Tiling a kitchen floor - whether to tile under units?

[CheshireRob]

Hi,
Apologies if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything quite the same.
We plan to remove our kitchen lino, and replace with floor tiles - should we be removing the kitchen units etc (I would rather not), or tile up to the exisitng kick boards, or tile under the kick boards, but not under the legs of the units. I intend to go for the last option, and then cut the kick-boards down by the appropriate amount. We have no plans to replace the kitchen units, and if I lift them I will also have to re-tile the wall tiles above!
Any advice appreciated!
Rob

 

[Symptoms]

Rob - tile just a little way past the kickboards and around the legs then cut the k/bds down to fit. Going past the k/bds will result in a neat edge otherwise you'll have a grout line (if you only tile up to the k/bds) which can look odd especially if the units aren't quite parallel.

What subfloor are you going to tile onto?

 

[CheshireRob]

Hi - thanks for that - it is more or less what I planned. I am tiling onto concrete (albeit with some residual lino adhesive left).
Will I need to hire anything (eg electric tile cutter) - I have a basic cheap tile cutter at the moment that I intend to use.

 

[lancenotalot]

Rob - tile just a little way past the kickboards and around the legs then cut the k/bds down to fit. Going past the k/bds will result in a neat edge otherwise you'll have a grout line (if you only tile up to the k/bds) which can look odd especially if the units aren't quite parallel.

What subfloor are you going to tile onto?

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1111262#1111262

 

[gcol]

Now Lance, Symptoms is allowed to change his mind about something. The fact that he's wrong has nothing to do with it.

More of those elusive posts about tiling before or after fitting the units.
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=169422
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=108665
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=90192
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=144328

 

[Symptoms]

Oh dear! I hope this doesn't develop into one of those bun fights that occasionally crop-up on the Forum ... usually in the leccy section.

Now the mischievous couple , gcol and lancenotalot, are casting some doubt on 'poor old Symptoms' splendid and consistent advice. Research will confirm that I always advise tile the whole floor first then put the units in ... all the reasons have been given before.

However, however, however our good friend CheshireRob said he "would rather not" remove the kitchen units and was asking for advice about tiling his floor with the said units in situ. So he was given the best advice for doing this in my earlier post.

Consistency is my middle name gcol ... unless wiser council advocates an alternative (better) way of doing stuff. I 'aint, up-to-now, witnessed any Oracle on here providing this illuminated path.

All the above was written with the best intentions and without wishing to cause offense ... so let's put the buns in the bread-box ready for Saturday's breakfast. At the end of the day much of what's written on the Forum is opinion, often based on experience. Generally there's no right or wrong (unless in the GasWiffer's or lekky sections).

 

[lancenotalot]

so let's put the buns in the bread-box ready for Saturday's breakfast.

I won't be casting any buns they are now lightly toasted with a spread of flora and strawberry jam.........crumbs all over my keyboard

 

[gcol]

So I says to the lady in the bakers, "nice buns" and she slaps me! Go figure.

 

[tilerman]

Something you really need to check is the gap between any floor standing appliances and the worktop above. If this gap is smaller than the thickness of the tiles and adhesive you have chosen then you will not get the units back in. Only last week i tiled a badly screeded floor in a newly fitted kitchen with 500x500mm granite. Each tile had to be bedded in level resulting in washing machine and wine cooler not fitting into position. We had to take the wheels and runners off of both appliances and we just got them in.