How to tile a herringbone laying pattern

This article is a quick how to guide to tiling a herringbone laying pattern, on either your wall or floor. To get you started on how to tile a wall, check out our full guide to see what tools you’ll require along with fixing recommendations. You can do the same for floor tiles too as this is dependent on your substrate preparation.

So, let’s get started with tiling a herringbone laying pattern.

Step one

Once your tiling space has been prepped, as per our tiling guides, and you’ve measured your tiles, the next step is to dry lay your tiles. You’ve found your centre point to start tiling from, here you can lay your first tile at a 45-degree angle to the line.

Step two

You can then progress in laying each tile in the herringbone pattern. Once you’ve reached the end, you’ll most likely need to cut some tiles to fit, you can mark them either with a tile pen or some masking tape. Numbering them is very helpful as they need to slot into a particular place within the pattern.

Step three

Cut your tiles to fit the gaps, for the triangle gaps you’ll need to use a combination square to measure the 45-degree angles. Once marked out, use a tile cutter and, once cut, if your tile edges are a bit rough you can use a tile file to smooth it out.

Step four

Now you’ve got an idea of the pattern and know your cuts, it’s time to start applying your tiles to the wall. Follow our tiling guides for the best adhesive to use and how to apply it. Remember to use tile spacers as this is key to keeping the tiles in the correct position whilst the adhesive cures.

Step five

Once your adhesive has cured (usually after 24 hours) you can then apply your grout and clean up your tiles.

Step six

If you’re tiling a partial wall and leaving a raw top to show off the herringbone shape remember to seal this, as well as the perimeters of your room, with silicone sealant as you don’t want to get wet behind the tiles. If you don’t want a raw edge, square the tiles off and use a tile trim to cover the edge.