The importance of PREPARATION for mosaic/subway tiling!

Bathroom renovations involve a series of events starting from the initial disconnection of fittings up to the finalisation of the bathroom.

The importance of each step completed correctly for the next tradesmen is crucial! Failure to do so will create a domino effect with the whole bathroom compromising the finish. 

Today I want to emphasize the importance of preparation work for mosaic and subway tiling. These tiles require walls to be 100% flat. The reason for this is due to the small size of the tile. Packing up the glue to fix up certain parts of the wall is impossible as this will create major defects with the finish.  

Mosaic tiling requires walls to be 100% flat. With normally sized tiles, you can pack up the glue to even it out with no issue – to an extent. The reason for this is mosaic is generally on a mesh sheet. Packing up the glue to fix up certain parts of the wall is impossible as this will create major defects with the finish of such a small tile. Unfortunately, grout will not cover up any lippage with the tiles. 

When prepping the walls, whether it be cement render or villa-board sheeting, you want to ensure they’re completely flat on the straight edge and if possible 100% plum. With sheeting, we always recommend plastering and setting the joints to even out the surface to avoid any issues with the laying of the tiles.

Below is just some of the final results of mosaic in the bathrooms we renovate –