Tile Cove Base Installation Instructions

Measure the height of the tile cove base, using a tape measure. Add 1/8 inch to the measurement and transfer the total to each corner of the room's walls, measuring from the floor up the wall and placing pencil marks at the appropriate spots.

Stretch a chalk box's string between a set of pencil marks, using a drywall screw to hold the loose end of the string against one of the pencil marks. Tighten the drywall screw with a Phillips screwdriver. Hold the other end of the chalk box's string tight against the neighboring pencil mark with one hand and apply tension to the string with the other hand. Release the string, creating a chalk line between the two pencil marks. Repeat this process between each set of pencil marks.

Cover the wall below the chalk line with tile adhesive, using a V-notch glue trowel to spread the adhesive.

Press a tile cove base's corner trim against one of the room's corners. Adjust the corner trim until its top edge aligns with the chalk line. Lay a tile spacer flat on the floor and slide the spacer into the 1/8-inch-tall gap between the bottom of the corner trim and the floor tile's surface. Repeat this procecure at each corner.

Press the full pieces of tile cove base into the tile adhesive, starting at a corner trim piece and working across the wall. Align the cove base's grout joints with the floor tile's grout joints. Adjust the height of the cove base until its top edge meets the chalk line, then slide a tile spacer into the gap below the cove base. Repeat this process on each wall.

Measure the distance between the edge of the last full piece of tile cove base and the edge of its neighboring corner trim piece, using a tape measure. Subtract the width of a grout joint and transfer the total to a piece of tile cove base, placing a pencil mark at the appropriate spot. Draw a straight line across the cove base's surface, using a carpenter's square as a straight edge. Repeat the procedure for each piece of corner trim.

Cut one of the marked pieces of tile cove base along its pencil line, using an angle grinder equipped with a tile-cutting blade. Repeat for each piece of tile cove base that meets a corner trim piece.

Press each cut piece of tile cove base into its respective spot on the wall, keeping the top of the cove base even with the chalk line, and its grout joints matching the floor tile's grout joints. Slide a spacer under each cut piece.

Let the adhesive dry for one hour before continuing.

Combine floor tile grout and water in a bucket, following the grout manufacturer's directions. Stir the floor tile grout with a flat trowel until the grout's consistency matches paste.

Pull all of the tile spacers from the gap between the tile cove base and the floor tile.

Force the floor grout into the cove base's grout joints, using a grout float. If you're using bullnose tile, fill the seam between the cove base and the wall with grout.

Clean the excess grout from the floor tile, tile cove base and the wall, using a sponge. Blend the cove base's grout joints into the floor tile's grout joints. If you're using stack-on tile cove base, use special care to remove all of the grout from the cove base's top edge.