Tiler - Tiling in Robertsbridge (13)

Tiling is the practice of laying and fixing tiles on a surface. It’s one of the most common ways that homeowners add a decorative feature to rooms, most often in domestic bathrooms and kitchens on the walls and floors. But tiling is also very popular in shops, offices, hotels, and swimming pools.

Tiles are a hard-wearing surface covering, particularly for floors that get a lot of traffic and need to stand the test of time.

Need someone to do tiling for you? Local tilers are the tradespeople you need to call. Tiling experts have the skills and experience to provide professional tiling services to help you with your tiling job.

You might find that some professional tilers will specialise in a certain area of tiling, such as marble fixing, mosaic tiling, or underwater tiling.

Types of tiles

Nowadays there are thousands of options when it comes to tiles, and there are a number of common materials that tilers work with on a daily basis. The most popular types of tile in the UK are:

• Ceramic

• Marble

• Porcelain

• Mosaics

• Glass

• Limestone

• Granite

• Natural stone

When would I need a tiler?

You’ll want to find a tiler any time you want tiles to be laid on walls, floors or other surfaces in your home. Tilers don’t just install new tiling, they’re also skilled at repairing and restoring tilework to make your existing tiling as good as new.

Benefits of hiring a professional tiler

Tiling is one of those jobs that requires skill, patience and precision, so if you’re not a confident DIY enthusiast then it’s a wise move to find a tiler locally who can do the work for you. Here are some of the benefits of hiring a professional tiler in {location]:

• Professional tilers are quick and efficient – You can’t beat the speed and precision of a good local tiling expert

• They have all the right tools – A tiler will have all the right equipment and materials to carry out the tiling job to a professional standard

• Tilers can offer advice – It’s always helpful to get professional advice when it comes to choosing the right type of tiles and tiling patterns for your home

You’ll be in safe hands – Experienced tilers will make sure all tiling work is carried out safely and efficiently to achieve the best results

The exact prices you’ll pay to hire a tiling expert will obviously depend on the size and complexity of the job. You’ll often be charged either an hourly or daily rate for tiling and the average tiler cost is around £25 per hour or £175 per day.

Some of the factors that will affect the total price you pay for a professional tiler include:

• Size of the area to be tiled

• Size of tiles being used

• Quantity and quality of tiling materials

• Number of tilers doing the job

• Any prep work needed to prepare walls or floors

• Any special finishes

How much does a tiler charge per square metre?

If you’re trying to work out how much your tiling job will cost based on the size of the area you need tiling, the average tiling cost per square metre is somewhere in the region of £35 - £50 per m2.

As with all tradespeople, we always recommend discussing costs upfront so that you know exactly what the tiler costs cover and you can work out the tiling cost per square metre, if needed. Ideally you want to ask for a detailed quote upfront with a breakdown of all material and labour costs for the job.

Costs for common tiling job

When it comes to planning a budget for your tiling job, here are some average tiler costs you can expect to pay in Robertsbridge:

• Tile a medium-sized bathroom (walls and floors) – £700

• Tiling a shower (depends on tile cost) – £375

• Tile a kitchen floor – £43 per m2

• Tile a kitchen – £650

• Kitchen floor tile 8m2 – £675

• Kitchen ceramic floor tile 8 m2 (1 tiler) – £1,290

• Kitchen ceramic floor tile (2 tilers - labour only) – £200

• Kitchen porcelain floor tile – £2,425

• Kitchen stone floor tile – £1,800

To find out more about prices, check out our guide to tiling costs.

Quotes for tiler costs in Robertsbridge

As with all home improvement projects, we always recommend obtaining at least three quotes from different tilers in your area. You'll want to shop around to make sure you find a tiler that charges fair and competitive prices for their tiling work. And, thankfully, we've got a tool that makes finding multiple quotes super easy.

Our request a quote feature is perfect for getting quotes: you post details about the work you need doing and we’ll send it out to local tradespeople in your area. Try it out – it's quick and easy!

