I've been through many books and web sites but couldn't find details on how best to do a layout with a border. For discussion purposes I'll be laying 18" tile on diagonal with a full-tile border (same tile). This will be in a 20'x20' sunroom that has a closet bump-out in one corner and a walk-through to the kitchen (already tiled). A couple layout preference questions: 1) Should I lay a full-tile border first and then do the diagonals? Doing the border first essentially gives me a "new" wall line to lay the diagonals up to. All the cutting-to-fit would then be on the diagonal tiles. 2) Or...Should I do the diagonals first and even perhaps (?) make them end with nice neat ½ tiles where they meet the border? The borders would each then be trimmed to fit against the wall. What concerns me with this option is that the borders along the ends of the room will be of different width than the borders along the sides of the rooms. A couple border questions: 1) Do I start by placing a full square border tile (would not be a true full square tile for option #2 above) at each inside and outside corner? 2) None of the walls are of an even full-tile increment so there will be a "short" border tile somewhere along each wall. Where do I place my "short" border piece? .next to the corner pieces, or, in the center of each border run?? Thanks for any help and comments. Jack

I just moved into a 1970s house and want to lay ceramic tile in the bedroom. The current floor is industrial 70s tile, which already has several tiles missing and the rest are easy to remove. Under the tile is some sort of black, rubbery pad. From what I can see, under the pad is concrete. I can easily remove the exsisting tile. I don't know about the rubbery pad because it is glued to the concrete. I have read other posts about underlayments, but they all seem to relate to bathrooms and a sub-floor of plywood. My question is: Can I just remove the exsisting tile and place the new ceramic tile over the rubbery pad, or should I lay a backerboard or cementboard over the rubbery pad? Or do I need to remove the pad all together and start with the concrete floor? Please help. Thanks