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Discuss Adding tiling to my arsenal in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

jaydebruyne

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so after a few failed attempts at getting in a tiler only to do sh*t jobs I’m gonna learn to do it myself, that way if I do a sh*t job I only have myself to blame.

Anyone here have any suggestions on the best way to learn? Just dive in? Courses? YouTube?

I’ve posted on the tilers forum also.

Cheers
Jay
 
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No idea mate but I need to do the same myself. What ever you find out even from the other forum can you post on here please.
 
best to go on a c and g course
 
so after a few failed attempts at getting in a tiler only to do sh*t jobs I’m gonna learn to do it myself, that way if I do a sh*t job I only have myself to blame.

Anyone here have any suggestions on the best way to learn? Just dive in? Courses? YouTube?

I’ve posted on the tilers forum also.

Cheers
Jay

No idea mate but I need to do the same myself. What ever you find out even from the other forum can you post on here please.


When I was in need of a tiler I posted on the tiler forum too and few replies. I hired one guy which was fast and good but downside was the price extremely high.he was well overpriced. At least he got the job done and customer was happy. I have been there too and had people doing some tiling for but 99% were Rubbish and that was the reason I did on my own. I would not recommend of doing it yourself, it’s a very hard tough job. It is very physical and needs time to get to a certain speed. I know have some one and I keep him busy.
 
I have someone that is awesome, but our diaries do not always match up and sometimes I just want to get on with the job.
 
When I was in need of a tiler I posted on the tiler forum too and few replies. I hired one guy which was fast and good but downside was the price extremely high.he was well overpriced. At least he got the job done and customer was happy. I have been there too and had people doing some tiling for but 99% were **** and that was the reason I did on my own. I would not recommend of doing it yourself, it’s a very hard tough job. It is very physical and needs time to get to a certain speed. I know have some one and I keep him busy.
I don’t mind the physical side of it. Everything takes time to get up to speed, it’s taken me 4 years to get to a decent level of confidence with plumbing!!
 
I learnt how to tile properly by just basically spending 9 years reading the tiling forum every night.

Don't tell them you are a plumber though they dislike plumbers over there and I cant honestly say I blame them.
 
I learnt how to tile properly by just basically spending 9 years reading the tiling forum every night.

Don't tell them you are a plumber though they dislike plumbers over there and I cant honestly say I blame them.
Oops, too late! 9 years!!??
 
Doesn't take nine years to learn, just nine years since I joined.
Took me about 3 years of tiling to turn professional.
I used to tile on 12mm plywood back from 2009 -2011, most of those floors have started to fail in some way now with tiles and/or grout cracking.
 
First and most important rule, stay away from BCT (British Ceramic Tiles), cant stress this enough, they are weak like chalk and WILL fail on the floor, come in random sizes, badly glazed and chipped.

They don't want to know if you complain to them, they fob you off.
 
First and most important rule, stay away from BCT (British Ceramic Tiles), cant stress this enough, they are weak like chalk and WILL fail on the floor, come in random sizes, badly glazed and chipped.

They don't want to know if you complain to them, they fob you off.
Thanks for the tip :)
 
Read the forums, learn from others mistakes, get the setting out right above doors, window cills, baths, if building a niche do it after you've planned the tiles so it sits right, use only cement based adhesives, don't tile on ply, use tanking in showers, know what size spacers to use.

Get yourself a decent cutter straight away, for years I struggled with a high end diy cutter then I got a Sigma and it changed my life, speeded me up no end.
 
Read the forums, learn from others mistakes, get the setting out right above doors, window cills, baths, if building a niche do it after you've planned the tiles so it sits right, use only cement based adhesives, don't tile on ply, use tanking in showers, know what size spacers to use.

Get yourself a decent cutter straight away, for years I struggled with a high end diy cutter then I got a Sigma and it changed my life, speeded me up no end.
Why not tile on ply? The guy I use tiles on ply for floors? What’s a niche?
 
All those floors will fail I'm afraid, ply expands and contracts throughout the year, leads to hairline cracks over joins, cracked grout and tiles debonding.

There are a few cowboys still tiling on ply but they are still probably priming with pva, you need to tile on cement backer boards or foam cored stuff.
Niche is a recessed shelf in a shower to put shampoo and stuff.
 
All those floors will fail I'm afraid, ply expands and contracts throughout the year, leads to hairline cracks over joins, cracked grout and tiles debonding.

There are a few cowboys still tiling on ply but they are still probably priming with pva, you need to tile on cement backer boards or foam cored stuff.
Niche is a recessed shelf in a shower to put shampoo and stuff.
Lol I think he does use PVA haha
 
All those floors will fail I'm afraid, ply expands and contracts throughout the year, leads to hairline cracks over joins, cracked grout and tiles debonding.

There are a few cowboys still tiling on ply but they are still probably priming with pva, you need to tile on cement backer boards or foam cored stuff.
Niche is a recessed shelf in a shower to put shampoo and stuff.
If you use the durabse matt it won’t crack as it takes expansion off... never had any issues neither my mates. Tanking, needs to be at all times. I would always use marmox boards, Schlüter or similar products for the shower areas. It might be a little bit more expensive but the results are better.
 
I got fed up waiting for tilers and felt they were over expensive as well.
Started doing my own tiling and had few mistakes here and their.
Now I spend more time setting up and working out how my tiles will finish.
I use a length of timber for this by marking up the tiles with spacers on it.

Works a treat for me.

Also I now take more time on the grout when cleaning it up .
Don't think your a tiler and can do it quick sharp we probably all made that mistake.

Take your time plan it out and it will come good
 
Been doing it years as i got fed up with the quality of work these so called professionals turned out learned the hard way just got on with it , prep work is important and set out the tiling before you start plenty of info out there just start with basic stuff mosaics can be tricky you learn little tricks along the way doing a floor tomorrow in a bathroom i use spacers with small plastic wedges top stop tiles sinking nothing worse than a ridge, best of luck bud cheers kop
 
Take your time, again take your time... think it through and think it through DO NOT RUSH into it. I spent £50+ on a decent 5m length of aluminium as a straight-edge on the last bathroom I did. Never tile onto timber whatever type.
you need to tile on cement backer boards or foam cored stuff.
What I find really annoying still after many years is those tiles that stick out by 0.5-1mm on the corners... arrgh (often due to a slight bow in the tile - even though they're porcelain!). However the finished result always looks 10x better when grouted.
 
Take your time, again take your time... think it through and think it through DO NOT RUSH into it. I spent £50+ on a decent 5m length of aluminium as a straight-edge on the last bathroom I did. Never tile onto timber whatever type.

What I find really annoying still after many years is those tiles that stick out by 0.5-1mm on the corners... arrgh (often due to a slight bow in the tile - even though they're porcelain!). However the finished result always looks 10x better when grouted.
Thanks Jim.. I’ll remember that!
 
Been doing it years as i got fed up with the quality of work these so called professionals turned out learned the hard way just got on with it , prep work is important and set out the tiling before you start plenty of info out there just start with basic stuff mosaics can be tricky you learn little tricks along the way doing a floor tomorrow in a bathroom i use spacers with small plastic wedges top stop tiles sinking nothing worse than a ridge, best of luck bud cheers kop
Thank kop.. I’m doing a 9 day intensive tiling course so at least I’ll have a better idea when my first tiling/bathroom refurb job in September comes around :)
 
remember tiling on ply is a nono now

is it an nvq jay?
 

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