Home Improvement Saturday - Wall Tile

We have tiled the walls in three bathrooms (one int he old house, two in this house) and also tiled around the fireplace in this house. We choose to use floor tiles in each case, but you can use any tile on the wall really. The difference between wall and floor tiles is the quality/strength. Floor tiles are stronger and normally heavier and bigger as a result.

Tiling walls isn't much different from tiling floors. You use the exact same tools and same order of steps. The only difference is that gravity is no longer your friend. The thin set will slide down the wall if you aren't careful. Tiles can slide as well, so spacers are definitely necessary. You may also need supports for tiles if there isn't going to be a tile below them (or you haven't cut that tile yet). Small jobs like a back splash should be fairly easy because you are starting with a level surface (the countertop) and aren't going very high. Showers are a little harder because of the amount of tiles that will be in a column. We did our showers over a few days, building up a few rows and letting the thinset dry before going too high.

If you want a decorative border, you can go with listas. But, they are expensive ($5 a foot or more)! So, for this house we did the border using other types of tiles. In the master bath, we cut the corners off of a different style tile and used the triangles as the border. In the full bath (AJU5/guest bath), we used tile squares that come in 12x12 sheets. I liked the idea of this, but it turns out the height of the tiles was different, which made it look a little off in spots. So, be sure to check the thickness of the tile if you are going to use different ones on the same area!

Pictures:
Top Row: Master Bath (Back Wall), Full Bath (Shower Area) Full Bath (Shower Area)
Middle Row: Full Bath (Shower Area), Full Bath (Shower Area), Fireplace
Bottom Row: Shower in Old House