Help with Stacking tiles

[Crocotile]

Hi! I'm a bit of a silent member here. I'm fairly new to tiling, I'm a laborer and my boss, who's a builder has taught me what he knows about tiling and I've learnt the rest myself. I've done around 5 bathrooms now on my own and they're to a reasonable standard. I'm pretty slow compared to most, sadly, but I guess speed will come with time. Anyway I've just tiled a bathroom for the first time Stacking the tiles rather than half bond/brick bond and I really struggled with lines opening up slightly which was so frustrating. It looked nice when finished and grouted but I wasn't best pleased with it. I have another bathroom coming up, twice the sizend, and again this one will be stacked. I was just wondering if anyone has any advice? People have told me to maybe try using 3mm spacers rather than 2mm and someone suggested I buy a laser level to help, especially when doing my battons. Id love to spend time with a professional tiler to see how they work etc as I can only learn so much about tiling from my boss who doesn't specialise in it. I appreciate any help and advice you guys can give me!

 

[Flintstone]

Hello, any pictures ?

 

[Crocotile]

I literally only have this and my camera is terrible. I'll try and take some of this job next time I'm there.

 

[Flintstone]

 

[Crocotile]

??

 

[WetSaw]

Hopefully those blobs on the wall are remnants from the old tiles..

 

[GoneGuy]

Was you shown to put dabs on back of a tile?
Also if your using poor quality tiles you would need to use a bigger spacer to compensate for
Irregular sized tiles.

 

[Dumbo]

If your lines are opening up your bottom row isn't straight .

 

[One Day]

Look like BCT tiles for a start.
If they are, I've been tiling 11+yrs now and I couldn't get them straight after 3 courses!
Chuck 'em away and fix Royal Mosa instead.

 

[One Day]

Prep is EVERYTHING. As above, if your first row isn't 100% level i.e. your batton dips and raises even 1/4mm your next rows will be all over.

 

[Crocotile]

Thanks for all the replies! It's great that I can get advice from professional tilers. I aim to be a top tiler myself one day.

I did originally start combing that wall and then my uncle/boss told me to start dabbing them as it's the only way to get all the corners to line up perfectly apparently. I believe dabbing is better when the wall is all over the place? It's rare that I get to tile onto plasterboard really. How come dabbing is frowned upon anyway? Also what does BCT stand for? I always try and spend time setting up my battons, even bought a 120cm stabilia level. I also try my best to get all of the first row perfect and yet I still have the odd line open up slightly.

Thanks for all the help and replies, if anyone has any advice to someone starting out and learning or tools that I should buy etc please do tell me!

 

[Dumbo]

You should have quality levels of all lengths . Once you have your battens set using wedges under the tiles will stop them opening . It allows for a less than perfect batten or for less than perfect setting of batten . I will leave to someone else about dot and Dab.

 

[Flintstone]

My advice is, if our serious about wanting to be a tiler, find a good Tiler who will take you on as an apprentice and go from there, learn properly, not off some builder who obviously doesn’t know what he’s on about.

 

[GoneGuy]

Bct stands for British ceramic tile, they are a tile manufacturer producing budget tiles which seem to have a variation on sizes in each pack

 

[Crocotile]

I thought BCT might stand for that. I've noticed with a lot of B&Q tiles that they're all different sizes and shapes half the time and it only takes 1mm difference to ruin your wall. I'll definitely be investing in more levels. A customer just gave me a really good bosch 120cm electric level which just needs batteries. Are laser levels worth the money?

In regards to working with a professional tiler, I'd love to but I'd have to try and do it of a weekend or whatever as I need a full time job and I'm not paid too badly at the moment. I have children and bills to pay so an apprenticeship wouldn't suit me financially but I really would love to. I try to watch tilers on YouTube to see if they do anything differently and see what their routines are etc.

I'm wondering if I should give clips a go, again I know a lot of people hate them! I've read recently that backer boards are better than ply and have tried to convince my boss to try them. I don't know the pros and cons to using them over ply though really.

 

[Dumbo]

Ply fails

 

[Flintstone]

Are you Tiling customers houses ?

