How to Tile a Hearth

By: Harry Sawyers

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. TILES
Available at home centers and tile dealers, though most high-end tile requires ordering as much as six weeks in advance. Tiles are sold by the square foot, ranging in price from $2 to about $50. You should look for tiles with a foot-traffic rating of 3 or above (on a scale of 1 to 5). Given a set of measurements, some tile dealers will calculate how much you need, and art-tile manufacturers may make you all the tiles, in the right sizes, to order. But you can also determine the square footage yourself: Multiply the length in inches by the width, and divide the result by 144. Then add 10 percent to that number for waste cuts.

2. ½-INCH CEMENT OR FIBER-CEMENT BACKER BOARD
to go over a plywood subfloor and create a flat, stable surface for installation.

3. CONSTRUCTION ADHESIVE
to glue backer board to the subfloor.

4. 11/4-INCH BACKER-BOARD SCREWS
to screw the backer board to the subfloor.

5. UNMIXED THINSET MORTAR
Also known as setting cement. One 50-pound bag should be enough. Do not use mastic; it can’t take high heat.

6. LATEX ADDITIVE
to mix with the thinset, as the liquid. It improves flexibility and creates a stronger bond than a water-based mix.

7. TILE SPACERS
Porcelain tiles can have as little as a 1/8-inch gap between them, while ceramic tiles can be 3/6 to 3/8 inch apart and terra-cotta tiles can be spaced 3/4 inch apart. Handmade tiles may require special surface spacers that accommodate irregularities on the top edge. Buy spacers appropriate for your tile type and the grout lines your layout dictates.

8. GROUT
Use sanded grout if the space between your tiles will be greater than 1/8 inch, unsanded if it’s smaller. You can also buy colored grout to more closely match your tile.

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Utility Knife
- Drill/Driver with mixing paddle
- 3/8-Inch Notched Trowel
- Caulking Gun
- Wet-cutting Tile Saw
  (rents for about $40 a day)
- 4 Foot level
- Putty Knife
- Rubber Grout Float
- Grout Sponge
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Product selections for this project
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Photo: Kolin Smith

Introduction
Overview
Steps:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8

7: Grout the joints

2 long days and 1 short one
About $400 to $1,500

Difficulty: Hard Requires an eye for symmetry and some deftness with trowel

Why is it that the mantel always gets all the attention? Sure, it flaunts the grand shelf, the carved legs—it's the frame around the flames. But mantels come and go. It's the hearth that's always been there, an ornate buffer between the fire and the shag rug, descendant of the glazed bricks used by ancient Babylonians to decorate the foot of the fire.

So now that you've pulled up that shag in favor of some new hardwood, think about upgrading the fireplace as well. Ditch the worn and scratched masonry pad that's been in front of it for decades and jazz things up with some colorful new tiles. As This Old House technical editor Mark Powers shows on the following pages, you can change the whole look of a fireplace—and the room—in one or two weekends. Then, when you're finished, you'll be able to truly say that the hearth, ahem, goes on.

Field tile in Rothwell Gray, from Motawi Tile, about $108 per square foot.