I don't know if you're interested in DIY at all, but I re-tiled two bathrooms, a kitchen, and dining room in a house I sold a few years ago. I took a class at Lowes.....might have been Home Depot... and watched several youtube videos. Once I got past the initial learning curve it went pretty smooth. (Having access to a big wet-saw helped quite a bit) My knees hated me for a little while, but I saved a ton of money doing it myself.
DIY is in my opinion, the best way unless one is physically challenged. I've seen some shoddy work (no offense to Dennis Shoddy-but he does do Shoddy work)) by contractors and with a cursory look I know that they've made mistakes. I've gone behind them and straightened out their mistakes, some of them just don't care as long as they get the money. A tile cutter can be rented at Home Depot or you can buy a cheap one at Harbor Freight that will suffice for single job. That's my opinion! I've laid tile and paid to have some do at it.
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I had some tile work done by an installer from Flooring America several years back. We did the 18" tiles. install was spot on without any hollow spots I could find. The price per foot wasn't that bad as we were carpeting the rest of the house and needed 2 areas tiled.
I will throw another plug out on the DIY. It is not that difficult. knowing your layout before you start spreading thinset is a must. a nice tile saw makes the job that much easier.
I will throw another plug out on the DIY. It is not that difficult. knowing your layout before you start spreading thinset is a must. a nice tile saw makes the job that much easier.
Funny, The Wife and I were just talking about this yesterday. She wants to pull up the carpet in our front living area and put in that wood-look tile. She found it for $2 per sq ft at Lowe's and they quoted her another $4 per sq ft to install I believe. Does that sound about right to you guys?
Total area is under 400 sq feet. We could probably do it ourselves... I'm just not super hot on doing all that tile cutting, and my knees do NOT like me kneeling on hard surfaces these days. We would definitely have to invest in some of those gel-lined kneepads - oh God, I can't believe I am typing that HERE of all places! Jeez... talk about a setup.
Total area is under 400 sq feet. We could probably do it ourselves... I'm just not super hot on doing all that tile cutting, and my knees do NOT like me kneeling on hard surfaces these days. We would definitely have to invest in some of those gel-lined kneepads - oh God, I can't believe I am typing that HERE of all places! Jeez... talk about a setup.
FWIW, I've heard the wood plank stuff is the easiest to do. I'd like to tear up our entry,9 inch white tiles, and do the wood look.
We tore out the cheesy fake marble stuff around our fireplace and did real marble. A little tougher than I thought but we're happy with the outcome. That's the extent of my tiling knowledge!
We tore out the cheesy fake marble stuff around our fireplace and did real marble. A little tougher than I thought but we're happy with the outcome. That's the extent of my tiling knowledge!
Tiled a bathroom/shower. Cant imagine tiling a living room or kitchen and dining room. At least not in a timely manner. It sucked (the bending, kneeling, and stooping).
Depends on the tile...
Most of the cheap stuff isn't flat, so you deal with a lot of lippage issues, not something a DIY person is going to be adept at.
Plus that tile looks better with a very narrow grout space, so lippage is harder to hide.
M
Flooring American is at the house now putting wood look tile in the master bedroom and closet and in the living room and hallway. I could do it, I don't have time working 100 hour weeks all summer.
Bottom pic is the master, something new, farmhouse style floor, looks awesome. Living is more of a wood look
Bottom pic is the master, something new, farmhouse style floor, looks awesome. Living is more of a wood look
