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How to Close Gaps in Laminate Flooring?

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With enough time and wear, unsightly gaps can begin to open up in interlocking laminate flooring. Fortunately, this tends to be a minor issue, and correcting it won’t require you to go to the trouble of replacing the flooring altogether. For most jobs, all you’ll need is a simple tube of wood glue, or a mallet and flat object heavy enough to provide enough traction to allow you to tap the planks back into place.


This will ensure that the far end remains concealed by the baseboard. If you go towards the wall instead, you may end up having to deal with gaps in adjacent planks as a result. When correcting more than one plank in the same row, it may be necessary to also move the neighboring planks inward to keep the spacing consistent and avoid making the gap worse.


Tap the end of the block with a mallet to close the gap. Steady the tool with one hand and give the side furthest from the gap a couple whacks to move the loose plank closer to the one it’s drifted away from. It should slide along a few millimeters at a time. Continue tapping the block until the plank rests snugly against its neighbor.


Be careful not to strike the block too forcefully. This could dislodge it, or even damage the underside of the flooring. After successfully closing the gap, simply pull up the floor gap fixer to remove it. Repeat with any remaining gaps. Use the block and mallet to repair any other slipped planks that have appeared in your laminate flooring. Work carefully to keep your floor looking neat. All in all, the project should only take a matter of minutes.


If necessary, wipe off any dust or debris that’s accumulated on the adhesive pad with a damp cloth before the next time you use it. If you own a floor gap fixer tool, consider using it in conjunction with a touch of wood glue to ensure that the gap stays closed for good.

Laying Down the Grout Before Regrout Tile

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Mix the grout. Mix the grout in one of the 5 gallon (19 L) buckets using a drill with a mixing attachment or paddle mixer. Do an initial mix and then let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then mix the grout again. You may not want to mix it all at once. Just mix up a few cups at a time.

Apply the grout. Apply a generous amount of grout to your grout joints along your tile floor using the rubber grout float. Be sure to distribute extra grout into the grout joints in order to fill them completely. Grout all areas of your tile floor except the expansion joints; these are the areas between the floor tile and bathtub, wall, door, and cabinet or sink area.

The rubber grout float is a rectangular, flat tool with a steel handle and rubber surface used to distribute grout. Hold the rubber grout float at a 30 degree angle and distribute grout across the surface of the tile floor. Keep in mind that it is important to work quickly because the grout will harden in a short amount of time.

Remove excess. Remove the excess grout from the tile floor once every grout joint has been filled. Do this by going over the tile with the rubber grout float, only this time use it at a sharp angle and move it diagonally across the tile floor in order to scrap the excess grouting material off. Moving diagonally avoids detaching recently laid grout from the grout joints.

Let the grout set and prepare bucket. Let grout set for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. While the grout is setting, fill your second 5 gallon (19 L) bucket with water and grab your tile sponge to clean the tile floor. Prepare your sponge. Dip the tile sponge in the bucket of water and wring out any excess water leaving a damp tile sponge.

How to Laying the Tiles for a Shower?

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Mark your tile layout on the substrate and mark out your first course carefully. If your shower enclosure walls are not perfectly square, or if you plan to install accent tiles, the layout of these shower tiles becomes increasingly important. Measure up from the bottom of the backer board the height of a tile minus 1/2″. This will give you a 1/2″ overlap over the bathroom tile lip on your shower pan. Make sure that you allow room for the grout joints as well. Mark this with a sharpie or chalk and using a level, transfer the mark across the shower stall. This will be a guide for the top of the first row so that all wall tiles will be level. Only use dry tiles make sure that the lay out works as well.

Another way to plan out the first row of tiles design is to measure the high part and low part of the shower pan. Make the cut spot on the low end a full tile, mark it, and then cut the tiles on the high side down to the level of the uncut wall marble tile on the low side. Keeping grout lines away from the inside corners of the enclosure can prevent the need for tiny tiles and poor grout joints. Plan accordingly and always make cuts tight on the inside corner.

Mix enough thin-set for the bottom row. You want your thin-set to be the consistency of peanut butter — not too thick or it will dry out and not too thin or you’ll have a hard time setting the mortar with strength and cleaning. Use an electric drill and a mortar mixing bit attached to your drill to mix your thin-set mortar. This will ensure even consistency and ultimately a better product. Let the mortar set for seven minutes and then mix it again.

Dampen the cement board with a sponge before applying the mortar. If you do not, the cement board will draw the moisture out of the thin-set too quickly, making for a brittle set that is susceptible to cracking. Trowel some thin-set onto the back of the tile and spread it with a notched trowel. This process is called “back buttering.” Apply mortar to the backer board along with back buttering and then set the cement tiles on top of that. It’s a lot cleaner, too!

Be sure not to apply too much mortar to the back of a tile. You only need a little in each corner and a little dab in the middle for back buttering. More isn’t necessarily better when it comes to thin-set. Keep in mind that back buttering is only necessary when you are using a larger small tile (8″ x 8″ or larger) and you only need to add a little dab of thin set mortar to each corner.

Set the first tile in the middle of the wall (or floor). This will create a pleasant visual effect and allow each tile that is placed beside it on either side seem centered. After back buttering, simply press the cement tile onto the backer board and apply pressure to make sure that the mortar adhered properly to both the tile and the backer board. Then, give the tile a little twist and tap each one with a rubber mallet, especially the floor tiles.

Wipe away any excess thin-set mortar after pressing the marble tile onto the backer. Although you’ll be grouting and caulking between the tiles, it’s best not to leave any thin-set on oozing out from the sides of the tile. Dig out any oozing thin-set that you notice. Simply wipe away excess thinset with your finger or a Q-tip.