How to Lay Porcelain Tiles on the Floor for a Foyer & Family Room

Take out your foyer’s front door and the door to your family room, which get in the way during a porcelain floor tiling project. Do this by removing the door hinges using a drill and screwdriver bit. Purchase porcelain tiles for your foyer and family room that have spacer nubs on them, which represent the areas in which you must place grout after laying the tiles.

Remove any debris present on the floor or subfloor, if it is exposed, using a broom or vacuum cleaner. Note that laying porcelain tile over existing flooring material is effective as long as the flooring is level and dry and can hold up the porcelain tiles’ weight.

If your existing flooring is old tile or vinyl, however, remove it and its underlayment using a small sledgehammer for old tile or a utility knife to cut old vinyl into strips you can peel up. Spread a new underlayment on top of the subfloor, such as plywood that you attach using special plywood underlayment fasteners. Make sure the underlayment joints do not fall on top of subfloor joints, as this arrangement does not provide adequate support for your new tiles.

Start your porcelain laying project in the foyer, which allows you to replace the front door as soon as possible after you lay the tiles. Place a line of chalk down the center of the foyer area both vertically and horizontally. Measure the width and length of your porcelain tiles, and draw boxes on the floor that will accommodate these tiles, using the center chalk lines as a guide. Make sure the final tiles you plan to put along the walls in the foyer are at least half the size of a full tile if you have to trim these tiles to fit.

Put adhesive on the foyer floor, and begin laying the tiles starting at the area where the two center lines intersect; you will move toward the edges of the room as you work. Cover the back of the tiles with the adhesive as well before laying them.

Put the front door back on and let the foyer floor tiles sit for about a day so that the adhesive has the opportunity to dry completely. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to lay tile in the family room, starting with putting chalk lines down to mark the center of the room. After laying the tile using adhesive, put the family room door back on the hinges, and let the family room tile dry for a day.

Remove debris from between the tiles in both rooms with a brush, and mix the grout according to the manufacturer’s directions. Apply the grout to the tiles using a rubber float to push the grout into all the spaces between the tiles, and use a damp sponge to wipe up the excess grout from the tile surfaces. Put a grout sealer on all of the grout lines, following the product label instructions.