How to Tile a Laundry Room Floor

After we demoed the laundry room, we got to work on tiling. For both of us, this was the first time we had tiled a floor. It was a learning experience to say the least! We love a good DIY project though, so we dove in head first. Hopefully you might get a few take aways from this post, but at the least you can enjoy some before and after pictures! :)

Let's back up and talk about how we picked our tile, or even decided to go with tile in the first place. The existing floor was a laminate/vinyl that was probably as old as the house (circa 1991!), so you can imagine it was well worn, faded, and out dated.

We debated whether we wanted to stick with vinyl and get an updated, more modern design or go with tile.

Pros of Vinyl:
- Cost effective. While you can find some cheaper tile options out there, vinyl is great if you are on a tight budget.
- Warmer under foot. Tile is cold! Vinyl is definitely warmer (and softer!) when you are walking around barefoot.
- Easy to clean. With vinyl, you don't have to worry about chipping a tile, or staining light colored grout when there are messes.
- Easy installation. I don't have experience with installing vinyl, but from reading about some vinyl DIYs, it seems much easier and faster than installing tile.

Pros of Tile:
- Durable. Since tile is porcelain, stone, or cement, I would imagine it lasts longer than vinyl. Granted, our 27 year old vinyl still got the job done, it definitely looked faded and worn.
- Can be cost effective. It definitely depends on the kind you get, but you can find some affordable options out there for tile that don't break the bank.
- Easy to clean. As long as you seal the grout to prevent from staining, clean up is fairly easy with a mop or wipe.
-  It looks better. In my opinion, tile looks better. I think it has a higher end look, even if you are using cheaper tile. And the options for what you can do with tile as far as layout, style, colors, etc. are more diverse than vinyl options.

In the end, we went with tile and the main deciding factors were that I liked the look better, the price point fit our budget, and I liked how it felt more durable, especially for a laundry room that gets a ton of foot traffic every day.

Deciding what kind of tile to buy was a whole other thing. :) I had all my inspiration laundry rooms pinned and was going back and forth between something more elaborate and unique, modern and bold, or simple, yet impactful.

We decided on a charcoal gray porcelain tile from Lowe's called Style Selections Galvano. I knew I wanted a dark gray, almost black tile for some high contrast in the room, since the walls were going to be white with one wall having bold colorful wallpaper. I originally wanted to do smaller tiles that we could arrange in a herringbone pattern, but after thinking through options and realizing that we were going to install the tile ourselves, I opted for a more traditional (read: EASY) pattern to lay out. Plus, the 12x24 tiles seemed much friendlier to lay out - aka less grout to spread (and potentially mess up!) haha.

After we demoed the whole room and tore up the old vinyl floor (I finally truly realize the #demoday hype! It's like therapy!), we got to work laying the cement board. We used mortar and cement board heavy duty screws to lay the cement board and keep it in place. That cement board is HEAVY! There was a little trial and error in spreading the mortar, but we eventually got the hang of it. We used the cement board mesh (like a roll of tape) along the seams to make sure the seams were covered. We didn't apply the mortar on top at this point, only when we laid the tile.

One thing to keep in mind when laying out the cement board, is to make sure there are not any "four corners" areas. Make sure you offset the seams of the cement boards so that there are less seams for the tiles to sit on. This will make it more sturdy and keep the tiles from cracking.

Next up, we started opening the boxes of tile (no tiles were broken!) and got to work picking out the best looking ones. A few tiles (OK, maybe more than a few) had some weird veining, so we either put those ones aside, or made sure to keep them for the wall where the cabinets and washer/dryer would cover them. We also laid out a couple rows of tile before even mixing the mortar so we could get an idea of spacing and line it up with the doors, etc. From there, we started in the corner by the door to the garage instead of in the middle of the room (I think this is recommended starting point for some projects) because we wanted the tile to follow along the wall. We figured that was the sight line our eyes would follow, so as long as that was square against the wall, it wouldn't look off or slightly crooked. It worked out will in this small of a room, but not sure how that would work out in a larger room, just because of sight lines.

Laying the tile with the mortar took a little while to get the hang of. We second-guessed ourselves the first couple rows, but eventually got the hang of it. For tile spacers, we used the 1/8 inch spacers for a nice thin gap between the tiles, which worked out well. Since it isn't a huge room, we got all the tile laid out in a few hours.

For grout, we went with the non-sanded grout, which I learned is what you use for smaller grout joints. This kind goes up to 1/8 inch spacers. If you have larger spacers, then you would use the sanded grout.

We also mixed in with the grout a Grout Shield to protect against stains, since we were using white grout (the color is Snow White from Lowe's).

Zach went back to work, so it was all on me to finish the grout on my own if I wanted my washer and dryer back! So I got to work during nap time one day and knocked it out. I think I waited about 48 hours after laying the tile to do the grout, to make sure it had fully dried. I actually kind of liked doing the grout! It was probably the easiest part of putting in the tile and very satisfying to get it looking finished!

Tools I used for grouting:
- Heavy duty gloves
- Knee pads
- Two large buckets (one for clean water, the other for the grout)
- Trowel
- Non-Sanded Grout (in Snow White)
- Grout Shield
- Microfiber Sponge
- Rubber Grout Float

I got to work mixing the grout; the consistency is supposed to be like firm pancake batter. I put some on my rubber grout float and pressed it into the cracks between the tile. Then, still with the float, I smoothed it across so it wasn't lumpy and was flush with the tile. It's OK to leave the excess on the grout, since you will go back over with a damp sponge to wipe it off.

Grouting went fairly quickly (I think it only took me a hour or two at the most?), but I was up against the clock to go pick up Emerson and didn't have enough time to do the post-grout wipe down with a sponge to get the extra off. Then, I didn't have time until after bedtime to finish up! So, it was harder to get the excess grout off the tiles, since I didn't do it within the recommended 10 minutes. BUT, it was still doable. I was on my hands and knees scrapping off some of the grout in places though... so not ideal!

Once the excess grout was gone, there was still a little filmy surface on the tiles. I first just got a fresh clean sponge and used some water to wash it off, which helped a lot. Then, I got some cleaning vinegar and mixed it with water to scrub clean with a sponge and it looked much better! They have specific cleaners to get rid of the grout film, but I liked going the more natural way because apparently those cleaners are very strong and stinky.

I think we waited 24 hours before moving in the washer and dryer. I'm obsessed with how they turned out! I love the contrast of the white grout and the dark gray tile. It looks so modern, but not overwhelming. The 12x24 tiles were really easy to work with and I really like that we did the offset pattern so it's not too distracting from the wallpaper we put up. The only downside is that the tiles are so dark they show every spec of dust, which is a lot in a laundry room! But, it doesn't bother me too much because I love how the tiles look - so sharp! Overall, we LOVE it!

Now, I want to tile all the bathrooms too! :)

And now for a little Before/After!