We have just started to stock a new type of tile spacer at 365Drills to see....

[Deleted member 1779]

We have just started to stock a new type of tile spacer at 365Drills to see.... if its of any use to tilers.

The guy who invented them is from Suretile and is trying to get them to market. I said I would put them up on my website 365Drills to see if there is any commercial interest.

[SIZE=+3]Tile Spacer in more detail

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[TD] The big problem with traditional tile spacers is digging them out AFTER the tiles are laid and ahead of grouting.
What often happens is they are so small and weedy that one or two get left behind because an installer missed seeing them so they show up in the grout lines.
If they do get spotted perhaps last minute during grouting it wastes time as grouting is stopped to dig them out.
Because they are so small and weedy if a tile sticks out during laying spacers can disappear completely behind a tile. So in general they're fiddly, slow and awkward to use and weak when used with Large Format Porcelain Tiles.
In contrast the easy to use Uniplug range is brightly coloured, sturdy, robust and reusable for many years. Did you know you only need 20 Uniplug spacers to lay 25 wall tiles but we supply 50 to allow you to finish an entire project. Uniplugs are for professional tilers but also appeal to installers including chubby fingered builders! plumbers, DIYers as well other Handymen. Grab a pack of these very strong tile spacers and make light work of your tiling today.. User tip: The width of these spacers also allow you to align tiles round corners!! [/TD]
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£9.99 includes VAT
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[Tony73]

Hi, i think to use them spacers, all tiles should be prfect in size (very rarely). i never stick any spasers as in pics above 🙂.

 

[Alan.P]

Mmmmmm, not sure I would use them, for a few reasons, viewing tiles line up properly ( sizey tiles ) I never normally take spacers out, I'm of the mind that it takes longer, more of my time than the price of the spacers, and I don't like the colour lol. It would be nice to get some feedback on them though, never say never and all that.

 

[Tony73]

and you would need much bigger tool box :lol:. But agree (never say never)

 

[Bubblecraft]

I'm with Tony. I never set them in with the tiles. Always have them sticking out. Makes it easy for removal & as Tony said, with tiles that are different sizes, it's easy enough to pack the difference with other spacers.
The other issue I'd have is cost. How much would 5000 of them cost & how much extra space would that take.
Seems a good idea but just not for me.

(After calculation - 5000 would skin me £1000 for one size of spacer - Yikes!)

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[Tony73]

Rubi Tile Wedges 5mm (500pc)#

now who ever invented that, is a good man. i use them when tile size are different

 

[Mike Mike]

I saw these a while back and they seem like a good idea. I think the inventor is unrealistic trying to sell them in packs of 20 for £9.99 a pack. Definitely aiming at the DIY market, but with a crazy price. I just calculated that the bathroom I tiled today with 400 x 200 tiles would have required 150 of these. That's £75! Although I would be interested to try them, I cannot see what possible reason there would be to justify spending 15 times more than conventional spacers. (Oh, and if I recall, the inventor believes that the fact these are "reusable" is a unique selling point. It isn't. Normal spacers are resuable as well, if applied correctly, and removed before the adhesive sets).

p.s. But if you ever stock the Mitre Wizz then I'll DEFINITELY buy one of those. And so will Tony73. He's extremely excited about the Mitre Wizz!

 

[Olz]

I always stick spacers leg in and pull them out when the addys set. Either
Drop them on the floor as I remove or onto the work top etc and sweep em all into a pile and put back in bag.


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[Deleted member 1779]

Its funny because the jurys out with me too (As a supplier should I be trying a bit harder to flog these???) Nahhh bottom line is its up to you.

For £9.99 you get 50 of them. Its £8.30 + VAT or 20p each and of course they can be reused. I think the inventor was saying they stick out a mile so that you pull them out and you dont need that many to put up a wall.

But all I said to him was that I would pop them on the site and let the professionals (Err thats you lot!!) have access to them - and also comments.

I dont know which his market is for either. If its DIY its a big reusable item. If its Pro then he is not going to make much money at under a tenner because you only going to buy one pack.

What I might do is pop a sample into each sale of our diamond core drills so the customers get to see. But yes I really cant get excited about the commercial oppertuntity and also I am not totally convinced of the market.

But: Will let you guys decide...... At least its available if anyone does think it worth a punt !!

 

[Tony73]

I saw these a while back and they seem like a good idea. I think the inventor is unrealistic trying to sell them in packs of 20 for £9.99 a pack. Definitely aiming at the DIY market, but with a crazy price. I just calculated that the bathroom I tiled today with 400 x 200 tiles would have required 150 of these. That's £75! Although I would be interested to try them, I cannot see what possible reason there would be to justify spending 15 times more than conventional spacers. (Oh, and if I recall, the inventor believes that the fact these are "reusable" is a unique selling point. It isn't. Normal spacers are resuable as well, if applied correctly, and removed before the adhesive sets).

p.s. But if you ever stock the Mitre Wizz then I'll DEFINITELY buy one of those. And so will Tony73. He's extremely excited about the Mitre Wizz!

