How Much Does It Cost To Tile Floors?



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Cost To Tile Floors




Job

Description (these prices inc. adhesive/grout etc. but not the tiles)

Labour

1Laying 8”x 8” (200 x 200mm) ceramic glazed floor tiles in your 10’ (3 metre) square kitchen.

This has a flat, smooth solid floor, with lino on it which will come up easily. The kitchen is in place so he will simply remove the kick boards (the panels that stop stuff getting under the cabinets) and tile just past their position, stopping at the newly exposed cupboard feet.

The kick boards will then have to be cut before he can refit them. Don’t let him tile up to them, you will never get them out again! We are also assuming the cooker, fridge, washing machine, dishwasher etc. are “inset”.

That means they are fitted inside cabinets, (not standing on the floor) and therefore don’t have to be moved. If they’re not, the tiler may deign to move the fridge for you but you can bet he won’t involve himself with an electric oven or the gas cooker/hob (which he can’t legally disconnect anyway).

These really do need to be moved out so he can tile the space under them. If he simply tiles up to them it will be a pain to get them out! Do him a favour, take yourself and the kids round to your sister for the day and don’t try and cook their tea and walk on the new tiling that night.

Treat yourselves, you deserve it, have a wonderful family evening out, at “Chubby Chicken”. This job will take 1 man 2 days.
£400
2The same job but there are floor boards, so these will have to be changed. It’s possible to change the floor without taking the kitchen cupboards out, which no one in their right mind wants to do because cabinets never go back again properly. It’s a swine to do though and will take 2 men, 1 day
£290

Materials etc. for the above.
£75
3Laying thick, rustic, uneven, non-glazed, “provincial French farmhouse” floor tiles (in Slough)!? in your brand new 20’ x 12’ (6m x 3.6m) conservatory. The tiles will need 2 coats of sealer first and one afterwards and will need a lot of grout to fill the wide gaps. This will take 2 men 2.5 days
£1150



“Labour” at £175 a day (tradesman) £100 (labourer), includes incidental fixings etc. and tipping. “Materials” if mentioned, are larger things (a boiler) and stuff only you can choose (tiles etc).  Also VAT must be added all round.

Information on Tiling Floors


Tiles designed for floors are different to those suitable for walls. Usually they are thicker, bigger, heavier and quite often, contoured. They don’t have to be glazed and if not, might need to be sealed before (and even after) laying. They can have much bigger gaps between them, different coloured grouts are more acceptable and sometimes positively required. They require thicker adhesive and there are different types of adhesive.


They are often laid in specific designs relevant to the floor size. This might mean mimicking the perimeter, or a central symmetrical shape, mirrored or complimented as the tiles are laid out to the room edges.
In short, if you can afford it, if the room lends itself to it, if you are a bit adventurous, there’s more you can do with flooring tiles than their vertical cousins!


So much for aesthetics, what about more concrete things?
I’m glad you asked that, because were going to talk surfaces. There is only one surface that you can guarantee to tile onto and walk away from, knowing they’re there for good and that is a solid surface known as a sharp sand “screed”. This is usually about 2 ½ inches (65mm) thick and if laid properly, on a concrete foundation, it is beautifully flat and smooth.


Concrete by itself, is no good, it’s much too rough. However it is acceptable when it has another type of screed trowelled on top which makes it beautifully flat and smooth. This is called a self-levelling screed and is literally poured on then trowelled out. Usually, 2 coats, each one about 3 mm thick, will do the trick
Obviously, as bathrooms are a favourite room for floor tiles and these tend to be on the first floor, “solid” floors aren’t an option. So can you tile on floor boards, or existing tiles, or lino, or anything else? NO.


There will be movement and the tiles will, eventually come up.
If you have floor boards (and its very likely you have), no matter which storey they are on, they have to come up and ¾” (18mm) thick, water resistant, interlocking timber sheets fixed down instead. These are usually chipboard and though they’re water resistant, I really wish “they” could come up with something else! Some tilers, prefer to use 18 mm WBP plywood sheets cut to fit the joists, but these don’t interlock.
Don’t even consider laying thin timber sheets on top to tile on, it will not work. If you thoroughly screw down the existing boarding and then screw the correct timber sheeting on top, that will work but you will have a step up into your kitchen and your friends will crack hilarious jokes about getting nosebleeds and keep asking you where the ladder is kept.



Whatever you decide upon they must be screwed down every 6” (150mm) and when they are tiled on, you won’t want to be going under the floor again for 25 years, so fix and test all the plumbing and electrics etc. well in advance. Oh, and make sure the bloke who screws them down notes exactly where all the plumbing and electrics are and if the lights start flickering, sack him!

So you’ve done your research, trawled the tile shops, peeped through the window of no. 43, visited stately homes, read country life at the doctor’s, and you know which tiles you want and the pattern they’re being laid in.


Questions to ask the tiler during his quotation visit.


Is this existing floor going to be good enough to guarantee the tiles don’t ever come up?  Gauge his answer well. He may not want (or be able) to put a new floor down. If he hesitates, even for even a second, get another opinion.


Will he collect the tiles from the shop in his van?  He can buy all the grout, adhesive and sealer at the same time. Make sure he knows which adhesive to buy, the stuff for screeds isn’t used on wooden floors.


Ask at the tile shop if your tiles need sealing and how many coats they require and if they will need sealing again when they’ve been laid. Glazed tiles don’t but non-glazed “biscuit” fired tiles absolutely do!


Will he give you an accurate number of tiles so that you can order and possibly pay for them? This will include at least 10% for breakages etc.


How will he deal with the fact that he will ruin the bath when he drops his hammer into it?  Has he insurance?


Does he know how to plan/set out for tiling? This is absolutely vital of course when planning a design. Even if they are simply going down normally, ten minutes thinking, at the beginning, can mean the difference between a lovely symmetrical job and the right mess you would make of it! You will have to think of a diplomatic approach here. I suggest making yourself sound like a complete buffoon and tell him you tried to tile at you last house and never even considered how vitally important the placing of the first tile can be, while looking him straight in the eye. He’ll work it out!
Make sure his quotation outlines in detail any pattern you require, possibly with reference to an example somewhere, or a picture in a magazine which you have shown him.

Make sure he quotes for sweeping and priming the floor first. Every screed, however new needs this, even plywood can need priming if it’s been walked over for a while, before the tiling starts even if he does use one of those fancy, self-priming, flexible adhesives.

FAQs 'traffic light' guide


  • What's tricky about this job…

    Open or Close

    'Setting out' is key. Where the tiler places that first tile determines how large or how small the cuts at the wall edges will be. You do not want 1" sliver cuts in a corner.


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