Out on the tiles

THESE days, tiles come in all different shapes, sizes and styles, so it’s easy to find a look you both like and can afford.

Ceramic and porcelain tiles are really popular because they are within most budgets and are easy to lay and care for.

Glass tiles are also low-maintenance and look fantastic, but they’re usually expensive. Stone tiles, such as slate, marble and limestone, can be costly too, as well as higher maintenance, and they can vary a lot in thickness, colour and texture.

Mosaic tiles are available in lots of different materials and are perfect for creating a feature wall or splashback, but they’re rarely cheap. They come in sheets on a mesh (or paper) and the mesh is supposed to keep the individual tiles evenly spaced – but it doesn’t, in my experience, work very well. The number of grout lines means mosaics can also be hard to keep looking good too (depending on where they are and the colour of the grout).

If you’re buying tiles online and you haven’t seen them in person, make sure you get a sample first because you could end up being disappointed.

Of course, you may prefer to buy tiles in store, where you can see what you’re getting. Another advantage of buying in store is that you can ensure all the tiles come from the same batch (as long as there’s a batch number on the boxes), so they’re exactly the same colour and finish.

To work out the number of tiles required, multiply the length by the height of each wall (or part wall) to be tiled (minus the area of any doors, windows, etc) and add them together to get the total area – then remember to allow about ten per cent more for breakages and wastage. Lots of tiles are sold per square metre and, even if they’re not, it should say what the price is per square metre – this is the easiest way to work out the cost.

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of the tile adhesive and grout, tools, spacers and other accessories.

Cutting the tiles can be tricky, but using an electric tile cutter with a water-cooled diamond blade makes it much easier.

The adhesive and grout must be suitable for where you’re tiling (not all can be used in showers, for example) and the sort of tiles you’re using.

I find ready-mixed adhesives and grouts easiest to use, as it can be hard to get it right when mixing up powdered products. Combined adhesives and grouts are particularly useful, especially if the adhesive oozes through the gaps between the tiles - it’s much easier to use the same product to grout than to clean out the gaps.

Like all DIY, tiling takes some time and patience to get right, but it will save you a lot of money if you can persevere.

Product of the week

IF you’re now feeling inspired to get on with some tiling, you’ll find the Bosch PLT 2 tile laser (£59.99, Argos) a pretty useful piece of kit. The PLT 2 projects two laser lines at a 90-degree angle and is brilliant for doing tricky diagonal tiling as well as straight tiling.

It works on floors and walls, and for walls, there’s a magnetic plate that you screw on to the wall for the tile laser to attach to, then you use the built-it spirit levels to get it – and your tiling – straight. The well-designed PLT 2 is very easy to use and makes tiling (pretty much) foolproof...

How to...

BRIGHTEN up garden wood quickly and easily with the Cuprinol Cheer-It-Up Box (£40, cuprinol.co.uk), containing a garden-wood brush and paint. The box comes in a choice of Cuprinol Garden Shades Summer Damson (2.5ltr) and Sweet Pea (1ltr), or Cuprinol Garden Shades Seagrass (2.5ltr) and Country Cream (1ltr).

The thinking behind having two colours is that you can give garden wood a two-tone look, with the outside of your shed one colour and the inside another – there are pictures on the box to inspire you.