Using the correct trowel - Tile Advice

[Matty A]

Hi everyone im new to the tiling game, i put myself through a short 4 day course as ive been wanting to change my career for ages now, at the time of the course i thought it was a brilliant course BUT as im now finding out all the different things involved in tiling i realise the course teaches you very little.
Dont get me wrong the things it did teach me were good but im even confused as to which trowels are used for what as there are a few different ones or can you use the square notched for all walls (wet or dry)
and the same thick bed solid bed trowel for floors (wet or dry)?
And what is the Solid bed tipped trowel used for ?
Any feed back would be greatly appretiated cheers.

 

[Dan]

Hi everyone im new to the tiling game, i put myself through a short 4 day course as ive been wanting to change my career for ages now, at the time of the course i thought it was a brilliant course BUT as im now finding out all the different things involved in tiling i realise the course teaches you very little.

Which course did you do, if you don't mind me asking?

Don't get me wrong the things it did teach me were good but im even confused as to which trowels are used for what as there are a few different ones or can you use the square notched for all walls (wet or dry)

Don't know what you mean as in wet or dry, do you mean adhesive types? (Powder and Bucket or Cement Based and Dispersion which is their more formal description.

The Square notched trowels are really for getting less than 100% coverage therefor are not really brilliant to work on floors as they don't give the full coverage that's required to ensure a tile stays put on the floor 100% of the time. A thick-bed round notched trowel was designed to ensure 100% coverage and now the same shape with extra cut-outs in them to increase spread-ability of adhesive to ensure a faster fix. Then there's a smaller notched trowel called a thin-bed solid bed for 100% coverage on thinner bed of adhesives such as walls. Although on walls the coverage is around 60% - 80% for dry areas and 80% - 100% for wet.

and the same thick bed solid bed trowel for floors (wet or dry)?

Use cement based adhesive on floors (dry?)[/quote]

And what is the Solid bed tipped trowel used for ?

It's a special trowel to ensure 100% coverage on floors using the stiffer fastflex adhesive designed BAL and manufactured by Norcros/Bal/Johnsons/Ardex/whatever they are now.
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated cheers.

Hope this helps a bit, i'd call the training centre though to get more information, it's not very good training if they haven't informed you of the correct trowels to use.

 

[Smiths]

Hi everyone im new to the tiling game, i put myself through a short 4 day course as ive been wanting to change my career for ages now, at the time of the course i thought it was a brilliant course BUT as im now finding out all the different things involved in tiling i realise the course teaches you very little.
Dont get me wrong the things it did teach me were good but im even confused as to which trowels are used for what as there are a few different ones or can you use the square notched for all walls (wet or dry)
and the same thick bed solid bed trowel for floors (wet or dry)?
And what is the Solid bed tipped trowel used for ?
Any feed back would be greatly appretiated cheers.

Wet areas-walls require a thin-bed solid-bed trowel(small u-notched trowel) and all floors, according to B.S., require a thick-bed solid-bed trowel(large u-notched trowel).
You can get around using a thin-bed solid-bed trowel in wet areas by spreading the adhesive with the flat side of the notched trowel first and then spreading as normal.
I never use a solid-bed for floors.

 

[Matty A]

thanks for your replies i went to a local training school called northern school of plastering.
Like i say i learnt a lot to say i never layed tile before and i suppose you can only learn so much in 4 days i just wished they could have given me some notes or something, any way no use dwelling on the past can any of you recomend any good,informative books, web sites as i want to learn as much as i can because i dont want to go to my customers and not be able to answer thier questions and appear un profesional or come across as a cowboy.
once again cheers for your replies

 

[Dan]

Any time - d

 

[Matty A]

When tiling around a bath area with stand in shower is best to waterproof it with a tanking system like BAL WP1 or is it ok to rely on the adh' and grout alone?
I apologise if this sounds like adumb question but i have to be sure cos i recomended it to my last customer but he wouldn't pay the money for it doing.

 

[Smiths]

When tiling around a bath area with stand in shower is best to waterproof it with a tanking system like BAL WP1 or is it ok to rely on the adh' and grout alone?
I apologise if this sounds like adumb question but i have to be sure cos i recomended it to my last customer but he wouldn't pay the money for it doing.

Ofcourse it would be better to use WP1 on the walls first, but as you found out, most customers don't want to pay for it. I've never had a problem with adhesive and grout alone.

 

[Matty A]

cheers smiths that puts my mind at rest

 

[clyde6]

hi, what you need for a 2 x 2 tile is a 1/4" trowel. For a tile which would be 8" x 8" would be a 3/8" trowel. If you want a 12 " x 12" tile you need a 1/2" trowel.
Bigger tiles (stone tiles) need moon shaped trowels. I hope this will help you in your search for trowels.

 

[clyde6]

The only reason you need to waterproof a stand up shower is if it is a steam unit. Otherwise tile, grout and cement board are sufficient. You can also float the walls with cement. I have never had any problems with a standard shower in the past.