:lol:
:lol::lol:
Thanks Mike for reminding me about MITRE WIZZ. i'll buy a poster of mitre wizz and stick it on my wall in bedroom

 

[Tony73]

oh yehhh instead of LOL, suposed to be :incazzato:

 

[Mike Mike]

Its funny because the jurys out with me too (As a supplier should I be trying a bit harder to flog these???) Nahhh bottom line is its up to you.

For £9.99 you get 50 of them. Its £8.30 + VAT or 20p each and of course they can be reused. I think the inventor was saying they stick out a mile so that you pull them out and you dont need that many to put up a wall.

But all I said to him was that I would pop them on the site and let the professionals (Err thats you lot!!) have access to them - and also comments.

I dont know which his market is for either. If its DIY its a big reusable item. If its Pro then he is not going to make much money at under a tenner because you only going to buy one pack.

What I might do is pop a sample into each sale of our diamond core drills so the customers get to see. But yes I really cant get excited about the commercial oppertuntity and also I am not totally convinced of the market.

But: Will let you guys decide...... At least its available if anyone does think it worth a punt !!

"WHAT YOU TALKIN' 'BOUT WILLIS!"

As already mentioned, the 3 bathroom walls I tiled today would have required 150 of these. I didn't pluck that number out of the air. I actually sat down and drew the tiled walls on an Excel spreadsheet and stuck a little circle in each corner of 4 tiles to count as ONE of these tile spacers. 50 PER WALL! I don't many professional tilers who only tile one wall a day, do you?

I would buy 150 for a tenner, maybe. But not 50. 50 is a DIY qty, and a tenner is over-priced, end of.

p.s. Any update on the availability of the Mitre Wizz yet??

 

[Deleted member 1779]

I did think 50 seemed a bit low but the inventor recons that 25 is all you really need. So I doubled it to 50 to be on the safe side. Looks like I better be getting back to him with your comments to show him that a real trade pack is needed. Maybe is should be 200 pieces ? to be honest 200 wouldnt take up a huge footprint.

I will pass the comments on. All useful.

 

[Mike Mike]

I did think 50 seemed a bit low but the inventor recons that 25 is all you really need. So I doubled it to 50 to be on the safe side. Looks like I better be getting back to him with your comments to show him that a real trade pack is needed. Maybe is should be 200 pieces ? to be honest 200 wouldnt take up a huge footprint.

I will pass the comments on. All useful.

Thanks Richard. I tend to remember useless facts, and if my memory's right, then inventor is a surveyor?? And he had a bad tiling job done and invented these thinking they would solve all the world's ills, am I right?

A trade pack of 250 would be good, for a tenner, but as I've never seen them in real life I have no idea how big that would be. Bucket? Dusbtin? Luton van? :lol:

p.s. Seriously now, when are you going to be stocking the Mitre Wizz??

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Not come across the Mitre Wizz yet... I think the general benefit is that these spacers are supposed to be chunky enough so that they dont get lost during tiling.

The main sellin point being that standard spacers can either slip down the back of tiles if they tile had to be packed out, or left in situ by mistake and grouted over.

Also the point about solving having to fiddle about trying to prise them out of their slots because they are not proud of the tile rather they are flush or recessed.

Easy for fat fingers to yank out. Those things seem to make a bit of sense to me (But hey waddo I know) !!


I will chat to him about the price. What footprint would 250 take up? Probably about the size of a shoebox.

Maybe a price of £19.99 for the set would bring the cost down to 8p and be sensible ??

Not my product so cant say anything about pricing but I will speak to the guy and see if he can put a bundle together so that it makes ££ sense !

I think you are right - he is a surveyor. But cant be sure.

 

[trevortine]

I personally wouldnt use these, I like to see the joints and as previously mentioned there is the problem with unrectified tiles. I have always used rubi spacers and never leave them in, they are placed straight on and a wedge used with them if neccesary. Sorry to be negative about a new product but I dont think its something for a proffesional.

 

[Olz]

I are where he is coming from by saying they are easy to pull out, but there are surely to basic options. One spacer where four corners meet, laid flat and left it and grouted over, or four spacers where corners meet leg in only and removed before grouting. He can't seriously believe that people put spacers in flat and then try and dig them out before grouting surely.


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[Mike Mike]

Not come across the Mitre Wizz yet... I think the general benefit is that these spacers are supposed to be chunky enough so that they dont get lost during tiling.

The main sellin point being that standard spacers can either slip down the back of tiles if they tile had to be packed out, or left in situ by mistake and grouted over.

