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How to tile your Dollhouse roof – In Depth Tutorial

In this blog post I am going to explain how to tile a dollhouse roof the way I have done it for a long time. With any roof no matter what surface you need to prepare it for the tiles. Dollhouse roofs are commonly made from wood and this can have splinters old paint or even paper tiles from a past life. It is best to remove any old glue, paper or paint with a rough sandpaper. This will take the wood back to a nice flat even surface ready for the new tiles!
Useful Tools You Can Use

You will need a good glue. I would highly recommend Gorilla wood glue just from experience it just works. I use it because it leaves you enough time to place your tiles then move them if needed. It also dries rock solid and clear. You can also use a good PVA as many people have this lying around already. A metal ruler or any hard straight edge that won’t bend to use in cutting and straightening the tiles. A craft knife of some sort (pictured above) This is to score/cut the tiles. You can also use good household scissors if you have them as my tiles lend themselves to this too. A pencil for marking the tiles you will need to cut down to size and an old craft brush and a pot of water for washing off your brush and any overspill from the glue!
Process Of Attaching Your Tiles

To attach your tiles I find it best to arrange all of the items I am going to use on my work area in a logical way. Take your tiles and place them near your dollhouse and have the glue, water, ruler and knife close to hand for ease of use. If you have a cutting mat great, Don’t worry if you haven’t you can cut on a chopping board you might have at home. To start brush on or place glue straight onto the bottom of your roof as we always start from here when tiling any roof. Use quite a thick layer of glue but not to much as it runs down the roof (hope that makes sense?) 🙂 I like to start on the right side of the roof and work my way left. With my first tile which I place with a small overhang on the bottom and right side (see image above) You can then start placing tiles along the bottom row making sure that each tile is butted up against each other until you reach the end of the first row. When starting the second row overlap by half each time to give that realistic look.
Cutting & Shaping the Tiles

When you reach the end of a row or start the next row you will need to cut down the tile to fit. Start by measuring what width you need with the ruler. Then take a tile and turn it over and mark with the pencil the size you need. Make sure to measure twice just to make sure you have the right size. When you mark the tile mark in two places. Once at the top and once at the bottom to insure an accurate cut. When happy line up the ruler and use the craft knife to score the tile. You don’t need to cut right through the plastic as it will snap neatly once marked (see image above) Once cut put on the roof and if happy secure down and continue tiling.
Lining up – Cleaning up

After I have finished with a row of tiles I like to line them up with the ruler to give a nice uniform look. You might also get some overspill from the glue (as above) in this case you can take a brush and dip it in water and gently wipe until clean. You can also use a damp cloth or kitchen towel which will give you the same result.
Finishing up

When you reach the end and are happy with the result you can then start to inspect where you will need to touch up the white edges. You don’t have to do this stage but it will give the project a more unified finish. Use some grey paint or a grey marker and touch up the edges (see images above) this is usually the final step and then you can step back, give yourself a pat on the back and you are done!
I sell multiple styles and sizes in my shop and I also make and sell ridge tiles in angle and half round depending on the look you are after!
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