How to Tile a Small Bathroom Floor _ DIY Bath Remodel

What's up guys ?

I'm Brad Rodriguez from fix this build that .

And today I'm gonna show you how I replace the dated floor tiles in this small bathroom with these great large format tiles that really open up the space .

Stay tuned and I'll show you just how I did it .

This small bathroom has been on our remodel list for a while and one of the things I hate most about it is the beige tile floor in the dark crowd .

Now we're remodeling the entire bathroom .

So we ripped everything out from the tub to the mirror .

Today , I'll be focusing on the floor install using the new line of tile tools from rigid .

After taking everything else out of the bathroom , I moved on to the floor .

I used a large demo bar to pry up the tiles and it worked really well .

And my subfloor is three quarter inch Os B with the detra underlayment .

I'll talk more about that later , but ripping up the tiles actually shouldn't be this easy .

They didn't install it correctly , which made my life easier , but don't expect yours to necessarily go as smoothly .

You may need a hammer drill with a scraping blade to get up all the Mastic off the subfloor after I installed the tub in the shower , which you'll see in the next video , I started prepping the sub floor for install .

Having a flat surface to start is key in any flooring .

Install .

My OS B subfloor was mostly flat but the seams were raised up a bit .

So I grabbed my belt sander and I flattened all the seams .

even with the rest of the floor , I'm using Schluter die for the underlayment .

That's the same stuff that was on there before .

It's an alternative to backer board .

And it's both an uncoupling membrane and a waterproof .

I measured the floor to cut the roll to length and it's easily cut with scissors or a box cutter .

I notched it for the doorways leaving a quarter inch gap from the walls .

The second piece to fill out the room is not full width .

So I cut it down to size and I laid it on the floor to reference the toilet flan .

I used my box cutter to cut out the hole for the flange .

So it just slipped over the opening for an OS B Subfloor installation .

It calls for modified mortar between the wood and the underside of the detra .

I mixed up a batch of the mortar using the new rigid mixer here and this thing makes short work of mixing and it's got the power to do it versus a common drill , which you can easily burn up if you're mixing too much mortar and pushing it too hard .

I got the mix to a thick milkshake consistency .

Then I let it sit to slack and mixed it up again after 10 minutes .

And I probably could have gone a little wetter with the mix because it did stiffen up some after sitting .

And when you're done mixing the mortar , the quickest way to clean your paddle mixer is to put it in a bucket of clean water and run it at high speed , cleans it in a jiffy .

Now , for my application , the mortar gets applied with a quarter inch by 3/16 inch V notch trial .

And this could vary depending upon your underlayment and die type .

So make sure that you reference the detra install handbook .

I spread the mortar onto the subfloor and then I laid out the larger piece .

It's a little tricky handling the full length sheet from the side .

I think on rolling it from the doorway , it would have worked a little bit better here and using a grout float .

I pressed the detra into the mortar bed and smoothed it out around the whole sheet .

I also peeled up a corner to check for adhesion and made sure it was bonding to the subfloor .

It wasn't exactly perfect but it was definitely way better than the original install .

Next .

I spread the mortar over the rest of the subfloor and pulled in the smaller sheet of the fit was perfect up against the other sheet .

And for full waterproofing , a layer of Schluter curdy band could also be added to this joint .

You can actually start laying tile on top of the deer right away , but it was late .

So I came back the next day to start the tiling and I'm using a 24 by 12 inch large format tile and I spent some time trying to figure out the best layout .

I used a program called sketch up to lay out the size of my floor and my tiles with the ground spacing that I wanted .

This .

Let me try different staggering and placements to see how they looked right there on the computer screen .

And my goal is to have as many full tiles as possible and make sure that they didn't have any small near the walls or the doors .

We settled on a brick pattern layout with a third of a tile overlap between the tiles .

And this helps to reduce lipid when two tiles aren't level with each other , which is more prone on these larger tiles because they aren't always flat .

And when using a printed pattern on the tiles , it helps to lay out all the tiles that you have across different boxes .

So you can avoid duplicates next to each other .

If you do have a duplicate that you'll have to use , just make it a cut piece , flip it in for in versus the other one or hide it underneath the vanity or the toilet .

After we got the layout , we wanted , we labeled all the tiles and then transferred that to a print out of the computer layout .