Also the point about solving having to fiddle about trying to prise them out of their slots because they are not proud of the tile rather they are flush or recessed.

Easy for fat fingers to yank out. Those things seem to make a bit of sense to me (But hey waddo I know) !!

I will chat to him about the price. What footprint would 250 take up? Probably about the size of a shoebox.

Maybe a price of £19.99 for the set would bring the cost down to 8p and be sensible ??

I would buy 250 of the 2mm ones for £19.99 to try them (I am a tool and gadget addict).

 

[Andy Tiler]

I've had some samples of these and there rubbish imho to big and clumsy it's the same guy who sells the tile tracker that's not much use either..


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[Deleted member 1779]

Maybe I need to talk to this guy to get him to send a few samples out. I did say we could post out like one or two with each bathroom fitters kit to see how they play out.

I have to agree I dont think much of the tile tracker and can spot the immediate problem that the fixed length of the aluminum bar is a big restriction to using it.
But the inventor is passionate about his product so I did sort of wind my neck in a bit and let market forces decide.

Its like a lot of this stuff sometimes people do like the products and buy them. But I am still "Jury out" on the tile tracker.
And as for the spacers I did like the idea of them being big fat chunky chips but then I am not a tiler so I cant say whats good and whats not.

But Andy at least as you say you HAVE HAD SAMPLES and based on that - dont rate them. Fair enough. At least you didnt part with cash.

I will give it 6 months and if the products get panned then I think we will withdraw but it did seem worth trying them. Like I said - What do I know !!

 

[Peter]

Very expensive and would probably mean you would lose your lines on sizey tiles as you cannot see the joints properly. As for reusable, after two uses they'd be ready for the bin unless you want to spend an afternoon picking all the hard adhesive off them. All his products seem useless with no place on the market for professionals, including the overpriced batton. Although the spacers do look like the sort of thing someone in Homebase would buy, along with a plastic v notched trowel.

 

[tommyzooom]

I'm open minded about them. I use the spacers"leg in" and remove them, thus using two per tile( with the occasional one in the verticals) If using these,yes they are bulky, but you would only need 1 per tile. However I may as well use 20p pieces in the joints (also 2mm and infinitly reusable), way overpriced,even for a diy er

 

[Deleted member 1779]

I did wonder how easy / hard it would be to clean up after each use.

Not sure if the material is repelent to adhesive (its probably just HIPS plastic) but I will check with him to see if the product contains any anti-adhesive properties.

If not maybe its something he could develop.

Noted - the pricing comment. Again I am going to see if he will put a 250 pack together for a sensible price. But it seems even if the price was agressive the product has limited appeal to many based on the comments posted so far.

 

[Olz]

I wouldn't spend any of your own hard earned cash on selling these Richard, you also have a great reputation and know the trade. Products like his are made by someone who doesn't actually have a clue about the practicalities of the job hence why they seem a good idea to him but pro's think there pointless.

Much like that adhesive machine that took the sausage like cartridges!


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[Colour Republic]

I'm trying to get my head round what it says on packaging. "Enough to lay 25 wall tiles or 27 floor tiles" . Am I just being thick, what is the difference?????

 

[Andy Allen]

its obvious rob, on the floor you dont use them under the fridge, saving 2 spacers...........:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Brinkley]

worth a go but the price is a bit steep

 

[YAMYAM]

Did a small 6m Kitchen for someone and they put a pack of these bullet things on the worktop .......... seemed a bit strange to use for brick effect. They went straight under the plinth never to be seen again !!! carry on lol

 

[Colour Republic]

its obvious rob, on the floor you dont use them under the fridge, saving 2 spacers...........:smilewinkgrin:

ahhhh of course!!! sorry school boy error 🙁

 

[Deleted member 1779]

I did wonder what the difference was myself but being a non-tiler I assumed you lot would all understand what the difference was. Obviously this is something only the inventor is privy too and in my basket of questions to him I will add this one too!

My gut feeling is these people are probably great at engineering and production but not so hot on marketing and product messages.

Not really sure how useful it is to know that a pack of 20 spacers is enough to lay 25 wall tiles or 27 floor tiles.

Based on what assumptions? 800mm x 400mm ? or 600mm x 300mm or what about mosaic tiles?
Its a bit of a blank statement. I think the inventor was worred that buying 20 spacers seemed a bit mean because the standard ones come in boxes of hundreds.
So its his way of explaining there is enough in the pack.

But my view is it makes things more complicated to understand.

Probably better to have a pack of 250 and say this is enough for an entire bathroom project.

I hate marketing statements that raise more questions than it answers.

 

[Muse2k8]

So with one pack I can do 25 tiles... Now this 1m square of 10x10 tiles will take 4 times as long to do?