Tiling Where the Floor Meets the Wall

Preparation

• Regardless of whether you plan to tile the wall or not, plan on tiling the floor first and taking care of the wall second. The wall tile or the baseboard molding of the wall comes down on top of the floor tile and the expansion joint you leave between the tile and the wall. This covers any cut tiles or small inconsistencies in the tile as it meets the wall. Plan your tile layout ahead of time, as well, to give you balanced cut tiles around the perimeter. Adjust your layout so that the tiles that meet the wall are not less than 3 inches in width.

Expansion Joint

• Houses shift, settle and move over time. Tile is a hard, brittle material that has a high compression but low tensile strength. This means that it cannot flex with your house if it shifts or settles. Grout helps to absorb some of the flex, but it can only handle so much. What truly helps absorb the flex and movement of your floor is the expansion joint around the perimeter of the room where your floor meets the wall. As you plan and lay your tiles, leave a gap of approximately 1/8 inch between the last row of tiles and the wall. Do not tile right up to the wall; the stress of the house flexing at this point could crack the tiles.

Cutting and Installing

• Install your tiles right up to the area next to the wall where a cut tile needs to be placed. To make a precise cut, lay a full, loose tile right on top of the tile you just installed. Set a second full, loose tile 1/8 inch from the wall in the gap so it lays partially on top of the first loose tile. Draw a line on the first loose tile where the second one crosses it. Cut along this line. To install, apply mortar directly to the back of the tile rather than the floor, and press it into place. This will ensure you get good coverage of mortar onto the back of the tile in such a small space.

Finishing

• Grout the tiles around the perimeter of the room when you grout the tiles on the interior. Do not fill the area where the tiles meet the wall with grout, however; fill this gap with a flexible caulk instead. If you are not installing a baseboard or wall tile, use a caulk that matches the color and texture of the grout. Otherwise, use a silicone caulk, then install the baseboard or the wall tile so it covers the expansion gap and hides the edge of the cut tiles.