Ceramic tile has been much on my mind of late.

Perhaps that’s because I spent virtually every free hour for two weeks buying tile, cutting tile, setting tile, grouting tile and cleaning layers of all the previously mentioned gunk off of tile.

Perhaps it’s because twice during those two weeks people (one of whom I work for) stopped by my desk to ask about tile.

Perhaps it’s just because tiling is one of those projects that you can wind up before the holiday visitor blitz shuts down all home improvements — and the messes they create — until February.

I’ve mentioned a time or two over the years that setting tile is a good home handyperson project. I stand by that.

If you can draw a straight line and make a cake from a mix, you can set tile. You won’t be as good as the folks who’ve done it five days a week for 20 years, of course, but you won’t destroy your house in the process.

(Something that can’t be said for refinishing wood floors or running new electrical circuits.)

This week I’m going to go over the tools you’ll need. Next week, we’ll tackle an actual tiling project: a tub/shower wall.

In no particular order:

* Serrated trowel. Whether you stick your tiles down with adhesive or thin-set mortar, you’ll need a special trowel to apply it. Notches on the edges of the trowel are designed to leave behind exactly the right amount of adhesive when dragged across the surface at a 45-degree angle. The trowel will come with two sets of notches; the size you use depends on your tile and your adhesive.

* Rubber float. Grout is the thinned-down mortar that fills the joints between tiles, and you apply it with a float, a trowel that has a dense foam-rubber face (so it won’t scratch the tiles).

* Nippers. These look sort of like pliers (which I used on my first tiling project in the days before I had my own nippers). You use them to “nip” away at a tile, say to fit it around a pipe.

* Glass cutter. Ceramic tile is very brittle. To cut it all you need to do is score the tile with a glass cutter, then snap the two pieces apart along the line. I don’t use it much anymore, for reasons I’ll get to, but it’s still awfully handy for those same cases where you’d use  the nippers.

* Four-inch taping knife. You ought have one if you’ve been taping drywall. In this case, it’s very useful for scraping excess adhesive off the wall.

* Rod saw. This graphite-impregnated steel rod fits between the jaws of an ordinary hacksaw, replacing the blade. With it you can cut a tile into any shape if you keep the tile tight to a flat surface — and if you’re very patient.

* Fine-tip felt marker. Mark the tile, cut it, then simply wipe the mark off with a sponge.

* Tile cutter. Better than a glass cutter is a tile cutter, sort of a glass cutter mounted on rails to keep it running in a straight line, It’s much faster and a lot more exact.

Better than either is a tile saw.

A tile saw is just a tiny table saw that uses a diamond-edged blade that spins through a water bath (to cool the blade and maintain lubrication). It has a fence and a miter gauge and cuts ceramic or terra cotta tiles just about as easily as your table saw cuts wood. When I found out I could get a medium-grade tile saw for just $88, I bid my old tile cutter good-bye.

* You’ll also need assorted small tools that you probably have lying around anyway: tape measure, square, two-foot level, caulking gun, buckets and sponges.

Send your home repair and remodeling questions to: HouseWorks, P.O. Box 81609, Lincoln, NE 68501, or e-mail: houseworks@journalstar.com.