Getting the substrate right
Tiles go on last, but the work that determines how they look and how long they last happens first. A wall with movement in it, or a floor that isn't rigid, will crack grout joints and eventually pop tiles. In a bathroom this is more than cosmetic: water gets in behind and you're back to a renovation job.
We use tile backer boards on timber stud walls in wet areas rather than standard plasterboard. They're moisture-resistant, dimensionally stable, and far better at taking tile adhesive. On floors, we check for deflection before anything goes down. If there's flex in the subfloor, we address it first. Takes longer to set up. Worth it every time.
Where the bathroom is a wet room, the tanking goes down before any tile, and the tiles are a second line of defence, not the first. That's as it should be.
Large format and feature tiles
Large format tiles look good in bathrooms. They also require more preparation to install well: a flatter, more accurate substrate, larger notch trowels, back-buttering the tile, and back-support on the walls during curing. The reward is fewer grout joints and a cleaner finish.
Cuts around pipes, shower valves, bath edges and toilet frames are where tiling quality shows up clearly. Those cuts need to be precise and finished properly with silicone rather than grout at movement joints. It's not complicated, but it does require care and the right blade for the tile material.
We tile walls and floors as part of a bathroom fit, and we carry out retiling jobs where the existing tiles need replacing without a full renovation. For a full renovation, see bathroom renovation.
Tiling as part of a full bathroom fit
When tiling is part of a complete bathroom project, we plan the layout before the first tile goes up. Where do the cuts fall? Are they in visible positions? Does the grout line on the floor align with the grout line on the wall? These things matter when the tiles are up and the light catches them. Thinking about layout at the start takes half an hour. Relaying tiles to fix a poor layout takes days.
We source tiles where required or work with your own chosen tiles. We'll advise on quantities and flag any issues with the tile you've chosen before we start. Some tiles look great in a showroom and present real installation challenges. Better to know before you've ordered three hundred of them.
What our customers say
"A neat and tidy job well done. Oakley listened to what we wanted and offered solutions to achieve it. Polite, pleasant, courteous and communicated at all times."
Bridport · Checkatrade