How to Re-Tile a Kitchen

Break up and remove the existing tile floor with your hammer and chisel, working along the grout lines to get the individual tiles out in whole pieces if possible. Remove all the loosened and broken tile. Scrape the floor with a floor scraper to take up any residual mortar or grout.

Snap two intersecting lines over the center of the floor with a chalk snap line, from the middle of each edge of the floor to the middle of the edge across from it. Set a carpenter's square at the intersection as you lay the lines, so you can adjust them as needed to make them 90 degrees off each other.

Lay thinset mortar over onto the surface with a notched trowel, covering about 4 square feet in one of the corners formed by the intersecting lines.

Set the first tile in the mortar, at the intersection. Lay more tiles next to it, setting spacers between them.

Repeat the process, spreading additional thinset mortar and laying additional tiles. Build from the middle of the floor toward the perimeter in a grid pattern, laying as many full tiles as will fit.

Cut the tiles for the spaces around the perimeter of the floor as needed, using a tile cutter, with the cut sides facing the walls.

Let the mortar set overnight. Remove the spacers.

Press the grout into the lines, scraping it across the tile surface, using your grout float. Wipe up the residual grout with a damp sponge. Let it dry for 24 hours.