DIY Installation Guides

Square a Room and Snap Chalk Lines for Tile

If your tile job ever “mysteriously” starts straight and ends with wedge-shaped cuts and grout lines that look like they had a rough night, the culprit is usually layout. Not thinset. Not the tile. Layout. I set tile for years, and I still treat layout like it is the job. Because it kind of is....

Self-Leveling Compound for Uneven Subfloors

If you have ever tried to click rigid core planks together on a floor that looks “mostly fine,” you already know the punchline: gaps, bounce, broken locking edges, and that one plank that squeaks like it is doing stand-up comedy. Large-format tile is even less forgiving. You can hide a lot with a...

How to Mix Thinset Mortar and Grout

If tile work had a secret handshake, it would be mixing. You can buy the best thinset and the fanciest grout on the shelf, but if the consistency is off, everything downstream gets harder. Tiles drift. Lines get lumpy. You end up fighting the clock while your bucket turns into a science project. I...

Installing Peel-and-Stick Vinyl Tile That Won’t Lift

Peel-and-stick vinyl tile has one job: stay stuck . When it lifts, curls at the corners, or gaps at seams, it is most often not because the tile is “bad.” It is because something got between that pressure-sensitive adhesive and the subfloor. Dust. Residual cleaner. Old wax. Humidity. A slightly...

How to Level a Plywood Subfloor Before Laying Tile or Hardwood

If you have ever set a tile and watched it rock like a tiny seesaw, you already understand the villain in most “my floor looks terrible” stories: the subfloor was not flat. Not “level like a pool table” flat. Just flat enough that tile does not teeter and hardwood does not telegraph dips and humps....

Install Floor Transition Strips

If you have ever stubbed a toe on a “temporary” raw edge between two floors, you already understand why transition strips matter. A good transition does three jobs: it covers the expansion gap, it protects vulnerable edges, and it keeps you from catching a shoe on a height change. I set tile...

Floating vs. Glue-Down Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood is one of my favorite “best of both worlds” floors. You get real wood up top, more stability than solid hardwood, and install options that range from weekend-warrior friendly to “okay, we are committing to this.” The big fork in the road is floating versus glue-down . They can...

How to Lay Ceramic Hexagon Tile on a Small Bathroom Floor

Hexagon tile has a way of making a tiny bathroom feel intentional and classic. It also has a way of humbling you the first time you try to wrap it around a toilet flange or land clean cuts at the doorway. The good news is that a small bathroom is the perfect place to learn hex tile. You can take...

How to Waterproof and Tile a Walk-In Shower Wall

If you take one thing from this guide, take this: a shower is not a “tile project.” It is a water management project that happens to be covered in tile. Tile and grout can be very water-resistant, but they are not a waterproofing system you can trust to protect framing on their own. Your...

How to Install LVP Over a Concrete Slab

Concrete slabs make a solid base for luxury vinyl plank, but they come with two built-in gotchas: moisture and flatness. Get those under control and LVP is one of the most forgiving DIY floors you can install. Skip them and you will be chasing squeaks, gaps, and peaking joints for the next few...

How to Mix, Apply, and Float Grout for Floor Tile

Grout is where a tile floor stops looking like “a weekend project” and starts looking like a finished room. It is also where a lot of DIY installs go sideways: joints get washed out, haze hardens like a chalky film, and corners crack because the wrong material went in the wrong place. I set tile...

Installing Laminate Flooring on Stairs

Stairs are where “pretty good” flooring work goes to get humbled. A laminate floor in a bedroom can hide a lot. A laminate stair tread that is even 1/16 inch short will stare at you every time you walk past it, usually while making an annoying click. The good news is that laminate stairs are...

How to Install a Subway Tile Kitchen Backsplash

Subway tile is popular for a reason: it forgives a lot, looks sharp in almost any kitchen, and you do not need a contractor-grade toolbox to install it well. The secret is the same one my uncle drilled into me when I was a teenager mixing thinset in the driveway: prep work is 90% of the job . The...

Flooring Transitions Between Rooms

If you have ever walked from kitchen tile onto living room wood and thought, “Why does this feel like a tiny speed bump?” you have met the flooring transition. A good transition does three jobs at once: it protects the edge of each floor, it hides the expansion gap (because most floors need one),...

About Ben Mitchell

Hey, I’m Ben Mitchell. If you’re here because you’re staring at a crooked grout line , a mystery hump in your subfloor, or a pile of tile you swear got heavier the moment you carried it inside, you’re in the right place. I built The Grout Nest for everyday homeowners who want a floor or backsplash...