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You are here: Home / Renovations / Family Room Renovation / How To Tile a Herringbone Floor (Family Room 10)

How To Tile a Herringbone Floor (Family Room 10)

February 28, 2015 by SmartGirl 29 Comments

Of course it took longer than I would have liked, but I did finish tiling my family room floor.  And I love it!  If you ever wanted to know how to tile a herringbone floor, then you are in luck!

How to Tile a Herringbone Floor yourself

Here’s what’s been happening with the family room:

Ladies Demo + Wine Night
Family Room Can of Worms
Family Room Gets Wired Up
Making Progress on the Family Room
Design Choices for the Family Room
Family Effort this Weekend
The Built-in Bookshelf and Why It’s Not Finished
Built-in Bookshelf Using IKEA BESTA
Self-Leveling Concrete 
Tiling Herringbone Floor  <<You are here
Grouting the Herringbone Floor
New Step into Family Room
Lego Coffee Table
Under Couch Lego Storage

I  toyed with the idea of just putting in new carpet (so much easier) or maybe even doing hardwood to match the main level of the house. But I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to use tile, so why not go for a herringbone pattern?!? Forget that I had only ever tiled one floor before, and it was a powder room at our last house. I was going to figure out how to do this!

My plan was to use 12″ x 24″, it was just a matter of choosing the perfect tile.  I went through several design options (read post HERE) but once I found this MARAZZI Montagna Rustic Bay tile at Home Depot, I was sold!  These tiles are half the size I thought I wanted, at 6″ x 24″, but the size does a great job mimicking real wood, and smaller tiles are easier to install and more durable. (The bigger the tile, the more easily they crack!)

I would choose this tile again in a heartbeat.  It’s awesome!

It was recommended that I use FlexBond Mortar because of my terribly uneven concrete floor.  However it works, (I guess it’s the polymer formula) this stuff helps prevent cracks in the tile because the mortar has some flexibility.  FlexBond is a good idea for any large tile.  The bigger the tile, the more likely it is to crack.  It worked really well for me, but I don’t have anything else to compare it to.

How To Tile a Herringbone Floor (what I did and what you should do it instead)

1. Layout the tiles to find the best placement

This is one part I did correctly.  It took a lot of tiles to get the right idea, but I was able to layout the tiles in such a way that they ended nicely on the outside wall, up against the built-in bookshelves, and by the step and around the fireplace.  Woohoo!

2. Determine where to begin tiling

For me that meant finding the highest spots on the floor.  If the floor was level (and believe me I tried – post HERE) this step would not be necessary, of course.  But things aren’t always easy around here.  So I systematically determined the highest spots and circled them with a Sharpie.  If my finished floor had any hope of being level, I knew I had to start with the highest point.  This point happened to be pretty close to the center of the room, so I began tiling one row of herringbone down the middle of the floor.

Using a level to determine the highest spot on the floor

3.  Mix up some mortar and start tilingMixing Flexbond crack preventing mortar

Did you see my post on using self leveling underlayment? Ugh!

How about my post full of tiling tips?

How did I get the tile level?  It makes me cringe just to write about it.  I had to set each tile individually. Each tile was set with a different thickness of mortar.  I had to buy 3 different trowel sizes to make this happen. Of course the mortar under any given tile could vary quite a bit too. I should have bought the cheapest trowels I could find because I had to throw them out when I was finished. Too many days of stopping and starting over — I just couldn’t get all the mortar off.

Dude, it was a pain in the butt!  And probably why I could only get through one bag of mortar a day. It took a good 3-4 hours to use up one bag of mortar and I didn’t always have that kind of time on my hands. You know me, I’ve got self-diagnosed adult ADD and it’s hard for me to commit to such a long stretch of time.  No but really, I’d always have to stop and get the kids or walk the dog. Oh wait, we don’t have any pets.

This is what it looked like at the end of Day 1.

First row of herringbone tile finished

End of day 1 of DIY herringbone tile install

How to tile a herringbone floor

Day 2 began like this…Day 2 of tile the family room floor

and ended with me passing out on the floor.  Hubby tried to feed me, but it was too late.  I was fast asleep before 7pm that night.  Of course I didn’t finish the batch of mortar I had mixed, I just threw out the bucket the next day.End of day 2 tiling herringbone floor

Here’s a good time to point out why you shouldn’t use my method of tiling — you should definitely try to get all the tiling finished in one day.  I made an extra, very annoying and time consuming, step for myself by allowing the mortar to dry between applications.Why you should finish tiling in one day - otherwise mortar dries and makes a mess

