How to Tile a Floor like a Pro

It’s amazing how a floor impacts the way a space feels and looks. No matter how small the space is. If you’ve been following along with me you know we had two areas in our house with nasty linoleum flooring. We lived with it for 6 years, and finally got up the nerve to paint the linoleum in our kids bathroom. It was an amazing transformation and we are still happy with how it looks and how it has held up. To read about How we Painted Linoleum Floors click HERE.

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Why we decided to Tile our Floor

For a while I contemplated whether we should paint and stencil the other area in our house that had the same linoleum. It was the entry from the garage and a hallway that led to the laundry area and powder bathroom. We were ready to paint it and then thought since it was such a high traffic area it would be a better place to tile instead. Plus, we love learning how to do new things, so this would be fun for us. We had tiled before when we remodeled our fireplace, you can read about our Fireplace transformation HERE so it wasn’t completely new territory for us, but we still were learning as we went.

Here is our DIY Journey of how we ripped out the old, ugly linoleum and laid beautiful, bold tile. (For videos of each step head to my Instagram page HERE and click on the saved highlight “Hallway Update”)

Let’s take a look at the before pictures first…

How to Start – Removing the Baseboards

First step is to remove all the baseboards. It was important that we didn’t ruin the baseboards or the wall in the removal because we wanted to save our money and reuse them. This was a fairly simple step with the help of this 6 in 1 tool I bought. This tool was used with pretty much every single step in this home project and made our life a whole lot easier. Best $7 I ever spent, and I highly recommend as a staple in your toolbox. I first used a razor blade to cut the caulking from the baseboards and the wall. Then used my 6 in 1 tool and a hammer and gently tapped the 6 in 1 tool until it started to slide behind the baseboard. I then used a prybar to very gently pry the baseboard from the wall. Each board came off beautifully with this technique and we were able to use all the boards when we finished the floor. Make sure to label the back of each baseboard and the wall so you know where each one belongs.

Picking Out the Tile for our Floor

One of the most fun steps was picking out what tile to use! I had a blast going up and down the aisles looking at all the options and had MANY favorites. It was too hard to decide while we were in the store so I bought a few tiles of each of my favorites and brought them home to try out in the space. This was such a helpful way to decide. We instantly fell in love with one of the tile options and it made it so much easier to imagine how it would look when it was laying out in the space. We went with a BOLD black and white pattern to add some character to the space.

DIY mom blogger holding up a bold black and white floor tile for her home project

Removing the Outdated Floors

Once the tile was chosen it was time to start removing the floors. First up was to move the washer, dryer, sink and toilet. We found these moving bands to be a lifesaver when we carried out the washer and dryer….yes WE! There would have been no way I could have helped carry the washer and dryer without these forearm bands. I felt so strong like wonder woman with them, and they saved Rex’s back. Highly recommend if you find yourself needing to move heavy and awkward objects.

Then we had to figure out how we wanted to remove the linoleum. You will find a lot of blog posts about peeling linoleum from the floors, but I would not recommend this. The glue they use to attach linoleum is so strong and if we had gone that route, it would have taken us triple the time to remove. Instead, we used a circular saw to make cuts through to the sub floor so we could remove the floor in smaller squares. We then used our handy 6 in 1 tool and the pry bar to pry the squares out. Each square easily popped out and we were left with just the sub floor in under 2 hours. This was the biggest surprise of the renovation with how easy and quickly it was to remove.

You can see how we pulled up the linoleum here. It wasn’t glued in the center. This was the wood layer we removed so we could replace with the water resistant Cement Board.

Time to Start Laying Down the New Floor

We then had to lay out a layer of cement board to make sure our floor would be water resistant. With their being a washer, toilet and a sink going back in these areas we wanted to make sure we did this part right. We measured and cut out cement board and laid it all out on the floor like a puzzle. This was the hardest and most time-consuming step because our area was a narrow hallway with lots of angles. Once we had each piece cut and knew where they belonged, we spread a layer of thin set and secured each piece in place.

After, we painted on a layer of Red Guard over each crack to ensue the floor would be water resistant underneath the tile. This was another step I used the 6 in 1 tool. It was the perfect tool for applying the Red Guard.

Taking a break during the hardest step. You can see the cement board that has been cut and laid in the hallway.

Once that was done it was time to dry lay out the tile. This is such an important step to ensure your pattern is pleasing to the eye and to make sure you don’t end up with awkwardly small cuts of tile in areas. Take your time and make sure you lay out the tile in a way that makes sense to your space. Don’t forget to use tile spacers so the grout lines are all the same size. These “X” shaped tile spacers are our favorites!

Dad and Son laying out tile on the floor — You can see the Red Guard applied on the seams of the Cement Board and see how we dry laid the tile out with the spacers.

The floor is ready for New Tile

Once we knew where we wanted to start it was time to begin attaching the tile to the floor.

How to Set Your Tile

Using thin set, we worked our way from the back corner of the space and continued our way out. Adding the thin set to the floor was like therapy to me. Once all the tile was set, the next day was spent adding the grout. Do yourself a favor and get more than 1 grout sponge when you apply the grout. This part is messy because you are constantly changing out the water and cleaning out the sponge. Get a set like this one HERE and save your sanity.

We went with a black grout because of how much traffic the area would be getting, plus it went perfectly with our tile selection. We were able to grout the entire floor in about 2 hours.

Reattach the Baseboards

After the grout was set, it was time to reattach the baseboards. This was quick because I had labeled where each baseboard went. We nailed them back into the wall with our electric nail gun (this is a must have tool), We then moved the toilet, washer and dryer back in and then took a step back and enjoyed the view….for the first time in 6 years. haha.

Bold modern floor tile in a newly renovated hallway

I’m here to tell you that if you have a floor in your home that you can’t stand….you can change it! Yes, any home project takes some work and time, but in the end you can figure it out. I’m so extremely happy with how the floors turned out. Now we just need to figure out what to do with these walls! Here is a list of tools that made this DIY Home Project easier for us.

To watch the entire journey of how we ripped up the linoleum and laid the amazing tile, head to my Instagram HERE and click on the Saved Highlight “Hallway Update”

Not sure if you are ready to tackle a project of this size. You can read all about how I painted and stenciled linoleum floors in our upstairs bathroom HERE.