife, flat stick, spatula ), cut the bad seam out, then fill it in and again smooth it out, then take some sand paper and sand them smooth after it dries, then paint over the patch with a gloss paint, the tiles will stick better. Use a powder floor filler product, just mix it up and fill away, all hardware stores carry it, they may even have some that is ready to use. If you ever need to replace a tile just pull it up and put in a new one.
• One easy and nice looking floor is the Floating Wood Flooring, pretty easy installation and you can put it right over an existing floor, if you do this, I recommend that even though the new ones just snap together, I would still use a recommended glue and glue the seams, that will keep moisture from getting down into the joints.