Mosaic Tiling

Most mosaic tiles come on mesh-backed sheets, which keeps the small tiles evenly spaced. The skill is in hiding the sheet joints so the wall reads as one surface rather than a grid of squares. Some designs use individual pieces, for borders, patterns or where a mosaic wraps around an edge, and these take longer to set out.

Ceramic and porcelain mosaics are hard-wearing and easy to look after. Glass mosaics reflect light and suit splashbacks and shower walls, but adhesive can show through the glass, so a white adhesive and full coverage matter.

Natural stone mosaics such as marble look warm and natural but usually need sealing before and after grouting: follow the manufacturer's instructions.

A mosaic feature wall behind a basin or bath, or inside a shower niche, can lift a plain room. On shower floors, small mosaics follow the falls to the drain better than large tiles, and the extra grout joints add grip underfoot.

Any mosaic in a shower goes over a fully waterproofed surface, with tanking in place before tiling, so water never reaches the walls or floor behind.

Mosaics have far more grout joints than standard tiles, so grouting takes longer and needs care to clean off without dragging grout out of the joints. The grout colour has a big effect on the finished look: a matching grout makes the surface read as one colour, while a contrasting grout picks out the pattern. In wet areas, a suitable wet-area or epoxy grout can help with cleaning and staining.

Where a mosaic meets a corner, a window or the end of a tile run, the edge is finished with cut pieces or a trim so it looks deliberate. Robert plans where the sheets start so the cuts fall at the edges rather than in the middle of a feature.