Book Match Porcelain Veins in the Printed Sheets

[Old Mod]

......so a few weeks before Christmas @GaryTheTiler invited me to embark on a little project with him.
All I really new initially was that it was a job in Hampstead North London, Gary met me at the tube station and drove the rest of the way.
Wasn't far actually, about 500m haha but it is up a very steep hill, so I didn't feel like a fraud.
Sorry I digress! Hahahaha

So the job, approx 220m of Bookmatch Porcel-Thin over two corridors part of a stair well and around a lift shaft.
Not forgetting 7 flights of stairs and 13 landings and half landings, stringers, skirtings and a 3m high bulkhead! Simples!
After a couple more site visits we were starting to get a feel for what was to become a pretty technical project, but one which would be pretty dammed impressive if we pulled it off.

Book Match Porcelain Veins in the Printed Sheets​

Incidently, there's also another 3 lift surrounds plus a couple of walls in another 1200x600 regular 12mm porc to add to the above list.
The project was projected to start mid to late Feb, in actual fact it started mid March.

So as to get a feel for the job and what it might entail, between Christmas and New year I constructed a small 1/10th scale model of the ground floor stairwell and a couple of flights of stairs.
Anal? Perhaps!
But it instantly highlighted problems we would face.


It's late more tomorrow! ............

 

[Unused Account 1]

Thought so just checking ,they come mitred or you do it ,thanks for reply ,great work ,

 

[Old Mod]

Thought so just checking ,they come mitred or you do it ,thanks for reply ,great work ,

Come mitred! Hahaha my god I wish! Hahaha
No, all the external edges are cut edges so as to keep the Bookmatch flowing. So first they're brought back to near factory edges and then they're mitred using two grinders. One to under cut and the second to grind to the final mitred finish.
And thank you.

 

[Unused Account 1]

Thanks Marc ,
That is high praise indeed , I am lucky that I have got to work with such nice materials , Porcel-thin is so versatile that when fitted correctly it can be used on stairs ,walls floors and is easy to cut , handle and fit
When I started fitting it 5-6 years ago lots of tilers and retailers were not convinced as they could not get their heads around it as it was thin and light weight not realising the benefits of the material, now those same guys are kicking themselves as Porcel-thin is the leading brand of thin tiles in the country and is specified by all the large developers and top architects practices and was marked as one of the companies to watch this year by leading design experts ,
None of this happened by accident Ray has closely worked with the manufacturers to bring the latest designs and best quality products to the market place , we have done training days , work study groups and worked tirelessly developing the fixing techniques , trialling different trowels,adhesives , cutting tools sometimes til the early hours of the morning , there is a fantastic group of tilers on the porcel-thin recommended tilers page on the porcel-thin website and I am lucky to be amongst such a good group of guys fitting these tiles .

Awesome mate ,

Come mitred! Hahaha my god I wish! Hahaha
No, all the external edges are cut edges so as to keep the Bookmatch flowing. So first they're brought back to near factory edges and then they're mitred using two grinders. One to under cut and the second to grind to the final mitred finish.
And thank you.

Awesome work gary ,great experience marc

 

[Old Mod]

Yep certainly is one of the best!

 

[Unused Account 1]

No space for errors at all ,

 

[Old Mod]

No space for errors at all ,

No, none at all, painstaking slow at times.
Long way to go yet tho.

 

[Unused Account 1]

Patience ,keep it up ,nice work ,enjoy it

 

[One Day]

very very impressive tiling guys, TTA award awaits you lot next year.

Hmm. I'd wager not after gary's open letter. Certainly deserves one but i think it's plainly obvious now that the awards are rigged.

 

[hmtiling]

It's looking outstanding!! Can't wait to see it finished, but I bet not as much as you guys!

 

[MW Smith Ceramics]

Wow I'm absolutely blown away by the workmanship here.......this really is world class tiling guys!.......well & truly putting porcel thin on the map here!........I was looking forward to you posting your next porcel thin job Marc after viewing your last one but I didn't expect this!......inspirational tiling!!......

 

[Old Mod]

Thanks Mark, @MW Smith Ceramics
Very kind of u to say mate, appreciate it.