Before I could move on to the next row in the herringbone tile pattern, I had to scrape off all the mortar that was exposed.  There was just no getting around it because it would mess up the height of the next row, and they tiles wouldn’t fit snugly together.  There was a lot of scraping and sweeping.  And it was hard to get motivated to go back the next day.  Poor me.Cleaning dried mortar from tile job

How to Tile a Herringbone Floor by Smart Girls DIY

4. Cut all the tiles that hit the wall

On Day 3 (which probably was several days after Day 2) I was able to get the area in front of the window and fireplace hearth finished, but that required me to bust out the tile saw.  My saw was still at my mom’s house, so I borrowed a friend’s saw.  Thanks Shari.  Note: I hate wearing gloves.  Even when I’m working in the dirt, but OMG my fingers were raw from tiling.  Trying to pick a tile up and adjust it was brutal on my fingers.  I had no choice but to wear gloves!

And this is the main reason people freak when you tell them you are going to install a herringbone tile pattern yourself.  Too many freaking cuts!  Way too many.  So I’ll show you my method… This was the first day of cutting and let me tell you the corners were the worse.  I always started by drawing an outline of the tile on the floor.Marking out herringbone pattern in corner is the trickiest

Draw the shape of the tile on the floor so you can visualize where it goes

I wrote a number on the floor inside each outline, and gave the corresponding piece of tile the same number.  The hardest part is figuring out where to cut, but in doing that, you draw cut lines on the tile. (A more detailed explanation of marking the tiles is further down… keep reading!)  Then it’s time to cut the tile!  After it’s cut make sure you dry fit the tile before you go any further.Idea of what herringbone floor pattern looks like to cut in corners

Now do that like 100 more times!!! Make sure to number and label each tile before you cut it because they can get confused

Tiling a Herringbone Floor

No really.  Watch…

Don’t forget to cut around the floor vents.  I did these cuts on the tile saw.  Carefully.  I made a cut along each horizontal line, then I made several cuts in between, always stopping at the line on the right.  My friend Shari watched me do it and we were both pretty surprised that it worked so well.How to cut tile around floor vent

After the tiles are set in place, fine adjustments around the vent opening can be made with tile nippers.  (This is totally the other floor vent in the room, but same idea.)Use tile nippers to cut small pieces from tile

5. Build up any areas that are much lower than the rest

For me this was the corner by the kitchen and the built-ins.   I put down a layer of Flexbond, let it dry overnight, then went back and used more F to set the tiles.  It worked… but let’s hope you can skip this step!  Let’s call this Day 4.This was the deepest area - it required a thick layer of mortar before tiling

This shot shows the same corner, now dry, on the bottom left of the picture.Day 4 of tiling the family room in a herringbone pattern

6. Let tiles dry overnight before you walk on them

Remember — you can’t go back over areas you’ve already tiled until they are dry.  Otherwise if you put your body weight down on a tile, you would squish it down and mortar would ooze out!

I managed to get everything finished on day 4 except one little bit.  I ran out of mortar at about 2am and we were having a party at our house the next day.  So Day 5 (which was about a week later!) was my last day of tiling! Woohoo!!!

Last day of herringbone pattern installation - pieces all cut ready to be mortared in place

So  now you know how to tile a herringbone floor! Yay!!

But let’s do a quick summary, just in case… I laid out the tiles.  Figured out where the ones that touched the wall needed to be cut.  Marked the tiles.  Cut the tiles.  Then used a variety of trowels with Flexbond mortar to adhere the tiles to the concrete subfloor.  And now in more detail —

how to figure out where to mark the cut lines:How to cut floor tile in a herringbone pattern

  1. Draw the outline of the tile on the floor by tracing along the edge of existing tiles and using a speed square where necessary.step 4 - once you mark both sides draw a line
  2. Turn the tile upside down and flip it over.  Line the tile up along the shortest line, with one end of the tile at the wall.  Mark where it hits the adjacent tile.Step 2 - turn tile upside down lay in place and mark where tiles meet
  3. Pick the tile up on its side and more it down until it hits the wall.  *If the tile is not up on its end it will not slide far enough back.  Mark where it hits the adjacent tile.Step 3 - pull the tile down away from wall to mark the other side
  4. Draw a line to connect the marks using the speed square.

step 4 - draw line and cut

After all the herringbone tiles were cut and dry fit

It helped that I moved the tile saw inside for this last day.  Boy was it starting to get cold outside!Last day of tiling - dry setting all floor tiles

Almost finished… But I have to show you this picture of how I finished tiling all the way to the corner.  (I could have waited for some of the tiles to dry and then walk over to get the corner ones, but this was way more interesting.How to tile yourself into a corner - DIY herringbone pattern

