How long floor tiles set

While ceramic tiles are durable and long-lasting, fresh flooring is vulnerable to damage the first day or two after application. For best results, try to stay off of the tiles until the adhesive, mortar and grout have had time to set and cure.

Allow the newly installed ceramic tiles to rest for at least 24 hours before walking on them to ensure they don't shift in the wet mortar or grout. This will leave an even depth of adhesive to help create a level surface. Place your first tile firmly into the adhesive, using a twisting action to bed it into the adhesive.

Occasionally, check the tiles are flat with a spirit level. A good way to do this is to lay the tile that needs to be cut directly on top of the nearest whole tile to the wall. Then lay another tile on top, using this as a template.

Position a couple of tile spacers flat against the wall and push the top tile right up to the wall. Use a tile marker to mark the tile beneath — make sure to account for space for grouting. Wear goggles and gloves and use either a flat bed or electric tile cutter to cut along the marked line.

If any rough edges are left after cutting, smooth these using a tile file. If you grout before the tile adhesive has fully cured, your tiles may not fully adhere to the surface, leading to tiles coming loose. This rule should be followed whether you are tiling floors or walls , both indoors and outdoors. Thinset mortar used to glue tiles to surfaces requires at least 24 hours to cure. The reason this process takes so long is because air aids in the curing process. The mortar beneath the tile receives very little air, which makes the curing process slow.

The spaces between the tiles will typically cure faster than the mortar beneath. Do not use visible mortar in tile seams as an indicator that your thinset has cured. Improve this question. TugboatCaptain TugboatCaptain 1, 3 3 gold badges 13 13 silver badges 22 22 bronze badges. That looks really nice. Great job! Check the recommended cure time on the mortar packaging and follow that.

It varies depending on the type. I generally wait hours to apply the grout afterward I am cautious, that is far more time than is generally needed. Better to give it time and make a trip to the laundromat than to ruin what looks like a nice tile job by being in a hurry.

Nothing like a trip to the laundromat to make you more fully appreciate not having to go there all the time.

I'd want to aim for a week's cure before putting in anything that heavy. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. HerrBag HerrBag 12k 1 1 gold badge 17 17 silver badges 37 37 bronze badges. Cheaper to do it right the first time than to do it right the second time.