Tile Spacers: How To Use Them Effectively

If there were any justification to the phrase - “small things do make a big difference”, then it would belong to tile spacers. These are small T-shaped cross objects made of plastic and usually come in 1mm to 10mm. Who uses them and why? Professional tilers and even DIY enthusiast homeowners have them in their toolkit whenever installing new tiles inside the bathroom, kitchen or living room.

Today’s blog outlines a few points to help you use tile spacers properly for your tile installation project. Before you visit the nearest store and pluck some random tile spacers, you should know a few important things related to them. So, stay tuned and make the right call!

But before we do that and get ourselves in the nitty-gritty of tile spacers’ buyer’s guide, let’s see why these tiny objects matter so much.

• Helps in creating mosaic design due to multiple grouting widths.

• The alignment is kept tidy, and grouting can be done correctly.

• Eases the project planning for you.

• Get a high-quality, exquisite and professional-like finish with tile spacers.

• The risk of tile damage gets reduced significantly due to proper tile grouting, all thanks to these tiny plastic objects.

• Expect a much faster completion of your tile installation project!

We believe these points are more than enough to tell you the importance of tile spacers for every tile installation work!

• Tips For Your Tile Installation Project

Now that you understand the importance of using plastic tile spacers, let’s move to the next part. And that would be the actual tile laying work in and around your house!

• Get The Right Products

You should never initiate the project without adequately researching which plastic spacers would best suit your project. There are many varieties of tile spacers, and you should only select the ones which are cost-effective, fit your requirements and are available in abundance. And remember one more thing, never buy plastic spacers that are difficult to remove after laying the tiles.

• How Many Spacers Do You Need?

It may sound a bit redundant, but it’s not. Being a first-timer, you have to estimate the number of spaces you will need for your tile installation project. You don’t want to overspend on these plastic spacers, do you? And neither do you want to buy less than the actual requirements.

So, it’s better to have a proper estimation before heading over to the local supplier nearby. A straightforward way to do this is by multiplying the total number of tiles into 4. But just in case, you should buy a few more extra spacers for your tile laying project. You never know when and where you might need some additional spacers, and there’s always some room for calculation error.

• Tile Spacer Removal At The Right Time

You have to remove the spacers after laying the adhesive on the floor. We recommend you remove them 20-30 minutes after the glue settles on the floor. In case you remove them too quickly, your tiles may shift slightly. And you don’t want that to happen, do you?

Similarly, leaving spaces for too long can also cause a lot of problems. So, you should adequately remove them once the adhesive starts to set on the newly laid tiles.

Some additional Tips

• You should never apply grout when the tile spacers are still adjacent to the tiles.

• Use a tile cutter to cut the tiles properly.

• Use thin grout spacers on your tiles.

You can get all these tools and much more by visiting us!