Laying tiles yourself to save 6-8 thousand euros?

Hello with correct tooth spacing and sufficiently stiff mortar, there should hardly be any swelling And for straight alignment, there are line lasers (can be borrowed) and straightedges.

Yes, I could have written those smart-aleck sayings here too. After all, I know how it’s done

But personally, after 19 years, they don’t help me at all... I didn’t have YouTube back then, but I had a lot of technical books from the library and a colleague who was a tiler, whom I grilled - he gave me little tips. And if I had called at that time, the advice would have been as tough as the mortar that wasn’t as expected.

However, this does not help the OP by simply dismissing the little problems, such as:

And if there should be a bit too much adhesive in the joint, just scrape it out with a cutter

because then you won’t enjoy scraping on 50 sqm or more... after one sqm with 30 x 30 tiles, you have more than 7 meters to scrape, and multiplied by 50 sqm you can gladly calculate from when you start cursing and would rather pay 5000€ to avoid this work.

The laundry room is now fully tiled and we cursed quite a bit. 50sqm floor area, including a floor-to-ceiling shower and a half-height tiled toilet. The 30x30cm tiles were the easiest to lay - that was almost a dream. The 60x30cm ones were not so great, but the worst were the mosaic tiles (because of the floor drains). Although for me personally, laying the tiles wasn’t that bad, especially when working in pairs - one lays, one cuts. The nasty part, in my opinion, is grouting plus the final cleaning. Especially with the mosaic tiles, that was really a punishment. Luckily we had a supply of cleaning sponges BEFORE that. After that, not so much ^^ By the way, I mostly scraped the remaining adhesive off the tiles with a wooden wedge.

Fortunately, we had a supply of cleaning sponges BEFORE THAT. After that, not so much anymore ^^

Good to know. I guess I'll have to get some more as well.

The bad thing, in my opinion, is the grouting plus the final cleaning. Especially with the mosaic tiles, that was really a gruelling job. Fortunately, we had a stock of cleaning sponges BEFORE that. Afterward, not so much anymore ^^

I feel similarly. Laying tiles, especially when little electric cutting is needed (cutting out corners, holes for outlets), is actually fun. But grouting and especially cleaning are not subject to entertainment tax—especially not on the wall.

I’ll quote myself...

When wiping off, use a sponge board and fresh water very often, and not too much of it.

A sponge board with an appropriate bucket and a squeegee significantly increases the speed and reduces the need for sponges. For the final finish, however, a lot of wipe and away / paper towels / tissues / thick and thirsty / etc. are still used.

Ok, we are done with the workshop tiles. My husband laid all the tiles himself. Here and there it’s not perfect, but that doesn’t matter.

The secret trick for washing the grout: First, wipe the sponge board with pressure over the fresh grout so that the coarse dirt is removed and the grout is even. Then rinse and just lay the sponge board down and pull it straight and without pressure over the same spot without lifting it.