Bathrooms & Tiling · 9 min read · Intermediate

How to Tile a Wall: Preparation, Layout, Adhesive & Grout

Prepare a sound, flat background, plan the layout and fix and grout wall tiles without treating adhesive, joints or movement details as one-size-fits-all.

Key points & steps

Inspect the background before tiling. It needs to be sound, sufficiently flat, clean and suitable for the tile, adhesive and room conditions; active damp or movement needs diagnosis first.
Plan the tile layout from controlled datum lines so rows stay level and obvious edges do not finish with avoidable tiny slivers.
Choose an adhesive compatible with the tile material and size, background and exposure. Wet areas and specialist tiles can require a particular system or primer.
Spread only a manageable area with the trowel/notch specified for the adhesive and tile, keeping the bed consistent rather than allowing a dry skin to form.
Press each tile firmly into the adhesive with the movement required by the product guidance, use spacers or levelling aids where appropriate and keep checking line, level and bedding coverage.
Plan cuts before fixing edge pieces and preserve perimeter, movement and change-of-plane joints where the tiling system requires them.
Allow the adhesive to cure for the stated period before grouting rather than loading or washing the joints too early.
Use grout compatible with the tile and joint width, pack the joints fully, clean the faces at the correct stage and use flexible sealant at movement joints where required.

Practical tips

Tile size and background flatness can change the required trowel and bedding method.
Do not use grout to correct badly spaced or poorly aligned tiles.
Natural stone, large-format tiles and waterproofed wet areas can have additional product-specific requirements.

What you may need

Wall tiles
Compatible tile adhesive
Primer if specified
Notched trowel
Tile spacers/levelling aids where appropriate
Tile cutter
Level or laser
Compatible grout
Grout float and sponge
PPE

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