Laying tiles true with a laser: the method
Why not start from the wall?
Because a wall is rarely straight. An old room can run out by several centimetres from one end to the other. Line the first course up on the wall and the error spreads across the whole floor, showing in the middle of the room, exactly where the eye falls.
Start from an axis marked with the laser and the error stays where it belongs: in the cut, against the wall.
Step 1 — Where do you put the instrument?
In the middle of the room, on a firm floor, at a height that keeps the beam off eye level. An instrument throwing planes over 360° lights all four walls without being moved: that is the whole point of a model like our 12-line.
Step 2 — Which axis?
The main axis follows the line of sight from the door of the room. That is the one people will see. Mark it on the floor, in pencil, over its full length. In a long room that is almost always the long axis; in a square one, the axis that continues the door.
Step 3 — How do you check the square?
The laser's second vertical plane gives you the square directly. Check it with a straightedge all the same: an error of a few tenths of a degree can still be taken up at this stage, and not at all after ten courses.
Step 4 — Should you dry-lay?
Yes, at least one course in each direction, joints included. That is when you decide where the cuts will fall. A two-centimetre cut against a wall shows; the same cut shifted by half a tile disappears. None of it can be put right once the adhesive is spread.
| Cut left over | What to do |
|---|---|
| More than half a tile | Acceptable, keep the axis |
| Between a third and a half | Shift the axis by half a tile |
| Less than a third | Shift the axis, or the cut will break as you lay it |
Step 5 — How often to check?
Every third course, against the laser's vertical line, and the level of the bed with a straightedge. A tile that gains a millimetre becomes a visible step ten courses further on, and once the adhesive has gone off there is nothing left to do.
Step 6 — And the walls?
For wall tiles, the laser's horizontal line replaces the chalk line and the spirit level. Set the height of the first full course, mark it, and lay the starting course on a temporary batten. The cuts go to floor and ceiling, never in the middle.
If the working height is not enough, a tripod or a pole puts the instrument where it needs to be. And if the line becomes hard to see in a very bright room, read green laser or red again.
See the laser levels for tiling
- You start from an axis marked with the laser, never from a wall.
- Dry-laying decides where the cuts go.
- A check every three courses is enough to stop the drift.
- The cuts sit against the walls, out of the line of sight.