"We were most grateful for the trouble you took in finding us some Royal Blue tiles. They were a perfect match & "made" our kitchen alteration"
Stubbington
How to use Easy Tile
If you need help with tiling, our 'step by step' guide can help you! If you would prefer to print off the instructions, please click on the button below to download.
- Walls should be dry and firm, free from grease and if applying over painted or tiled surfaces keyed with coarse emery paper. If tiling over new plaster or untreated timber this will need to be sealed with a suitable sealer.
- For tiling a complete wall with internal corners, find and mark the centre with a horizontal line all around the room, find the centre of this line on each wall, this is the starting point for the tile panels, if there is an external corner then they need to start from this corner, to avoid leaving cut edges exposed. For splash backs, you need to find the centre of each appliance (basin etc) and tile away from this point. This ensures that cut are equal both sides of the wall. If you are tiling only part the way up a wall the horizontal line needs to be positioned at the point where you wish to tile to, you therefore tile down from this line.
- Apply adhesive to the rear of the first tile, you require the minimum of adhesive, applying it in the same manner you would apply spread to bread. Try to get the adhesive to within 6mm (1/4inch) of the edge but avoid getting adhesive on the surface of the tile. (wipe off with a damp cloth if this happens)
- Offer the tile to the wall 5mm away from the line and slide the tile into position, you do not need to apply excess pressure. But do need to ensure the panel completely adheres to the wall. The sliding action ensures the adhesive completely covers the rear of the tile.
- Repeat with the next panel making your way along the line, ensuring the tiles lightly butt together. They should not be forced. This is the self spacing aspect, no need for tile spacers!
If the tile has a pattern; for example the marble tiles; check the pattern direction (grain) and check that the pattern is flowing in the right direction as each panel is applied.
- When you reach the end of the row and a cut is required, measure and mark the tile. If it is an internal corner then trim the panel, apply adhesive and slide into place. If it is an external corner one tile will need to slightly overlap the other. A major advantage of ‘Easy Tile’ tiles is that they can easily be cut using a sharp pair of household scissors or a utility / craft Knife.
When cutting with the knife, make several passes rather than trying to go through in the first attempt. (NOTE always use a sharp blade and guide the knife with a metal straight edge to avoid injury).
Marking out and cutting an internal corner......
Place the tile to be cut over the last full panel Take a second full panel and place it into the corner overlapping the tile Draw a line where the two tiles
meet. The piece you can see is the piece you need
Make the cut using a knife or scissors after test fitting, apply adhesive 
Offer into place with cut edge towards the corner and press firmly into place
The same technique can be used when tiling up to object such as cupboards, work surfaces and sanitary fittings. - When a row is completed start the next row checking with a spirit level that that the tiles are vertical and horizontal. This should be done periodically.
- Silver metallic tiles follow the same idea but extra care is required to prevent the face being scratched.
- Once tiling is complete leave adhesive to cure for 24 hours.
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The next step is grouting (which is essential for a waterproof finish). For the bottle cut a small amount of the nozzle off to expose a ball point pen tip sized hole, offer the bottle to the groove and squeeze out the grout, moving slowly and carefully along the line. If small air holes occur, move forward again over the hole before continuing back along the line.
Once a small area is complete run your finger along the line, as excess builds on your finger regularly wipe this away. Finally take a damp but not wet cloth, form it into a tight ball and carefully wipe off any large areas of excess grout. Wipe diagonally across the tiles to avoid the cloth dragging the wet grout out. Continue on with grouting again choosing small areas and cleaning up excess as you go along.
After approximately 2-3 hours the area can be cleaned with white spirit on a cloth. Do not rub the grout lines too hard, focus instead on any excess. Leave to cure for 24 hours, any milky residue can be removed with a final wipe over with white spirit. To get a truly high gloss surface a polish with spray furniture polish will finish the tiles perfectly. (this shouldn’t be done until all the grouting is complete.)
For the cartridge you need to first cut the cartridge seal open then screw on the nozzle. Fit into the mastic frame and offer the nozzle into the groove. Apply gentle pressure to trigger and move along the groove. Again once an area is applied run over with your finger and wipe off any excess with a damp cloth rinsed regularly. The polishing and final clean up with white spirit is the same as for the bottle.
What happens if?- If excess adhesive has cured on the surface, pick off excess lumps and dissolve any residue with white spirit.
- Excess grout all over the surface of the tiles - using a cloth dipped in white spirit wipe over the excess, do not rub, apply at regular intervals over a 5-10 min time frame, after which the grout will break down and come away from the surface. Dry off the tiles and spray over with a furniture polish to restore the finish.
- Scratches, with all but metallic silver, can be removed with metal polish (such as brasso) lightly rub onto the damage to blend the scratch away. Again a finish with polish will restore the surface.
- Inaccurate cutting, we do have several guides on cutting, which show how the professional get a good fit. They also cover corners in more detail.