Tile Your Baseboards

If you want a really unique way to liven up your living space, try tiling your baseboards. It’s quite the conversation starter.

Everyone likely knows they can tile their floors, but did you know you can also have your baseboards tiled? Having baseboards that are exclusively tiles and not the usual boring wood or plastic material of some kind can make a real difference. This is one of the latest trends you might want to try in order to liven up your living space and a really creative way to add some character to your rooms.

You’ll like this easy little detail as well; you just have to glue the tile baseboards on to the foot of the wall. In other words, no hammering, varnishing or painting and what a wonderful time saver that actually makes your rooms look very “pulled together.” Add in the fact that often tile baseboards are less expensive, and you are well on your way to a snazzy new look, for a reasonable price.

Is it hard to match tile for tile baseboards? No, actually it’s not. Just use the same tiles you used on your floor and buy a few extra to do the perimeter of your walls. What’s nice about this is that you can likely use one tile and cut it three ways to make up the tiles for your baseboard. This depends on the size of the tile though, so know what it is before you start cutting and remember to properly measure your baseboard height to do the math. Most baseboards are about 4 inches tall.

Planning on using ceramic tile? Good choice, as it’s a bit easier to work with and you only have to use a ceramic tile breaker. If you want to do it another way, the other good choice is an electric wet tile saw. Just remember that using this saw takes more time to prepare the cuts and it winds up giving you uneven widths. Honestly? Stick with the ceramic tiles if you plan to do it yourself, and if not, then your tiling contractor can fiddle with the wet saw.

Don’t know how much extra to get in terms of tiles for the baseboards? If you’re using the same style of floor, all you have to do is count the number of tiles you have on each wall, add it up and divide by three to get the number you need. And one other thing? When you put the tile on the baseboards, keep the grout line in the floor in line with the grout line on the baseboard. It’s that or your floor and baseboards look really weird.

The best thing for sticking the tile on is usually a multi-purpose construction adhesive. It’s not that expensive, in fact it’s usually less than six bucks and sticks instantly, and we mean “instantly,” so handle with care and keep you animals and kids away from it. Just ask at the hardware store what would work well.

Dean Dupre is with Champion Tile, a Clearwater Flooring, Tampa Flooring, and tile installation company. To learn more, visit Champtile.com.

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