Setting Floor Tiles

Put a little adhesive on the flat side of a square-notched trowel and apply it, pushing it into the face of the backerboard as you go. Then apply more to make a layer of adhesive roughly ½ inch thick.

Holding the trowel at about 70 degrees to the floor, push the teeth of the tool to the floor, making ridges of uniform height in one direction in the adhesive. The size of the trowel notches should be the same as the thickness of the tiles you are setting.

Lay the first tile at the intersection of the guidelines that you laid out in the previous project - Laying Out Floor Tiles. Twist the tile back and forth slightly to make sure it is embedded in the adhesive. As you go, remove any excess adhesive from the tiles with a damp sponge or a cloth.

Place the second tile alongside the first, spacing it with a couple of spacers. Continue laying tiles until you have filled up the box. Set spacers upright near the corners where each set of tiles meet.

Lay a short length of 2x4 or a beater block on top of the tiles, and tap lightly with a rubber mallet to level the tiles and bed them firmly in the adhesive. Continue laying tiles, in one box at a time, until you reach the wall. If necessary (and it probably will be) cut tiles to fit against the wall.

Place the tile to be cut directly over the last set tile. Set another tile, the "marker tile," on top of it, butting it against a tile set on edge at the wall. Trace along the marker tile to mark the cutting line on the tile below.

The first part of cutting a tile is scoring it. Place the tile you marked in Step 6 on the cutter, and align the cutting line with the scoring tool. Pull or push the cutter along the top of the tile with a single, firm stroke.

The second part of cutting is to snap the tile in two. Wearing safety goggles, press down on the handle of the cutter to snap the tile in two.