How to Tile a Bathroom: The Steps and What It Costs

Tiling is the last step of a long sequence

A tiled bathroom looks like a surface job, but the tiles are only as good as what's underneath them. Flat, solid walls, a floor that falls to the waste and a membrane that's cured properly are what stop tiles cracking, drummy spots forming and water getting into the frame. This guide walks through the steps in order, then explains what makes tiling cost more or less.

Step 1: Strip out and prepare

Old tiles, mortar beds and wet linings come out. The frame gets checked for rot, the floor for movement, and the walls for straightness. On timber floors, new structural sheeting is fixed down so it doesn't flex. Walls are lined with wet-area board.

Flatness matters more than most people expect. Large tiles show every hump and hollow in a wall, and a floor that dips will hold water. A tiler will check surfaces with a long straightedge and pack out or grind high spots before going further.

Step 2: Falls and waterproofing (before any tiles)

The shower floor, and often the whole floor, is screeded so water runs to the waste. Then the waterproofing goes on: bond breakers or flexible reinforcement at the wall-floor corners, then the membrane at the right thickness and number of coats over the floor, up the shower walls and across the doorway.

In NSW, waterproofing is generally treated as specialist work that should be done by an appropriately licensed waterproofer, and Australian Standard AS 3740 covers domestic wet areas. Rules change, so check the current requirements with NSW Fair Trading or your builder. Whatever the rules, the membrane must be fully cured before tiling starts, and it's worth photographing it and keeping any certificate.

Step 3: Set-out

Before any adhesive is mixed, the tiler works out where every row and cut will land. Good set-out means:

• no thin slivers of tile at edges or around the door
• full tiles at eye level and around the niche
• grout lines that line up with the vanity top, niche and shower screen
• cuts hidden in the corners you don't look at
• floor and wall joints that align where the format allows

A level line is marked on the walls and a starting point chosen, often one row up from the floor so the bottom row can be cut to suit any unevenness.

Step 4: Adhesive

Tile adhesive has largely replaced the old sand-and-cement bed on walls. The type depends on the tile, the surface and whether it's over a membrane, so check the adhesive is compatible with the waterproofing product. It's spread with a notched trowel sized to the tile. Larger tiles are usually back-buttered as well, so there's full contact with no hollow spots. Hollow spots are where tiles crack and water sits.

Levelling clips and wedges help keep large tile edges flush, which matters more as tiles get bigger.

Step 5: Laying and cutting

Walls are usually tiled from the set-out line up, then the bottom row filled in; floors from the far corner back toward the door. Tiles are checked for level and plumb as they go.

Straight cuts are done with a manual cutter or a wet saw. Holes for taps and wastes need a diamond hole saw, and cuts around the floor waste and niche take the most care. Porcelain is hard and brittle, so cutting it cleanly takes the right tools and practice. Spacers keep joints consistent.

Step 6: Grout

Once the adhesive has set, joints are cleaned out and grouted. Cement-based grout is common on walls; many tilers use an epoxy or high-performance grout on shower floors because it resists staining and absorbs less water. Grout is worked into the joints, then the surface cleaned before it hardens.

Step 7: Silicone at the junctions

Corners, the wall-floor junction, around the bath or shower tray, and where tiles meet other materials should be sealed with a flexible sealant, not grout. These are the joints that move, and grout there cracks. Silicone is the maintenance item: expect to cut it out and replace it every few years.

DIY or a professional tiler?

Plenty of confident DIYers can tile a splashback or a laundry wall. A bathroom is harder because:

• the waterproofing underneath generally needs a licensed professional in NSW, so the job can't be entirely DIY anyway
• floors need accurate falls, and mistakes mean water sits against walls
• large-format tiles and porcelain are unforgiving to cut and lay flat
• a leak caused by poor work can damage floors, frames and the neighbours below in a unit

Doing your own tiling may also affect insurance, warranties and resale, so check before starting. A reasonable middle path is doing the strip-out yourself (after checking for asbestos in older homes) and leaving waterproofing and tiling to licensed trades.

What it costs to tile a bathroom

We don't publish tiling rates here, because the same bathroom can vary a lot depending on these factors:

Area. Floor plus walls, and how high the walls are tiled. Full-height tiling uses more tile and time.

Tile size and format. Very small tiles and mosaics take longer to lay and grout. Very large tiles need flatter walls, more handling and often two people.

Layout pattern. A straight lay is quickest. Herringbone, chevron, diagonal and brick-bond patterns mean more cuts and more waste.

Wall and floor preparation. Walls that need packing, rendering or re-lining, and floors that need re-sheeting or re-screeding, add labour before tiling starts.

Removal of old tiles. Stripping old tiles and mortar beds, and disposing of them, is a job in itself. Older bathrooms may need asbestos testing first.

Waterproofing. A new membrane, with curing time, is part of any wet-area retile.

Finish and details. Mitred corners instead of trims, niches, feature walls, epoxy grout and lots of cuts around fixtures all add time.

Access. Stairs, units and steep blocks slow everything down.

For rough bands on whole bathroom jobs, see our price guide. A proper on-site quote, after measuring the room and checking the walls and floor, gives you a customised price. If you're in the Illawarra, we can do that measure.

Where to next

See waterproofing and tiling for how we handle the two stages, full bathroom renovations for the whole job, and the price guide before you book a measure.