hi here goes...
in 1985 i started to work for my dad who was a terrazzo and mosaic specialist who trained with italians for 7 yrs..for 2 years i laboured on him, grouting, doing his cuts, mixing etc. my uncle (his partner) was a plasterer so because my dad gave me such a hard time i decided to do plastering lol..i learned how to render, floor screed, tank and prepare all work ready for tiling BUT tiling inc tiling in sand and cement but it wasnt really what i wanted at that time. i did things back to front, i learned the hard things 1st, the things that some tilers cant seem to do now..i was preparing sandstone, slate, granite and marble but not actually fixing??
we worked for merseyside improved houses, the rac, restaurants, the town hall, wcd law, the liverpool teaching hospital, infact all over liverpool and merseyside.
in 1994, my mum got cancer and my dad had a heart attack and i was finished up there and then on the friday. on the following monday i set up on my own and paid to do a b-tech in construction at riversdale college for 2 years which really opened my eyes with reagrds to thermal values, structural work, floor plans, building law. it gave me a technical approach aswell as a hands on role. during that time my new business concentrated on plastering, small domestic tiling, bathroom conversions and drive ways..i learned how to do all the ground work, drainage and more importantly laying patios and driveways in paviours, granite, slate etc because 3 of the guys on my college course worked for the council as stone masons and they taught me loads ...i passed my btech and got student of the year which really pleased my mum just before she died..i continued for 2 more years until in 1998 i got offered a job in management. i took it because i think i was mentally worn out. running a business at 24, going to college at night and losing my mum caught up with me a bit...
anyway, in 2004 i left the job with alot of management and marketing skills and set up a business so my dad could take it easy..we were doing what he loved tiling..he then fell ill and he had cancer, then developed alzheimers..i started to work with lots of tilers throught the northwest and i did a couple of courses to catch up on all the new changes and materials. i needed some advanced setting out training and bespoke tiling to finish my trade if you like.( told you i did the hard stuff 1st :20: and i also needed to cover ufh and a bit of plumbing too ....i have covered a hell of a lot of ground in the last 20 odd years and i wouldnt have it any other way..i set up aston tiling 2 years ago when my dad went into a home and its gone from strength to strength..i have enrolled to do my nvq 2 to satisfy the governmet criteria???? but the college put me staright in for level 3 due to my background, so i should have that done in summer/autumn. i am always ready to learn more and more because i love the feeling of progression...i know what level i am at now and thats all that important to me because i set my own standards alot higher than anybody else would expect of me and i mean that in a
humble way . i wouldnt let nothing phase me anymore..ive learned the hard way and at times i felt like giving up but something kept me going and i got there....in the words of supertramp...i took the long way home.
tilersforums is an amazing place because you can come home and keep in contact with some of the nicest and most knowledgable people you could care to cyber meet lol....you contantly get to keep up with any new technical changes and although theres not much i couldnt take on now, i always am open and honest to at least learn new angles...
i love this trade and i am proud to be a professional tiler 1st and foremost!
ed - aston tiling