How to tile a kitchen wall

Video by Tommy's Trade Secrets. This walk-through is based on the video "Tommy's Trade Secrets - How To Tile A Wall" from Tommy's Trade Secrets, a well-established UK trade channel with solid, no-nonsense advice on tiling technique. The section on finding your centre point and working outward is particularly worth watching before you mix up any adhesive.

1. Check the wall and prepare the surface

Before you buy a single tile, have a proper look at the wall. Kitchen walls behind worktops and hobs take a fair bit of steam and grease, and old plaster can be soft or flaky underneath painted surfaces. Press your hand flat against the wall and tap gently — any hollow sound means the plaster has lifted and needs sorting before you tile over it.

Wipe the wall down with sugar soap and let it dry fully. If the surface is shiny gloss paint, key it lightly with 80-grit sandpaper so the adhesive has something to grip. New plasterboard should be primed with diluted PVA first. It depends on what you are working with, but never skip the prep — adhesive will not bond properly to a dusty or greasy surface no matter how good the product is.

2. Find your centre point and set out the tiles

Measure the width of the wall you are tiling and mark the midpoint with a pencil. Using a spirit level, draw a vertical line straight down from that point. Then do the same horizontally. You end up with a cross in the centre of the tiling area — this is your starting reference for everything that follows.

Lay a row of tiles along the floor or worktop edge with spacers between them to see how they will actually land. You are looking for the cuts at each end to be roughly even and not less than half a tile wide. If the layout gives you a sliver of tile on one side, shift your centre line slightly. A ten-minute dry run saves a lot of regret later.

3. Mix the adhesive and spread it onto the wall

Use a ready-mixed wall tile adhesive for most kitchen splashback work — it is less fuss than powder adhesive and perfectly adequate for a standard ceramic or porcelain tile in that size range. For anything over 30 cm or for porcelain tiles, a flexible powder adhesive mixed to a thick, creamy consistency is worth the extra step.

Apply the adhesive to the wall with a notched trowel, starting at your centre cross and working outward. Keep your trowel at roughly 45 degrees so the ridges stand up properly — those ridges compress when the tile goes on, giving full coverage underneath. Do not spread more than about half a square metre at a time or the adhesive will skin over before you get the tiles down.

4. Lay the tiles from the centre outward

Place your first tile right on the centre cross, aligning both edges with your pencil lines. Press it firmly and give it a small twist to bed it in. Place the next tile beside it, drop in your spacers, and carry on outward from the middle in both directions. Check frequently with your spirit level — tiles have a way of creeping out of level if you are not watching.

Work across the full rows of whole tiles first, leaving the cut tiles for the edges until the adhesive has gone off. That said, if you are tiling up to a fixed object like a socket box or a window reveal, measure and cut those pieces as you go rather than leaving gaps you will forget to fill.

5. Cut tiles to fit the edges and around obstacles

A basic manual tile cutter handles most straight cuts on wall tiles up to around 10 mm thick. Score a clean line in one firm pass, then snap. For cuts around socket boxes or pipe holes, a tile saw or angle grinder with a diamond blade is the right tool. Mind you, if you only have a handful of tricky cuts and do not own a wet saw, most tile shops will cut them for you for a small charge.

Measure each cut tile individually rather than assuming all the gaps are the same width — walls in older East Kent houses are rarely perfectly square, and the gaps do vary. Mark the cut line with a chinagraph pencil or a marker, score, and snap. A tile file tidies up any rough edges before the tile goes on the wall.

6. Grout the joints and finish the edges

Leave the adhesive to set for at least 24 hours before grouting — check the packet, but overnight is the minimum. Remove the spacers once the adhesive is firm. Mix the grout to a smooth, stiff paste and work it into the joints with a rubber grout float, pressing firmly at an angle to fill each joint completely. Wipe off the excess with a damp sponge before it dries, rinsing the sponge regularly.

Once the grout has gone off — usually a couple of hours — polish off the haze with a dry cloth. Finish the internal corners and the joint where the tiles meet the worktop with a colour-matched silicone rather than grout; grout will crack in those flexible joints within a year. Run a neat bead, smooth it with a wet finger, and leave it to cure fully before the area gets wet.

When to call a handyman

Call Richard if the existing plaster is in poor condition and needs making good before tiling, if you want a full kitchen splashback or larger tiled area done in a day, or if the layout involves lots of tricky cuts around extractor hoods, sockets, or uneven reveals. Getting the setting out right on a complicated wall is one of those things that looks easy until it goes wrong — having someone who has done it before is often worth it.