Tile installation in Batumi on walls and floors

The base: what tiles can be laid on

Tiles hold only as well as the layer under them, so before laying we tap the plaster and screed, check the walls with a straightedge and measure moisture. A hollow sound means the layer has come away from the wall, and the tiles would come off with it.

A wall for tiling has to be flat: no more than a 2–3 mm gap under a two-metre straightedge. A leaning wall can't be corrected with a thick bed of adhesive: as it shrinks, the adhesive pulls on the tile and leaves voids. If the deviation is greater, we first level the walls with plaster, and in a bathroom we apply waterproofing carried up the walls before tiling. In a resale apartment we take the old tiles off completely; how we handle the strip-out of old finishes in a residential building is described separately.

How we apply the adhesive and set the rows

We mix the adhesive with a paddle mixer, adding exactly the amount of water given in the data sheet. It goes onto the wall with a notched trowel, with the ridges combed in one direction, and each tile is set and slid across the ridges so that the adhesive forms a continuous bed. The bigger the tile, the bigger the trowel notch.

We lift the first tile on each wall straight away and look at its back. If the adhesive hasn't covered it completely, we change the trowel or add a thin layer to the tile itself. We never lay adhesive in dabs, even on a dry wall. Adhesive has an open time: once a skin has formed and your finger comes away dry, the tile will no longer bond, and that layer is scraped off.

We start each wall from the second row. We fix a support profile to a laser level line, work the rows upwards from it and add the bottom row last, at the height of the finished floor. That way the horizontal joints don't depend on an uneven floor or bath.

Layout and how much goes into cuts

For any layout we first find the centre line: the middle of the wall, the centre of a window or a basin. The rows spread out from it to both sides, and the cuts at the corners come out equal. How the layout is coordinated with the plumbing outlets and where whole tiles are kept is covered in the overview of tiling work.

Cutting, holes and external corners

We cut ceramic tiles with a soft body on a manual tile cutter, and make an L-shaped cut-out for boxing or a pipe with a diamond blade. Holes for pipes are drilled with core bits 3–4 mm larger than the pipe: hot water makes a pipe expand, and a tile fitted tightly around it cracks. The gap is then covered by the tap's decorative cover plate.

A glazed ceramic tile has a light or reddish body, and on a 45° mitre it shows as a strip along the whole corner. So on ceramic tiles we more often finish external corners with a trim profile in the grout colour or with a metal finish. If you want a corner without a profile, we try a mitre on one tile before ordering: in some ranges the body is tinted and the corner looks neat, but there aren't many of them.

Laying faults that show at sign-off

• A tile sounds hollow when tapped. That is a void, and sooner or later the tile will crack from a knock or come away.
• You can feel a step between tiles with your palm, and a torch held against the wall casts a shadow at the edge. The tiles were set by eye.
• The joints drift off the horizontal towards a corner. The wall was started from the floor or the bath without marking a level line.
• A narrow strip of cut tile has been left by the door or on a visible wall. No layout was drawn, and the rows were started from the corner.
• A crack runs through several tiles in one line. Underneath there is an unreinforced joint or a crack in the screed.
• The grout has pinholes and patches of different shades. It was mixed by eye or washed off with a sponge that was too wet.

If we are called in to redo someone else's work, we first show you, in photos and by tapping, which tiles are holding and which will have to come off.

How much tile installation costs in Batumi

Laying ceramic wall tiles costs from 66 to 96 ₾ per m², and floor tiles from 72 to 110 ₾. That is the labour price: you buy the tiles, adhesive and grout yourself or leave the purchase to us. The tiles themselves cost from 69 to 110 ₾ per m². Grouting is a separate line, from 24 to 36 ₾ per m², and mitre cutting tiles at 45° costs from 100 to 130 ₾ per linear metre.

In a resale apartment the estimate also includes tile removal, from 24 to 30 ₾ per m², and two-coat bathroom waterproofing, from 30 to 42 ₾. Small formats, offset metro tiles, diagonal layouts and walls with boxing and outlets push the price up. A straight layout on flat walls that need no correction comes out lower.

We give the final cost after the site measurement and once the estimate is agreed, when the walls have been seen and the tiles chosen. The price of each stage is written into the contract, and it doesn't change unless the scope does.