 

[Crocotile]

Yes I'm tiling customer's houses. I started off tiling with my uncle/boss and then he left me for a day or two every now and again and then I started doing them from start to finish. I've done around 5+ bathrooms on my own now. As I said, the standard is alright but I want it to be as good as I see some jobs on here. I also have only worked with what I'd call 'common' tiles, the 600x300 etc and metros on splash-backs etc. I just want to improve and gain speed. My uncle says I'm too slow as I can take around 6 days to tile the whole bathroom and grout it sometimes and it's not quick enough. We normally only price to do a bathroom for around 9-10 days.

 

[Qwerty]

May I recommend that you attend a tiling course or work with a reputable tiler for a year or so before progressing further with being a tiler. You have mentioned alot of bad working practices and only use clip when you can tile.

 

[Crocotile]

I would love to work with a reputable tiler but it's not possible as I work full time and need the money, I don't think a tiler would match my wages and also I get to do other jobs in the firm and have the opportunity to learn different trades etc although I enjoy tiling the most. Why do you say not to use clips until you can tile?

I wouldn't say my work is amazing but it's not bad. As I've said I've tiled around 5 bathrooms from start to finish alone and the customers and my boss are always really happy with my work. I just want to improve and become quicker. I'll try and find the jobs from our page that I've tiled.

 

[Crocotile]

These are just a few pictures of my work over the last few months just to try and give you an idea where I'm at. I want to get faster as I'll be on better money when I can do it quicker but mainly I want to improve the quality of work and speed should come with time. Just to say I didn't do the shower area floor with the mosaics, my uncle chose to do them as I'm not experienced enough really and didn't feel confident but I did tile all the walls etc.

 

[Flintstone]

You can post all the photos you like, your tiling customers houses, without really knowing what you are doing.

 

[Crocotile]

I'm not being rude or arrogant. I'm not even trying to claim I'm a good tiler. I just want help and advice. I get that I should try and work for a tiler, which I'd love to, but it's not possible at the moment. The pictures where just so that people can have an idea where I'm upto. I thought I'd get help on here not a rude response. I want to know where I'm going wrong and what I can do to improve. As I said my uncle can only teach me son much and figured that I'd get help from people on here.

 

[Italy]

from the boys, we do not exaggerate.
here we have seen many works done by tilers
much worse than these photos.
the guy just asked where he can improve ..
if its bases are wrong, it's not his fault.
but it is the fault of his uncle, which moreover tells him to be faster.
and that's the biggest mistake.

 

[Crocotile]

Thanks for understanding. I didn't even realise that dabbing tiles on was bad until I made this thread. I only have my uncles word to go off and my own research. He wants me to be quicker because it takes me twice the time it takes a subbie he used to use who had 20 years experience. I've asked a few times to start using backer board on the floors and he says he will look into it but it's more expensive. Quite often I have to tile on walls that aren't great and I was told dabbing the tiles is the only way to get over walls like that.

 

[J K Tiling Cornwall]

Hi those are British Ceramic fossilized wood effect tiles and as others have stated not the best to work with (slight variations in size and squareness) have done about 4 bathrooms in those but 3 were in brick bond making it easier to loose any variations. You should try to get a 6ft (1,800mm) level and small wedges to get the first course as level as possible and keep checking as you go. With those tiles you might have to offer them up as you go to check the grout joint and swap/turn around until ok as they can vary so much. Also never dot and dab, get a good slow set powdered adhesive with a good bed depth that should get you over most walls and give you time to get things right.

Don't worry about speed that comes with experience, focus on the finish and doing things right.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

doing a good job faster will only come from experience, read as many threads on here as you can, search for ways to do things correctly and ask questions when you're unsure. Good luck.

 

[Italy]

doing a good job faster will only come from experience, read as many threads on here as you can, search for ways to do things correctly and ask questions when you're unsure. Good luck.

same. I wanted to write that too, but Google translate prevented me.

 

[Crocotile]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll definitely be investing in new different sized levels soon. Thanks for everyones feedback and I'll continue to ask questions on here, probably too many!

 

[Crocotile]

I've took your advice guys and startEd combing, just struggling with getting a thick enough bed but I'll get there with practise. I've had to add the odd dab to bring a corner out but that's it. Apologies for the blury picture, only front camera works.