Typically speaking, a tiler will deal with all aspects of preparing and laying tiles, and adding any special finishes. They’ll be responsible for working out how many tiles and how much adhesive you’ll need for the area that needs tiling. A tiler will also cut tiles to a certain size and/or shape using hand-cutters or bench-mounted tools to make sure that tiling fits perfectly around any features, appliances or awkward spaces in the room.

As part of their work, tiling contractors will prepare surfaces before they start laying any tiles. That typically involved levelling off walls or floors with plaster, sand or cement. Then, once the surfaces are ready, the tiler will fix tiles into place, apply grouting and then finish off by cleaning all tiling to leave it in perfect condition.

Common tiler services

Here are some of the jobs that tiling contractors typically carry out as part of their tiling services:

• Floor and wall tiling

• Installing splashbacks

• Removing and replacing tiles

• Bathroom installation

• Exterior tiling

• Installing wet rooms

• Underfloor heating

• Swimming pool tiling

The tiling process

If you’re planning to hire a tiling contractor, it’s useful to understand the process that they’re going to follow when tiling your home. Here’s a summary of the various steps in the tile laying process:

1. Measuring up of the space to be tiled and then calculating how many tiles and how much adhesive will be needed for the job

2. Tiles are cut to the correct size and shape using either hand tools or tile cutting machinery

3. Tiles are laid out in the designated area to check that they all fit correctly

4. Old tiles are removed (if tiling is already in place)

5. Surfaces are prepared to make sure they’re clean and level ready for tiling to being

6. An adhesive is applied to the surface to both level it out and fix the tiles into place

7. Tiles are laid once the adhesive is partly dried and the tiler will use tile spacers (small plastic crosses) to ensure the tiles are positioned correctly and equally spaced out

8. Grouting is added to fill in the gaps between the tiles once the adhesive is completely dry (which can take several hours)

9. Tiles are cleaned to remove any excess grouting, adhesive, dirt or dust

10. Grouting is left to dry and the job is done

What qualifications should a tiler have?

In the UK there is no specific qualification for tilers, but some institutes do offer tiling qualifications – such as the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), which issues the Intermediate Construction Award (Tiling). You may also find a tiler has an NVQ or SVQ in wall and floor tiling. The reality is that most tilers are often trained through an apprenticeship and learning on the job from other tiling contractors.

It’s hard to give a specific area size that a tiler can do in one day, as it massively depends on the condition of the surface, the size of the tiles, and the experience of the individual tiler.

As a general rule, if you take into account the whole tiling process (including tile cutting, surface preparation, laying tiles, etc) a professional tiler could do anywhere from 10 - 30+ m2 per day. If it’s a bigger job where the preparation is all done in one go and the tiler is working with help (either another tiler, a labourer or an assistant), they may be able to cover a much larger area in a single day.

It also depends on how many tiling contractors are working on the job. If it’s a large area that needs tiling you’ll often find that local tilers work in pairs, or an experienced tiler will bring an assistant to help get the job done faster.

It’s always a good idea to discuss timings before hiring a tiling contractor. Make sure you ask how long they think it will take them to complete the job, once they know what’s involved.

How long will it take to tile an average floor?

Tiling the floor of a room can take anywhere from 1 to 3+ days. The main factors affecting how long floor tiling takes are the size of the floor, the size and shape of the tiles being used, and the experience of the tiler. Tiling experts with many years of experience will naturally be much faster than tilers with less experience.

You also have to take into account the layout of the room. Any awkward spaces, nooks or crannies will make the tiler’s job more complicated and it will take longer to complete the tiling.

Find a tiler you can trust in Robertsbridge

Ready to find the best local tilers in Robertsbridge? Use our handy request a quote to start getting multiple quotes from tililing experts that your neighbours recommend. All you need to do is post the details of your tiling job and we’ll contact local tilers for you and get them to contact you directly.