Laying the Tile

Before you start laying the tile you should place them down to get an idea of the pattern you want to lay. It varies with each room but lay them out so that you do not have very thin tiles at the ends of the row. You then want to look on the package of mastic or thinset and see what the recommended notched trowel size is for your tile size. I am using mastic along with 12x12 tiles in this project and it is recommended that I use a ¼” square notch. Normally, it is not recommended that you use mastic with larger tiles. This is because the mastic sets up by evaporating water out and the larger tiles hinder that. I have had good results in the past however so I am going to go for it. Here you can see the trowel that I will be using.

You then want to spread the mastic or thinset down with the trowel and scrape at a 45 degree angle leaving a set of nicely profiled lines. Lay a tile, and then pull it back up. Check to see if there is 95% coverage on the tile. If so, then you are in good shape and you can keep working a small area at a time. Remember to place your spacers between the tiles.
I like to lay all the full tiles at once and let them set up, then go back the next day and mark the notched tiles for cutting.

This is where I am currently with this project.