Once you have made sure the wall you want to tile is plumb and flat, it's time to plan exactly where the tiles will go. The main goal when laying out wall tiles is to avoid a row of very narrow-cut tiles. Narrow tiles look awkward and emphasize any imperfections in adjoining walls.
A secondary goal is symmetry. Whenever it is possible, center the tiles on the wall so that the cut tiles at either side are the same size. An ob- struction such as a window can make the layout much more complicated because you will also need to avoid having narrow tiles around its sides.
Installing a batten
Decide how high above the floor the second horizontal row of tiles will be. If the floor beneath is fairly level and the bottom of the tiles will be covered with a base moulding, position the second row above the floor by the height of one tile plus an inch or so. If there will be no base moulding and the bottom row of tiles must meet the floor precisely, plan to cut all the tiles on the bottom row to about three-fourths of their full height.
Use a level to draw a horizontal working line for the second row, and draw a plumb vertical line in the exact center of the room. Attach a batten—a very straight board—with its top edge against the horizontal line. A long strip of plywood with one factory edge makes an ideal batten.
Position tiles in a dry run on top of the batten, starting at the centerline and running to one adjacent wall (below). If the tiles are not self-spacing, add spacers between them. If this layout leads to a particularly narrow-cut tile at the end, mark a corrected vertical line that will allow you to move the tiles the width of one-half tile in either direction.
Handling obstacles
Small obstacles such as electrical receptacles or switches are not usually considered in the layout; an occasional narrow-cut tile does not present a problem. But a large ob- stacle, such as a window, may be the focal point of the wall. Avoid surrounding such an obstacle with narrow-cut tiles, and note that it is always preferable to make the cut tiles on either side the same size.
Measure to check whether there will be a narrow vertical row of tiles along either edge of the obstacle. If so, you may have to choose between placing narrow tiles there or putting them at the wall edges. Also determine whether there will be a narrow horizontal row of tiles just below or just above the obstacle. If it's clear that there will be, you may choose to raise or lower the batten.
If a room has more than one highly visible obstruction, you will probably have to make some compromises. If any of the obstructions is seriously out of plumb or level, try to place wide-cut tiles there.
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