Wall Tiling in Taunton Bathroom, kitchen and feature walls, straight, flat and flush.

Wall tiler, Taunton

A tiled wall is only as good as the wall behind it

Anyone can stick a tile to a wall. Getting a whole wall to read as one flat, even surface, with every joint the same width and every edge flush with the next, is the job. Walls in Taunton's older houses are rarely flat or plumb, so most of my wall tiling starts before the first tile: stripping what is there, checking the wall with a long level, and skimming, boarding or priming it until it is right.

Then the setting out. The wall is measured and the tiles planned from a centre line so the cuts are equal at each end and fall where you will not look: low, in a corner, behind a door. Full tiles go at eye level, the courses run level around the room and line up through internal and external corners, and the cuts around sockets, pipes and windows are made tight so trims and faceplates cover them completely.

Bathroom and shower walls

Floor-to-ceiling tiling on every wall is the most common request and the one that most shows the setting out. Shower walls are tanked with a waterproof membrane before tiling, niches are built and tiled with mitred or trimmed edges, and the courses are planned so the line of tiles above the bath or tray is a full tile, not a sliver. Half-height tiling with a painted wall above is the cheaper option and still protects everything that gets splashed. There is more on the bathroom tiling page.

Kitchen walls and splashbacks

Splashbacks are small but unforgiving: they sit at eye level, under lights, between a worktop and a run of wall units, with sockets and an extractor to cut around. Metro tiles in a brick, herringbone or stacked bond, patterned ceramics, large slabs with almost no joints or a mosaic strip all work. I measure from the worktop so the courses finish neatly under the units, and the cuts around sockets are made so the faceplate covers them.

Large format and full-height porcelain

Big tiles, 600 by 1200 and up, give a wall a calm, almost seamless look with very few grout lines to clean. They are also the hardest to fit well. The wall has to be genuinely flat, the adhesive goes on both the wall and the back of the tile so there are no voids, and levelling clips hold every edge flush with its neighbour until the adhesive has gone off. The metal-effect bathroom in the photos is going up this way: large format porcelain with the copper-coloured joints lined through.

Feature walls and patterns

One tiled wall in a room, behind a bath, a basin, a bed or a wood burner, is an affordable way to make a space. Herringbone, chevron, vertical stack, hexagons, zellige-style handmade tiles and bookmatched stone-effect slabs all need careful setting out so the pattern is centred and symmetrical, and that is planned on paper before anything is mixed.

Corners, trims, reveals and edges

Edges are where wall tiling looks professional or does not. External corners get a metal or PVC trim in a colour that suits the tile, or a mitred edge for a trim-free look. Internal corners are grouted or siliconed depending on movement. Window reveals are tiled with the sill pitched slightly back into the room, and every pipe hole is cut with a core drill so the escutcheon covers it.

Tiles that work on walls

• Ceramic: light, affordable and the biggest choice of colours and patterns. Metro, handmade-look and patterned ranges.
• Porcelain: dense and hard-wearing, the choice for wet areas and for large formats.
• Natural stone: marble, limestone, slate and travertine, sealed before and after grouting.
• Mosaic: feature strips, niches, curves and anywhere a big tile will not go.
• Glass and metal-effect: splashbacks and feature walls that need a bit of shine.

What happens on a wall tiling job

1. Visit and quote. I see the wall, talk through the tiles and pattern, and send a written quote.
2. Preparation. Old tiles and loose plaster off, the wall flattened, boarded or primed as needed, wet areas tanked.
3. Setting out. Centre and level lines marked so cuts are equal and hidden and the pattern is symmetrical.
4. Tiling. Adhesive matched to the tile and the wall, levelling clips on large formats, cuts made tight.
5. Grout, trims and silicone. Grout colour agreed with you, trims fitted, junctions siliconed.
6. Clean down. Tiles polished off and the room left clean.