How to Install Wood-Like Tile Floors

Looking for helpful tips on how to install wood-like tile floors? Then read on to see our do’s and don’t during the DIY process of updating our floors.

We saved thousands of dollars doing this project ourselves, even though we took our time installing the tile! Our house is 1750 square feet, so it was a rather large project to take on.

We knew we didn’t want to keep the carpet in the bedrooms (because it wasn’t a good quality). After our vinyl plank flooring started chipping, cracking, and breaking we found out that the brand doesn’t cover a warranty because we didn’t purchase it ourselves. And the builder only offered a one-year warranty on it.

We discussed buying just enough vinyl planks to replace the broken pieces throughout the house (which would also require removing the entire flooring to get to the broken pieces), but then I discovered that our color is discontinued. We didn’t have any other choice than to replace the flooring throughout the entire house (or have mis-matched tiles).

I decided that I wanted to go with a porcelain wood-like tile because they are much more durable. Since this was a very large undertaking for us, I decided to create a pitch to send to several companies looking for a collaboration partner to help with the cost and/or the work. After many no’s and a “here’s 15% off coupon”, we decided that we will do it ourselves.

Picking Out the Tile

Zack and I went to Home Depot and Lowe’s to look at the tile in-person. We picked up three different colors to bring home. I chose the Daltile Baker Wood 6×24 Porcelain Tile because I liked the warmer color.

I picked a grey color that looked very similar to our LVP, but they tile had a lot of texture on top. I thought they would end up being difficult to clean. The other color I chose was a darker, distressed rustic brown, but they were too dark for me.

We bought two cases of the tiles and laid them in our bathroom to see if we liked the look of it (just placed a few in a corner to look at it different times of the day). After a couple days I decided I liked it enough to go with it.

You can read more about why we chose wood-like tile floors in this post.

Planning Out the DIY Schedule

At first, we planned to start in our bathroom since we could close it off completely, but then the guest bedroom would be better because we don’t use it too much (except for storage and guests). We expected visitors at the end of April, so it was a better choice than our bathroom.

The only thing is that we have to continue from that point on to keep the tile continuously flowing through the rest of the house (and not have an ugly/random cut). Once the guest bedroom is done, we’ll continue into the hallway and guest bathroom, then work on my office. This plan will give us time to juggle furniture back into the spare bedroom, demo the carpet, and prep the flooring in the office.

Once that wing of the house is done, we will have to move into the living room and towards the front door. Then, we can tackle the kitchen, pantry, laundry, and dining room.

Once we are done with most of the house, we will work on the primary bedroom and bathroom. We can move into the spare bedroom while we’re working there and it can be easily closed off. We have a short-term plan while we get started!

Demo Work

Remove Everything from the Room: I spent about an hour clearing everything from the room. I used it as my workout for the morning and moved everything into my office across the hall.
Remove the Carpet and Foam Padding: Zack used a multi-tool to help remove the carpet from the tack strip, then was able to easily tear the carpet off of the floor.
Remove the Carpet Tack Strip: We used a hammer and a putty knife to remove the carpet tack strip from the concrete. The nails didn’t always pry up easily, so there was some damage to the top of the concrete.
Remove the Baseboard Trim: We used a putty knife and hammer to remove the baseboard trim from the walls. Since we previously painted the walls and trim (without removing the trim) the white paint was sooo thick above the trim. I had to really slice the putty knife into the paint before prying up the baseboard. Then we used a Dremel to cut the nails off the back. We decided before we started that we would be replacing the trim. Removing the nails was to prevent from poking ourselves and for easy cleanup (we were able to break into smaller pieces, then tape them together in a bundle for bulk trash pickup).
Vacuum Wall Edges/Sweep Floor: There was so much construction debris behind the baseboards that we used a shop vac to clean up nails, screws, etc. There was so much dirt under the carpet that we had to sweep the concrete.

Preparing the Room for Tile Flooring

We filled any holes in the concrete with Quikrete to make sure our floor was level. This product had to dry overnight.

