Are intensive courses enough? - Tile Advice

[peterhouse]

i have just come off a 5 day course,no way am i readyto be let loose on paid jobs,yes it was a good course,tiled a straight wall with a small courner,spent half day tiling a floor,in a bay with a partner,did not do spash backs or tile round a sink/toilet,sti have a lot to experience really,people that come off these 5 day courses and say they are ready to be let loose reay amazes me,unless there course was really a lot better than mine,you never hear back frm peope who say they are going to work for friends or family.where they happy with job? what problems did they encounter etc. etc.

 

[grumpygrouter]

i have just come off a 5 day course,no way am i readyto be let loose on paid jobs,yes it was a good course,tiled a straight wall with a small courner,spent half day tiling a floor,in a bay with a partner,did not do spash backs or tile round a sink/toilet,sti have a lot to experience really,people that come off these 5 day courses and say they are ready to be let loose reay amazes me,unless there course was really a lot better than mine,you never hear back frm peope who say they are going to work for friends or family.where they happy with job? what problems did they encounter etc. etc.

Where did you do your course Peter, would you be good eneough to leave feedback in the Courses Feedback section?

 

[beanz]

Peter, you will make mistakes at first, it's a steep learning curve. But as for not having tiled a splashback, or around a toilet... It's a wall/floor with cuts that need to be made, The same as you would've done on your course (i'm assuming you cut around something?), but on a larger scale. It's the prep i was less prepared for, but i'm picking it up slowly.

The good thing about doing jobs for friends and family, is there are less time constraints. You can make your mistakes and correct them as you go. If they are getting their tiling done for free, they're more than happy.

 

[UKTT Darren]

All training courses are artificial so learning there can only give you the grounding to go out and put your skills to the test, some courses are good and some not so good, time duration of the course is irrelevant as its what you are taught when you are there, you could do a 6 week course but if the instruction is poor or not correct you will learn very little, after the first day on my course you are capeable of shaping a tile arround any problem perfectly whether it be a toilet, washbasin, shower base doesnt matter, once you know how to shape a tile thats all you need, on my website there is a picture of a playboy bunny cut out of tiles, the re cut back into a set of tiles under it, everyone is capeable of doing that after the first afternoon on the first day of my course, so a toilet, washbasin would be very simple after having those skills

not sure which course peterhouse done but it doesnt sound that good if you cant cut around an object correctly, tiling a straight flat wall with 20 rows of tiles is a pointless exercise as after the first couple of rows you are repeating yourself therefore learning nothing new on the other 18 rows, Make sure you choose a course that has a wide variety of contents not just repetive straight tiling

Darren

 

[david campbell]

after doing your course you should be able to accept smaller,less complicated jobs.
from there you should gradually build up the kind of work you undertake,by accepting only jobs you feel comfortable with and know you are capable of leaving a good finish,over time you will gain enough experience to take on nearly any job,making mistakes will not only cost you short term but long term by damaging your reputation,if you ever need help or feel you are struggling come onto the forum and ask! as there are many people who have years of experience and have been there with the situations and problems you are going to encounter over the next few years!:mad2:

good luck!

 

[UKTT Darren]

Dead right there mate
Learn as much as you can and take the jobs that you are comfortable with and build from there, your gonna make mistakes just make sure that you correct them and learn from them, then as said you can gradually take on more challenging stuff

 

[mr posh]

i did a 5 day course not so long back,ido not to mention who it was with nor am i going to come on here and dum them down,but we spent DAY1 setting out a wall,bit of time on nibbling,intro to tools
a tile,DAY2all day tiing the wallDAY3 grouting the wall,intro to epoxy grout,DAY4 demo on tanking,setting out floor DAY5 AM tiing the bay floor in pairs,few training videos,PM grouted floor.
measured up 4 walls on mock bathroom as a group 8 of us thats it.
no spashbacks,tiling around a rad pipe was shown on a boardwith marker pen,no boxed in tiling,when asked about tiling around a toilet/sink was tod to get a pumber to loosen them and slide some plasterboard underneath so to tile.I see your course darren teaches this, the only thing we cut round was a socket,and light switch, i did the research ,,not good enough i know,,,,,but then it could be im not cut out for tiling,,,,,,excuse pun

 

[Fekin]

I am considering a career change and thought that Tiling may be the way to go!

Depends on how well you can take in new info and transfer to your hands really, though you may want to choose a trade\vocation that you have more enthusiasm to get into than just thought it may be the way to go ?

 

[beanz]

when asked about tiling around a toilet/sink was tod to get a pumber to loosen them and slide some plasterboard underneath so to tile.I see your course darren teaches this, the only thing we cut round was a socket,and light switch, i did the research ,,not good enough i know,,,,,but then it could be im not cut out for tiling,,,,,,excuse pun

There's not much to it really, so don't be put off. Draw round one of your tiles (you can use A4 paper, lining paper, or whatever) cut out, so you have a paper tile, position your template where you want the tile to go (remember to account for your grout line), and using a pencil draw your cut, whilst pushing the paper around the obstacle. cut out your new shape, overlay on a tile, draw the cut out and cut away!

For me this is a last resort; i'd much rather move the toilet or sink to be honest.

 

[Fekin]

There has been many that have carved out a good living giving customers quality finished jobs after doing a 5 day course and some friends tiling, though a lot depends on the skill of the person doing it as to wether they can actually make it happen.

A 5 day course will give you the basics to do a basic tiling job "my experiance only" then somewhere like this forum can and will fill in a heck of a lot of "info" gaps that you leave the course with "amounts depending on course quality" of course, and then they do really need quite a few mates jobs to do to actually get that experiance in on your own, away from the enviroment of having an instructor a few feet away to ask.

 

[Tileus Maximus]

I thought the exact same as you mate. Can your really a lot in 4 weeks? But you'd be amazed at how much you do learn. I recently completed a 4 week course at the Tiler Training School in Edinburgh and found it to be extremely enjoyable. The practical and theory side's were both covered really well and the help I got after I finished was excellent.

P.S. If you do a course there though you will have to listen to Stu's terrible jokes. Ha ha.

Good luck mate. Hope you do well.

 

[UKTT Darren]

When visiting a course in your quest to find the right training, make sure you talk to the right person who can give you the answers you are looking for, not the salesman behind the desk, ask to speek to the trainers, ask them if all the background preparations are covered for every surface, is it backed up by pre typed up notes otherwise you will forget it, you want a good mix of practical and theory, if your gonna survive in this game you need to know what your talking about when you get out there, do your reasurch and ask as many people as you can who may have been to that training centre, after your training you should know how to run a business in tiling, know what to do on every background for prep, know how to shape tiles around anything, know how to confidently fix and grout tiles, then to finish it off, silicone perfectly, all questions to ask when your there

 

[bignose]

Please dont think that any one answer can apply to everyone we are all different. I split my time between tiling and a being driving instructor if someone asks me how many hours it will take to learn to drive the only truthful answer is everyone is different. I did Darrens course last summer and yes I felt able to do a paid job straight away but then Im not short on confidence. Does that help or am I just waffling ?

 

[Dan]

I'm just bumping some of the tiling course & tiling training related threads. Ignore them if they're not current threads for you. They will drop back off the list in a week or so, and I don't do this much.

 

[Dan]

Hello hello hello just bumping this old dear again.