Choosing ceramic tiles may be the hardest part of your home improvement project. There are thousands of tile sizes, colors, styles and shapes to choose from. Now the trend for sizes is towards larger tiles. Also colors are getting warmer and brighter. It's very useful if you know what tile is best for your specific home project. Most ceramic tiles are glazed. Mosaic tile made from different types of clay with color pigments added so the color goes all the way through the tile. Also quarry tile is a broad classification for any tile made out of a mixture of clays. These tiles are used mostly for interior floors.

The type of adhesive you will need depends on where you're tiling. Premixed adhesives are good for setting wall tile. They start gripping the tile even before they're fully cured. Thinsets are better if you are more experienced. They are more flexible and have a stronger bond than premixed adhesives. Thinsets can also support a lot of weight and that's why they are often preferred for floor installations. If you are using a drill to mix the adhesive, try to run the drill at a slow speed to avoid mixing air into the mortar.

For applying adhesives and mortars you will need some basic tools. For spreading thinsets on horizontal surfaces you can use a square-notched trowel. For spreading adhesives on vertical surfaces it's best to use V-notched trowels. You can buy disposable grout floats at your local supply store. The margin trowel is one of the most useful tools of all. You can use it to mix mortars and grouts by hand or to scrape extra adhesive from walls. A margin trowel may also be used to spread adhesive on the notched trowel or to back-butter small tiles.