Bathroom remodelling.... - Tile Advice

[charlie1]

...from tear out to trim out.

By John P Bridge.

has anyone read this?

Having worked for various bathroom kitchen companies throughout the years, the latest really taking the biscuit for charging premium rates for what is essentially faulty goods, I've decided to get my finger out and be more proactive in doing the whole kit and kadoodle, by the end of this year I want to have done at least one whole bathroom replacement. Having read various reviews about this book, I decided to buy (22 quid) and at first glance it seems extremely informative and detailed.

Can anyone recommend any other good ebooks on bathroom remodelling...?

 

[White Room]

I heard theres a paragraph in the book from my understanding that he thinks dot and dabbing wall tiles is acceptable.....

 

[charlie1]

I heard theres a paragraph in the book from my understanding that he thinks dot and dabbing wall tiles is acceptable.....

im not sure of the fixing standards in the USA but I have no reason to believe the guy is nothing short of a craftsman. I think you need to realise throughout the whole book that its governed differently as its from a different continent.

 

[AMtek]

Hope you don't take this personally charlie1 but what would you say if someone came on the forum and said they were going to buy a book then set themselves up as a tiler? bathroom plumbing in general isn't the most demanding of plumbing jobs but it only takes one mistake to bring someones ceiling down and ruin their kitchen. very expensive! Have you got a plumber that you normally use? can you not tag along with someone?

 

[DHTiling]

John bridge is a nice bloke , I am a member of his tiling forum but has been a while since i paid a visit.

 

[charlie1]

Take your point but in no way would I consider myself a plumber, incidentally, I have done a short course in plumbing years ago and done a few basin, toilet replacements, also done my own bathroom but took me ages. Have also worked in various teams over the years and just naturally picked stuff up over the years but yes, it's a big step actually confidently advertising and providing a service. T answer your question though, if someone wanted to read a book about tiling then go out and start charging for it then I would think good luck... A long as they where charging accordingly but again that's none of my business I suppose.

 

[charlie1]

John bridge is a nice bloke , I am a member of his tiling forum but has been a while since i paid a visit.

Ya, I like the forum, I have read a bit about the mud men, that aspect of tiling is fascinating. Over here we have plasterboard men, there they have mud men lol

 

[gamma38]

I say good on you Charlie, these days you have to be pro active to keep going forward. There is nothing wrong with making your slice of the pie a bit bigger as long as it isn't at the cost of quality.

 

[charlie1]

I say good on you Charlie, these days you have to be pro active to keep going forward. There is nothing wrong with making your slice of the pie a bit bigger as long as it isn't at the cost of quality.

Cheers gamma, going from experience, and I don't wish to sound arrogant, I'd be aiming for quality to be substantially better than what I've seen on some of the installations.

Id never want to get to a stage though where I was off the tools as I simply could not trust the work to be getting done right and it would mean I was in it just for the money, I like to create beautiful things not money ( that's my problem some of the time)

 

[DHTiling]

Ya, I like the forum, I have read a bit about the mud men, that aspect of tiling is fascinating. Over here we have plasterboard men, there they have mud men lol

It is a very interesting read but do you not find some of them are stuck like 30 yrs back in methods.. :lol:

 

[charlie1]

Well I've not been in the trade that long but know what you mean, the mud men argue that they can install tile quicker in comparison to modern methods, I'd have that mud everywhere, I really would be a mud man if I tried it. Screed rules, then floating the wall = perfect results though.

 

[DHTiling]

Tell them you stick porcleain and ditra down with flexible adhesive or modified thinset as they call it... all hell will come down on you :lol: ..

 

[AMtek]

Take your point but in no way would I consider myself a plumber, incidentally, I have done a short course in plumbing years ago and done a few basin, toilet replacements, also done my own bathroom but took me ages. Have also worked in various teams over the years and just naturally picked stuff up over the years but yes, it's a big step actually confidently advertising and providing a service. T answer your question though, if someone wanted to read a book about tiling then go out and start charging for it then I would think good luck... A long as they where charging accordingly but again that's none of my business I suppose.

I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea to do full installs, i think a lot of tilers lose business to comps that can do the whole job start to finish but it can be more cost effective to sub out parts of the job then you can make a few quid from those parts of the job while you're tiling another job and the jobs get done quicker, you've given someone else work and they will sub you out on jobs as well. Thats how i work with a lot of what i do, especially kitchens and it works well for me but i think it depends on what your happiest doing

 

[charlie1]

I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea to do full installs, i think a lot of tilers lose business to comps that can do the whole job start to finish but it can be more cost effective to sub out parts of the job then you can make a few quid from those parts of the job while you're tiling another job and the jobs get done quicker, you've given someone else work and they will sub you out on jobs as well. Thats how i work with a lot of what i do, especially kitchens and it works well for me but i think it depends on what your happiest doing

all points taken and appreciated. I tell you what I'm not happy doing, making someone's incompetence in prep work look good in the final finish.... I just keep telling myself, "it's a challenge" when in reality, it's not that difficult to get the prep work to a good standard and from a good standard of prep I find the tiling very theraputic. I would also like to get involve with the full install from a design point of view as I have a bit of a creative streak. Suppose Having good joinery skills as well, it makes sense to me to be more diverse. Having said all that, there is a part of me that does just want to excel in tiling and move in to more specialised areas.