We designed that way in the midst of laying the tiles , we could use it as a reference and not get mixed up and put those duplicates back together if you're new here and you like what you're seeing so far .

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The door jams needed to be cut back a little for my thicker tile and mortar bed .

I used to tile on a small spacer to represent the mortar and I cut the jams with my job .

Max multi tool as a final piece of prep work , I slid the tiles under the door jam and set them in place with spacers just like they'd be at install .

Then I used the painter's tape and marked eight inches on the tile as a reference for my one third overlap .

And I figured out the cut-off piece size that I'd need for the front of the door for the bond between the deer and the tile .

I needed to use an unmodified mortar .

Unfortunately , they only had an unmodified mortar in the gray at my local store .

It's better to use a white mortar when you're using light grout .

If you can get it , I mixed up the mortar , the same as before .

And while it was slacking , I cut the first half tiles , the size that would go against the tub .

And the most important joints visually here are gonna be the ones at the door .

So I started in the corner by the door in the tub and this made the install a little bit harder since typically , you would start on the far wall and work your way out row by row .

But I didn't want to risk a cumulative air or throwing off my joint at that last row by the door .

I worked the mortar into the waffle pattern .

I back buttered the large tiles to make sure that I had a good bond .

Then I set them in place to space the tiles .

I use the rigid level mac system .

It's a spacer and lipid reducer all in one .

The teacher is a little tricky to get the hang of .

You really have to work the mortar into the waffle print to get it to fill the voids .

I used a half inch by half inch square notch trawl and work my way down the wall .

After I established that first row by the door on the wall , I worked my way across the front of the tub .

I cut the tiles the size as needed and I set them in place , wiggling them from side to side to collapse the mortar bed lines and get full adhesion on the tile again .

It helps to check here and make sure that you're getting good coverage when you're doing your tile placement .

And this is where the level max system comes into play .

There are spacers here for T joints , straight joints and four away joints .

And the spacers go under the tiles at the joint and the stems are threaded .

So the top pieces are screwed down as they're tightened , it pulls all the tiles flush with each other .

It's a really cool system .

I'll have a link below in the description .

You can find out more about them .

I worked my way to the fire wall and I needed to make the cuts for the toilet flash .

Now , at this point , we were in the heat of the moment and that Mastic was setting up so I didn't film it , but here's how I made the cuts , curve cuts can be notched out with a wet saw , but I use my angle grinder with a diamond embedded wheel .

And the key here is just to take light sweeping cuts and don't let the grinder bog down and dry cutting tile throws a lot of dust and chips .

So make sure you protect your eyes and your lungs too .

I went around the toilet and I worked my way out the door , laying the last full tile right in front of the doorway .

And the level max system really did a great job of keeping the tiles aligned and it sure beats the old days of using a carpet covered two by four to beat the tiles into place .

Now , after the mortar dried for 24 hours , I came back to snap off the stems of the spacers .

And this part right here is probably the most fun of the whole job .

A swift kick snaps the stems off of the spacers and the part left is under the tile and the tops can be unscrewed and used again .

I feel like this might be like a new therapy technique to relieve stress too .

I cleaned up the joints of any excess or loose mortar and then I vacuumed everything clean .

We went with a light grout to try and help the grout joints disappear and have the focus be the tiles .

I mix the grout by hand and with large format tiles , you really don't need a lot of grout at all .

I work the grout into the joints using a grout float at a 45 degree angle to the joint .

If you push the grout in parallel or perpendicular with the joint lines , then the edge of the float is gonna fall in and catch and it's just gonna pull the grout out .

After filling in all the grout , I rinse the excess off of the damp sponge .

You really want to ring the sponge out well , so that the grout doesn't get more water in it .

Because if you get more water , it can cause discoloration and weaken the joint .

I let the grout dry overnight and I came back the next day to buff off any grout haze .

And there were some tough spots there where I had to use a haze remover to get it off .

But it works well with a microfiber towel .

I used a grout colored cock to go between the tub and the flooring .

And then I reinstalled all the base boards and the floor turned out awesome .

It's a great focal point for the small bathroom and the light colored large format tile really makes this room feel bigger .

If you want to see the full bathroom remodel , it is gonna be right there when it goes live .

I've also got another video queued up for you right down below .

If you're not subscribed to the channel already , I'd love to have you as part of the team .

And until next time guys get out there and build something awesome .