And there you have it. Grouting will be in the next post, because this one is already wicked long! But here’s a sneak peek at the finished product…DIY Herringbone Tile Floor

You can keep up with my latest shenanigans projects here: Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter / YouTube

And be sure to save this pin for later so you will always know how to tile a herringbone floor!How to tile a herringbone pattern floor with wood look tiles - Smart Girls DIY

Here are even more posts about my family room renovation projects:

Brick fireplace wall gone

It’s Ladies Night and the Demo Is Right (Family Room 1)

I sledge hammered the wall

Family Room Can of Worms (Family Room 2)

We hired an electrician to put in recessed lights

Family Room Gets Wired Up (Family Room 3)

Making Progress on the Family Room (Family Room 4)

Family Room Mood Board

Design Choices for Family Room (Family Room 5)

Buying out IKEA Philladelphia this weekend

It Was a Family Effort This Weekend (Family Room 6)

Family room bookshelves - Copy

Built-In Bookcase and Why It’s Not Finished (Family Room 7)

Ikea BESTA made to look built in

DIY Built-in Bookshelves Using Ikea BESTA (Family Room 8)

Lego Coffee table was perfect for our LEGO Christmas

New Year — New Lego Coffee Table

Tiling family room -- using self-leveler

I Always Wanted to Try Self-Leveler (Family Room 9)

Grouting a Herringbone Tile Floor (Family Room 11)

New and Improved Step Down to Family Room

Under Couch Lego Storage Drawer

Pulling It Together For Christmas

Filed Under: Family Room Renovation, How To, Product and Reviews, Renovations Tagged With: family room, flooring, Ryobi, tile

Previous Post: « Happy 13th Birthday Smart Junior
Next Post: Grouting a Herringbone Tile Floor (Family Room 11) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie (Being Home) says

    March 1, 2015 at 6:42 am

    Whew! That was a lot of work, but boy does that floor look gorgeous! The room is coming together and I look forward to seeing it all done! Yep, that last picture had me cracking up. 😉

    Reply
    • John C Black says

      September 29, 2019 at 12:21 pm

      There is a much easier way to get the angle cuts with no measuring at all hardly! Make a template that is the length of the tile diagonally. Next set a full piece where on top of the last full peice that was the same direction. Set the temple against the wall where the cut will be short side against the wall. The other end of the template will overlap the tile set one row back exactly where the cut would go for a tight fit. Just cut the width of your grout line to the inside of the cut line and it will fit perfectly. I will generally number and cut most of these wall cuts at one time. Easy easy… seems so hard for me to explain. Hope it helps someone.

      Reply
    • Debbie says

      November 25, 2020 at 5:19 pm

      What was the spacing between the tiles 1/16??

      Reply
  2. Reenie says

    March 3, 2015 at 11:08 am

    You have a lot of patience. 🙂 Very nice ~ can’t wait to see it all come together.

    Reply
  3. Steve says

    March 30, 2015 at 9:21 am

    impressive, can you come over and do my bathroom floor?

    Reply
  4. Jill @ The Rozy Home says

    April 11, 2015 at 11:30 am

    I love it! Would you believe i just did a herringbone pattern on my kitchen island. It was a ton of work but I love it!

    Reply
  5. Amber says

    April 12, 2015 at 8:46 am

    Wow, what a labor of love! It looks absolutely amazing, thank you for sharing. Not that I’d ever be able to be this handy myself, but I’m sure lots of other people will appreciate hearing what you’d do differently next time. Thanks for linking up with us in the Best of the Blogosphere!

    Reply
    • Muhammad Shakeel says

      January 9, 2021 at 11:34 am

      Greetings from Pakistan
      Wow, Wonderful… You did a great job.

      Reply
  6. Emmy says

    April 12, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    That looks so good! Seriously awesome. A ton of work though, but worth it in the end!

    Reply
  7. Susan says

    October 20, 2015 at 10:35 am

    ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! You are the herringbone Queen!

    I love tiling and have done my lanai, floors and backsplash, but found several great tips in this blog. I am terrible with math and my measuring left a lot to be desired. To compensate, I made newspaper templates the same size as the tile and used them as a pattern in really difficult areas. Your tip of standing the tile on its edge to get close to the wall was absolute genius and I will definitely use it! Thank you!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      October 21, 2015 at 9:47 am

      You’re welcome! So glad I could help. You’ve got me beat if you love tiling. I pretty much feel the same way about it as I do painting… I love it when it’s finished. Lol

      Reply
  8. Chris says

    February 5, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    I chose the same tile for my entryway floor (in a running bond pattern) and am contemplating using it around my next project, a walk-behind bar. It really is nice looking tile! You did an awesome job with that herringbone, way more than I’d try. I have just one question and am not trying to be insulting or second-guessing at all, I’m just wondering! Were you not able to use floor leveling compound to get a level starting surface? So not nit-picking, just wondering if there was a reason I wasn’t aware of.

