Laying floor tile in a small bathroom involves the same process as doing it in a larger bathroom, but you can take some additional aesthetic factors into consideration to help the floor tile make the small bathroom feel a little bigger. Using smaller tiles (thus allowing you to lay more of them) gives the illusion of more floor space than there actually is. Light rather than dark colors always make a room feel more spacious.
Instructions
1. Turn off the water valve behind the toilet. Disconnect the water line from the toilet with your wrench, loosen the two floor bolts on the base of the toilet, and lift the toilet out. You will be left with a toilet drain hole in the middle of the floor.
2. Use a chalk snapline to divide the floor into four even squares, with two intersecting lines. The intersection should be in the center of the floor.
3. Use a notched mortar trowel to spread thinset mortar over the intersection, covering a few square feet of floor surface. You will still be able to see the lines through the mortar.
4. Press the first floor tiles in place in the mortar, at the intersection of the lines. Put spacers between them. Build out from there, spreading more mortar as needed and working your way out toward the edges of the floor.
5. Cut the partial tiles along the wall and the tub on a platform tile cutter as needed. Use tile nippers to break and shape the tiles to go around the toilet drain, leaving about ¼ inch of space between the edges of the tiles and the drain. (It doesn't matter that the edges of the tiles around the drain will be jagged and uneven, since the toilet base will be covering it.)
6. Let the tiles set for 12 hours. Remove the spacers. Grout the floor, using a grout float to press the grout into the spaces. Use a damp sponge to wipe off the excess grout.
7. Allow the grout to dry for a full day. Reinstall the toilet, using the reverse process you used to install it. Caulk about the toilet base.
Tags: edges tiles, floor tile, small bathroom, tiles around, , toilet drain