If you've thought about having a ceramic tile floor, but were afraid to take the plunge, read on. We'll demonstrate that a do-it-yourself ceramic tile floor can be just about the least expensive floor covering you can buy. And, and it's a lot easier to install than you might think. Most rooms are rectangular and therefore are reasonably easy to tile.

The toughest part of a tile job is getting the existing floor cleaned and ready to accept the tile. Baseboard has to be temporarily removed and door jambs and casings need to be trimmed up and away from the floor to clear the thickness of the new tile and mortar. In a kitchen, all appliances that come into contact with the floor also must be removed.

We recently tiled a 200-square-foot sunroom for less than $500 less than $2.50 per square foot for all the materials that we needed including: bonding agent, the tile, tile spacers, pre-mixed mortar, grout and even a mortar trowel. We cleaned and prepped the floor in about four man-hours, and laid the center tiles in another 17. After they dried, we installed the edge tiles about another 16 man-hours. We hired a tile man's helper to do the grout work for $50. And although the job took two of us two and a half days in actual man-hours, we had to spread the entire project over three weekends because of other commitments.

The old flooring in the sunroom was composed of vinyl sheeting over three-eighths-inch particleboard underlayment. And, the perimeter was trimmed with painted wood baseboard. The vinyl flooring was curling at the seams and edges due to moisture vapors rising from the wine cellar below. Our thought was to remove the vinyl and begin with new underlayment, and then tile. But after some thought we decided to use barbed roofing nails to stitch down the curled edges of the flooring and permanently hold the vinyl in place. We felt it would make a great vapor barrier to protect the new tile floor. That's right we decided to tile over the vinyl. It was easy. Once all the edges and seams were nailed in place, we used a belt sander to clean and roughen the vinyl. After a thorough once-over with a vacuum cleaner, we applied two coats of bonding agent (glue). Since the plan was to affix the tile directly to the vinyl floor covering, the bonding agent was required to help the thinset mortar to adhere.

The next step was to snap layout lines with a chalk box so that the tile could be laid parallel to the walls and cabinets; and, so that there would be uniform widths at the perimeter courses of tile where the floor meets the walls and other objects. Remember tile is usually laid from the center of the room outward toward the walls. Thus, no single placement error can continue for a distance greater than half the length of the room. When opposing walls are not parallel the layout line is adjusted so as to split the distance.

Once the layout lines were drawn, it was time to apply mortar. We used ready-mixed mortar because we wanted a proper consistency. Since we don't lay tile every day, we were not sure what a proper mortar consistency was. In any event, using the ready-mix mortar was a breeze. It troweled on easily and evenly. The clerk at the tile store suggested that we apply the mortar to a depth of one-quarter inch. We simply applied the mortar with a trowel that had quarter-inch grooves on the edge. We mortared about 6 square feet at a time and used plastic tile spacers to guarantee perfect margins between tiles. Mortar is a water-base material and is easy to clean when it is still wet. However, be warned. Don't let it get too dry before trying to clean it up.

Installing the perimeter tile was not difficult, but somewhat time-consuming. Each tile had to be cut to fit. We chose to rent a tile saw rather than a snap cutter. The latter rented for less than half the cost of the former, but we felt that we would have better control using the saw.

As the tile began to cover more and more of the vinyl, the room seemed to brighten and began to look rich and luxurious. We couldn't believe our eyes. When the grout was finished you couldn't tell that the job had not been done by a tile contractor.