The builder used an adhesive under the carpet foam padding, which we had to remove. I purchased a floor adhesive remover, which had to sit for 1-3 hours on top of the adhesive. I’m so glad that they didn’t use a lot of adhesive because it was a lot of arm work with a putty knife trying to scrape off the adhesive.

Then next day, I mopped the floor with soap and water to clean it. Once the concrete was dry, we use a paint roller and pan to add a layer of anti-fracture membrane. We’re using this as the underlayment for the tiles. It goes on a light blue, then dries a darker blue.

How to Install Wood-Like Tile Floors

This is our first time installing tiles, so we started with the spare bedroom to get the practice and hone our mortar skills. I think we did really good with the prep work, so that should make the installation process easier.

Materials:

A lot of installations methods said the start in the middle of the room and work towards the walls (in case you don’t have straight walls), but we decided to start in the corner of the room in case we made any mistakes.

If we did, it would be against the wall and not randomly in the middle of the room. Since we began in the corner, Zack made some cuts in a few tiles so the next row would start with a different size tile to get the 30% offset on the tile.

We did use too much mortar on the first couple of tiles, so there was a lot of cleanup once we screwed on the leveling caps. We laid four rows of tile with our first mix of mortar. Then the second time we laid another four rows of tile (using less mortar overall).

Zack worked on grading the mortar on the floor and I buttered the back of the tiles and cleaned any excess mortar after we leveled. We found a little bit of a groove the second-time through (we worked on this after work, so we only had a couple hours before we had to cook dinner and get the dog out for walks before bed).

Our first obstacle was the closet doors. The tile was too tall to fit under the door jamb. Zack purchased an oscillating multi-tool from Harbor Freight that could cut off a little bit of the bottom (instead of removing the entire thing).

Then we were free to continuing the row straight into the closet. Our closet ended up being able to fit one full tile, so we chose not to cut any unique pieces to continue the offset pattern inside the closet.

Zack spent one evening mapping out the floors to see if we’d run into a half-width tile by the time we reached the other edge of the room, then made some cuts to continue our 30% offset pattern on the back wall.

We were hoping to save a little time by having most of the material ready for the next time we mixed the mortar.

Grouting Wood-Like Tile Floors

I picked out the Polyblend Plus Grout in Coffee Bean because that was the example they had in the store with our tile. I thought it looked fine (and matched well), so I didn’t want to waste time experimenting with other grout colors.

Best Way to Apply Grout

Once the tile is laid and the mortar has 24-48 hours to cure it will be time to grout. All you’ll need for this step is the grout, a rubber grout float, a tile sponge and a large bucket of water.

Washing Grout Step by Step

Soak the sponge in clean water, wring it out, then pass it lightly across the face of the tile. Be careful not to pull out grout from the seams.

Sealing Wood-Like Tile Floors

Since these are porcelain tiles, the top of the tiles don’t need to be fully sealed. However, the grout does need to be sealed. I used the SurfaceGuard Maximum Strength sealer.

We got the 4 quart bottle because we are using it for the entire house. I also bought a smaller grout sealer applicator bottle to have a handle on only sealing the grout lines. I also had to buy a funnel to fill the bottle.

Wood-Like Tile Floor Before and After

Guest Bedroom

Kitchen

Primary Bathroom

Small Bathroom

Office

Primary Bedroom

Laundry Room

Entryway

Dining Room

Installing Wood-Like Tile Flooring Wrap Up

This is the biggest DIY Zack and I have ever taken on. Demo and prepping a room for tile took us over five months to complete. We didn’t rent a storage container; instead we moved furniture between each room as we went along. We typically worked a few hours every evening with a least one mix of mortar.

It was a long process, and we still have a few touch ups here and there to complete. But, overall, we’re so glad to be finished installing the wood-like tile floors!

And they look great. And we celebrated with a trip to Tulum. The perfect way to relax of 5 months of work!

Cheers,
Katie

More Hovel Sweet Hovel DIY Projects

How to Install Wood-Like Tile Floors

Picking Out the Tile

Planning Out the DIY Schedule

Demo Work

Preparing the Room for Tile Flooring