After our tutorial about how to choose ceramic tiles and adhesive we decided to write a short post about installation and underlayment of ceramic tile flooring. A good underlayment may be the most important part of your tile installation. To tile over an existing floor, it will be much easier if it is flat and solid.

Some older resilient flooring are containing asbestos fibers. For your safety do not try to remove or sand it without a professional asbestos inspector. Resilient flooring with asbestos can be removed by your contractor or covered with plywood. Sometimes professional contractors put down what they call a mud bed. It consists of a layer of roofing felt, then a wire mesh, then mortar.

Tile looks best if it's laid out in a straight line and square to the walls. That requires a bit of thought prior to installation. Because the walls aren't allays straight and square you need to evaluate your own circumstances to determine the best layout for your floor. When you've established the layout, you can start setting tile.

At the beginning you can lay the first tile in a corner. To set it in to the mortal you can press it down and twist it lightly. You can test the first tile by prying it up by a corner and than you may look on the back side. About 3/4 of the tile should be covered with mortar. If you can see only parallel lines of mortar, than the ridges must be too shallow. If you can't see it, probably the mortar is too dry.

Set the remaining tiles and aligning them to the outside layout lines. For two sides of the box, the tiles should be set right up to your layout lines. For the other two sides you must leave a gap for a grout joint between the edge of the tile and the layout line.