What we will be discussing

We will be discussing 3 tips on how to lay ceramic tile. These tips are just a few of many, but they are very important and will help give you a successful tile installation.

Really, these 3 tips on how to lay ceramic tile(or any tile) are missed by many DIY’ers and it is the cause of either an installation failure and or just a poor installation.

 Tip 1 for how to lay ceramic tile

Get the floor or walls flat- 

This is really an important tip.

It is not very hard to to this in most cases. Yeah, there are always a few extreme situations, but even those can be fixed..

What you want to do is fix these problems before you even install cement board, of course this applies to a wood sub floor and walls that have studs.

If the floor or walls that you are installing tile on are concrete, they can be fixed also.

I have another post that I wrote and it explains how to do this process. I also have a video that will show how to do it on the same page. Here is a link for that post (click here)

I also have many other videos with written instructions in the members area of So that’s how you do that! university.

Tip 2 for how to lay ceramic tile

Mix thin set correctly-

If you mix it too thick, it will dry out too fast when it’s on the floor or wall. It can also be harder to spread evenly, which will give you uneven tiles as a result.

If you mix it too thin, then it can be very messy and the thin set will flatten out and bond to the tile correctly. It is very hard to spread thin set that is too wet on a wall.

You will need a drill and a mixing paddle. I have seen instructions on some  bags of thin set at the home improvement stores claim you can hand mix it. It is just not true. 

I have video to go with this tip on how to lay ceramic tile and it will give you a good example of  how to mix thin set. Let’s watch-

If you would like to know what types of thin set I recommend, along with other tools, supplies and materials, you can download My Project Planner for free. Click Here to get it.

Tip 3 for how to lay ceramic tile

Use a Guide-

I think it’s safe to say that if there was something that you can use to guide you while you are installing tile, you would want to use it.

If  this guide would help make measuring your cuts easier, would you want to know what it was?

What if would would help you keep the tile straight, would you want to know what it is?

What is a grid? Imagine that you took a huge piece of graph paper and stuck it onto the floor. You could move it around until you had the same size pieces along the walls on all sides of the room.

You would be able to see where every piece would go and you could cut all those pieces before you start installing any tile.

You would also see that this would be a great tool to guide you when you are installing the tile.

I really believe that using a grid is a must for all DIY’ers and Professional Tile Installers alike!

Let’s wrap up

I think that if you apply these 3 tips for how to lay ceramic tile, you will have a much easier time with your installation. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below.

Also if you are not sure how to do any of these tips that I have given for how to lay ceramic tile, I have plenty of step by step videos with written instructions.

They are located in So that’s how you do that! University. There is a small membership fee, but you can click on the button below to check it out.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a Blessed day!

Joe Letendre