 

[WetSaw]

Wow I'm absolutely blown away by the workmanship here.......this really is world class tiling guys!.......well & truly putting porcel thin on the map here!........I was looking forward to you posting your next porcel thin job Marc after viewing your last one but I didn't expect this!......inspirational tiling!!......

... I thought the same, first porcelthin job in December and now this. That's some learning curve!!!

 

[Old Mod]

Cheers Paul, @pdc

 

[LM]

Meticulous planing.
"Plan your work and work to your plan"
Well done lads, what a picture!

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

Meticulous planing.
"Plan your work and work to your plan"
Well done lads, what a picture!

heres the man putting his back in

 

[LM]

heres the man putting his back in

View attachment 81078 View attachment 81079

I have to say Ray you's boys are quite a bunch!
From what I can see you's are definitely at the forefront of things, well done to all envolved and thanks for sharing this with us.
I'm sure all would agree that just by even looking at your work in action we're all learning small bits and pieces at the very least.
I for one have never worked with porcil thin so it's all a Marvell to me.

 

[Old Mod]

heres the man putting his back in

Haha there's me thinking you were working downstairs Ray, and all you were really doing was making my bum look big!

Uncle Ray paid a visit Friday and got stuck in helping out!
Which was very welcomed!

Cheers Ray

 

[Old Mod]

For anyone whose curious, as was @Protiler 68, this is how the mitred corners are formed.
U do need to work quite a few pieces ahead of yourself so that u know where each piece goes and that you can get it to match all the way thro.
And as in this case, u also have to consider, how it may impact the floor.

Starting with the whole piece cut each section to size and make good all the cut edges and then mitre them and make sure it all lines up.
This piece is eventually going to end up as the first full tile from the floor on the bottom fight side of the lift column.
These pieces have been prepped, all that remains is to fix the right hand piece to the column face and then cut the left piece to length to fit the reveal.



And this is it finished.

 

[Italy]

For anyone whose curious, as was @Protiler 68, this is how the mitred corners are formed.
U do need to work quite a few pieces ahead of yourself so that u know where each piece goes and that you can get it to match all the way thro.
And as in this case, u also have to consider, how it may impact the floor.

Starting with the whole piece cut each section to size and make good all the cut edges and then mitre them and make sure it all lines up.
This piece is eventually going to end up as the first full tile from the floor on the bottom fight side of the lift column.
These pieces have been prepped, all that remains is to fix the right hand piece to the column face and then cut the left piece to length to fit the reveal.

View attachment 81083

And this is it finished.

View attachment 81084

write on porcelain !!!

 

[Old Mod]

write on porcelain !!!

Is like a large jigsaw puzzle Antonio.
Only this one, you make up as you go!

 

[Italy]

Is like a large jigsaw puzzle Antonio.
Only this one, you make up as you go!

What do you use to write on porcelain?

 

[Old Mod]

This is very highly polished Antonio,
So a sharpie is easily removed.

 

[Italy]

This is very highly polished Antonio,
So a sharpie is easily removed.

perplexed.
but I believe in marc ahahah

 

[Old Mod]

perplexed.
but I believe in marc ahahah

 

[Old Mod]

So I thought it was time to update the progress with the bookmatch project in North London.
It's painfully slow at times, trying to match things in when you can't actually follow the intended flow, mainly due to tile, step and tread sizes are incompatible.
So a lot of the time I'm just winging it! Haha
So here's a selection of images of one of the main floors, staircases and landings.
A few more to go yet!
All at different stages of progress.

 

[J Sid]

stunning marc, will you be putting your name forward for another job like this?

 

[Andy Allen]

You must have the patience of a saint to do that job !!
I get fed up on a job after 3 days and want to move on ..lol

 

[Old Mod]

stunning marc, will you be putting your name forward for another job like this?

Of course! But I doubt anyone would pay my price! Haha
Thanks mate appreciate it!

You must have the patience of a saint to do that job !!
I get fed up on a job after 3 days and want to move on ..lol

Andrew, The patience required for completing this project, is nothing to the patience I have to Display on here everyday. Hehe
Was that a backhanded compliment Andy?

 

[Italy]

@Andy Allen @3_fall
Then marc. do discount. because job fast

 

[hmtiling]

hats off Marc!