    Reply
  9. Hayley says

    March 2, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    Awesome job! What kind of level/laser tool is that?

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      March 16, 2016 at 7:18 pm

      The laser level is an inexpensive Ryobi model. I also have at least two 3ft, 2ft, and torpedo levels.

      Reply
  10. Shirley says

    June 3, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    So now after over a year of putting in your herringbone floor, I would like to know just how well it is holding up? It looks beautiful!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      June 5, 2016 at 11:21 pm

      Thank you! The floor is holding up great. It’s very durable. No loose tiles. It was a real pain in the butt to install, but we love it. Everyone who comes over loves it too. One of these days I will clean up the family room and take some pictures. lol

      Reply
  11. Laurie Seibert says

    November 15, 2016 at 6:56 pm

    We are just getting ready to start our floor. Did you waste a lot of the tile by doing the herringbone, it seems like you would with all the cuts? Our room is 6 x 36 and we have a bay window. How would we do the bay window, do you have any pictures?

    Reply
    • Laurie Seibert says

      November 15, 2016 at 9:01 pm

      sorry, the tiles are 6 x 36 our room is very large, just wondering if there is a lot of wasted tiles and if there is anything different we need to do with a bay window. Thank you.

      Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      November 16, 2016 at 10:28 pm

      There was not much waste at all. I used both ends of a piece of tile if I was making a cut to use around the edge of the room. You will have more cuts and more waste if you have more obstacles, like a bay window. Sorry, I don’t have pictures of a bay window installation because I’ve never done one. It’s just a matter of working around whatever obstacle you are presented. Always order/buy more tile than you think you will need. Most stores (HD, Lowe’s, even The Tile Shop) will let you bring back full boxes of unused tile. Good luck!

      Reply
      • Laurie Seibert says

        November 16, 2016 at 10:43 pm

        So far so good. We are about 18 tile rows down and 6 across, still much more space to cover. Have not had to cut yet as we have not reached the ends or the bay window. We are following your video and everything has worked out great! Thank you so much! Floor is looking great, wow what a different from carpet!! Wish we could send you all photos. Good luck to everyone.

  12. RayRay says

    January 4, 2017 at 6:36 am

    nice! when u stand tile on its end and markbit there’s still s small “tile width” that doesnt make it to the wall. but, it looks like that helps preserve the width of the grout line. so, when u flip the tile it fits! I don’t do tile very often so when I do it I always goog it to review and build a to do and materials list. I’d recommend this to week(end) warriors. I wish I had a tile saw like yours. mine has a post on the left side so wide tiles require me to build a platform to hold tiles off to the right side of the saw. the widest cut my saw makes without this is 9 3/4″. so, 20″ tile doesnt fit especially on cuts smaller than this width.

    your instructions on how to tile are great. you should tell others how to explain things so clearly. maybe start your own instructional channel. nice job!

    rr

    Reply
  13. S says

    March 15, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    Thank you so much for posting that amazing tutorial on the flooring! It has answered so many questions!! You rock

    Reply
  14. lisa says

    May 28, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    For large tiles on a project, I used the tuscan leveling system and it was amazing. The idea of lifting and re-setting an 18″ x 18″ tile was terrifying. It really worked well even with a relatively flat floor. You may know this my now but for anyone else — it’s quite a lifesaver. So many systems out there now to choose from to help level tile.

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      May 29, 2017 at 12:05 pm

      I’ve never heard of it. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  15. michelle aschbacher says

    December 10, 2017 at 1:30 am

    Great info, really impressive! I might make this my new years resolution to redo the family room floor instead of “go to the gym”! Stunning floor and I hope to make mine as beautiful as yours!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      December 15, 2017 at 9:16 am

      Aw thanks so much! Happy New Year!!!

      Reply
  16. J says

    January 25, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    It looks amazing! A lot better than my current project. Y’all make it look so easy! https://www.house4baby.com/blog/2018/1/24/prepping-for-tile

    Reply
  17. cole says

    September 11, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    y stated you used 6 x 24 tiles. What size did you cut them to for this?

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      December 6, 2018 at 3:17 pm

      I didn’t cut them. Well only around the edge of the room and stuff. They are a long rectangular tile.

      Reply

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