Why You Need Rubber Mallets for Tile

Tile is one of the best ways to upgrade your flooring or shower walls. The thing to remember is that it is a very fragile material and with even the slightest slip-up, you can find yourself staring at broken tiles.

Rubber mallets are a must-have for installing tile and carpet. If you plan on installing tile in your home the DIY way, then you need to have a rubber mallet or two in your toolbox.

Mallets are Lighter

The biggest reason that you would want to go with a rubber mallet is because of how much lighter it is compared to your average metal-face hammer. Rubber mallets can run the gamut in weight from around eight ounces all the way up to 32 ounces for the heaviest one.

Metal-face hammers have a lot more variety, so you can’t generally compare them to rubber mallets. But for the smaller types of hammer – like ball pein – will top out right around that 32-ounce weight. The bigger you go, the more it weighs and the more damage it can inflict. Speaking of damage…

Rubber Mallets Protect Tile

Tile is beautiful and versatile, coming in a litany of different colors, designs, and shapes. You can find any type of tile to fit your home so long as you have the budget to match your imagination. The thing to remember about tile is that both ceramic and stone are quite fragile and can break easily once enough force is applied.

Metal-face hammers are naturally harder and apply a lot more force per square inch. Even a slight tap with a metal-face hammer could be enough to chip, crack, or break your average tile. Because rubber mallets have a softer surface striking area, it doesn’t deliver nearly as much force. The face of the mallet will slightly bend when it strikes, softening the blow enough that it keeps the tile perfectly safe.

Accurately Lining Up Tiles

In order for tile to look good, it has to be evenly placed. Even one slightly crooked tile can wind up throwing off the entire aesthetic of the surface in question. Lining things up by hand can be done but generally only by those who have a ton of experience laying tile for floors, shower walls, and backsplashes. Most amateurs can’t really line things up that way.

Having a rubber mallet means being able to tap tiles into place quickly and easily. Just a quick, gentle tap can ensure that tiles are flush or properly lined up. You can ensure that you have perfectly even alignment all the way through and don’t have to fiddle with the fine details as you would by hand.

Rubber Mallets are Safer

If you’re using a claw hammer, there are a couple of inherent risks involved. For starters, if you get careless, that claw can do a lot of damage to not only your materials but you as well. That’s not even counting the risks involved in swinging a hammer, missing, and crushing a finger. We have all been there before and it usually ends with curse words galore.

While it might not exactly feel like a gentle kiss to hit your fingers with a rubber mallet, it definitely doesn’t hurt as much as it would have with a metal-face hammer. For DIYers who work a little slower or a little more clumsily, that winds up being an important factor. It also means being able to hammer things with confidence because you know that you won’t be breaking a finger or two in the process.