Floated coat.

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Does anyone remember the floated coat method? This was usually used on Shaws twin tiles. Twin tiles as the name suggests were glazed tiles made back to back, so each tile required a sharp blow with a well aimed gauging trowel to split the two tiles.

The substrate concrete/ brick would be keyed using a scutch hammer to give a rough surface, this was before SBR primers etc. A scratch coat of sand and cement would be applied followed by a top coat, set by dots and screeds as TF Ed has explained many times on TF. this finished render was then marked out using a staff and levels. A grid could be formed using plumb and level lines onto the render.

Using this method you could have one tiler start in the top far right of a wall, and another tiler start at the bottom far left of the same wall, and every thing worked out spot on. The twin tiles had quite a deep key/ frog on the back, this was back skimmed with 1:1 sand and cement.

I had a phone call last week from my old mentor Tommy Milne mastercrafstman now 73yrs old, asking me if I remembered placing a time capsule in a scum channel at Oldham baths 35yrs ago, I told him I did the tiles were fixed using floated coat and are still rock solid. They are talking of demolishing the baths, I want to be there when they do, the time capsule had a record of the front page of the Daily Mirror plus the names of all the fixers on the job, Park Drive *** packet. Kit Kat wrapper sad maybe but It shows the old methods worked.

 

[Spud]

I hope they find it Phil it will be a walk down memory lane for you

 

[afright]

I remember them well, did my training with them pool and bin areas another one have not seen for years is Villeroy & Boch tiles

 

[Brian the Tile]

hi Phil i remember the twin tiles very well yes ,i also remember working on the oldham baths when i was an apprentice many years ago

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Wow brian was that when it was being built? or later on?

 

[Perry]

Phil we ain't as old as you and my memory's not as good as it was :8:

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Phil we ain't as old as you and my memory's not as good as it was :8:

Thanks for reminding me Pete.:lol:

 

[Perry]

saying that Phil sure we still have more go in us than half of these babies

 

[Brian the Tile]

not to sure Phil but i was in my teens definately, always sticks in my mind as everyone used to be spinning there gauging trowels round ,thought i would give it a go with my bosses trowel and just my luck it dropped to the floor and the handle snapped off,oh my god did i suffer over that trowel,i use to have to polish it and keep all trowels in oily cloths

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

not to sure Phil but i was in my teens definately, always sticks in my mind as everyone used to be spinning there gauging trowels round ,thought i would give it a go with my bosses trowel and just my luck it dropped to the floor and the handle snapped off,oh my god did i suffer over that trowel,i use to have to polish it and keep all trowels in oily cloths

Bloody hell Brian I was the chief trowel spinner, and pin hammer twirler over my middle finger ( miss spent apprenticeship) I remember going fo a job spinning my gauging trowel and twirling my pin hammer, I thought I had impressed the boss with my prowess so I asked him "have I got the job?" he replied " no you mess around to much".

But I would like to know who your boss was, maybe I know him. I will throw a few names at you and see if you remember any of them, foreman was Georgie Wood, pool gang was Tommy Milne, Ronnie Milne, Bobby Taylor, Phil Hobson. Perimeter and changing room gangs were Roger Eastwood, Don gratebanks, Kevin O'Hara, Bobby Heywood, Billy Duggan, Billy smith. Can't remember anymore, but you might recognise some of the names.

 

[charlie1]

Pin hammmer twirler???...I want to learn this!!!

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Pin hammmer twirler???...I want to learn this!!!

Mark I will try and find this on youtube, don't think I will but if not I will get my mate Ozboz to record it tomorrow.

 

[Spud]

such a shame they didnt have camera phones back then Phil It would be great to see pictures of your old gang

 

[Brian the Tile]

hi Phil, Billy Duggan is the one yes Lostock Tilecraft one nasty man a very good tiler indeed but a b.....ard to work for led me a dogs life he did,i dont remember any of the other names though

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

hi Phil, Billy Duggan is the one yes Lostock Tilecraft one nasty man a very good tiler indeed but a b.....ard to work for led me a dogs life he did,i dont remember any of the other names though

Nice one Brian, is Billy still around? I think it was him who used to wrap black bin bags round his belly, thought it would make him lose weight.:yikes::lol:

 

[Brian the Tile]

yea Phil thats him and no he died many years ago now he had two sons billy and michael ,michael died on a night out in bolton one night i think he was only about twenty two ,when bill y senior died young bill carried on with the buisness but i dont know whether they are still going or not ,like i say bill was a nasty man ,iworked for him on and off for a good few years,a slave driver he was and did me out of a lot of money i started with him when i left school at fifteen he told every body i was the best apprentice he had ever had ,but never told me that ,taught me a lot though i must give him that ,be he would work eight days a week until all hours and expected everybody to do the same i walked a few times but he used to come round to my house,sometimes with the binbags on and talk me into going back, and like an idiot i thought he would change ,but no just the same i cant raaly say i was sorry when he passed away he treated people that bad ,even his brother and his own mother,but thats a long time ago now

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

yea Phil thats him and no he died many years ago now he had two sons billy and michael ,michael died on a night out in bolton one night i think he was only about twenty two ,when bill y senior died young bill carried on with the buisness but i dont know whether they are still going or not ,like i say bill was a nasty man ,iworked for him on and off for a good few years,a slave driver he was and did me out of a lot of money i started with him when i left school at fifteen he told every body i was the best apprentice he had ever had ,but never told me that ,taught me a lot though i must give him that ,be he would work eight days a week until all hours and expected everybody to do the same i walked a few times but he used to come round to my house,sometimes with the binbags on and talk me into going back, and like an idiot i thought he would change ,but no just the same i cant raaly say i was sorry when he passed away he treated people that bad ,even his brother and his own mother,but thats a long time ago now

Cheers for that Brian, long time ago that, sounds like you came up the hard way like me. Apprentices were one up from pond scum back then. I served my time under some real tough characters and was treated the way Billy treated you.

I was told many times I would never make a tiler as long as I had a hole in my backside, yet years later I had the same guys saying to me " don't you feel proud, that you can take on any job anywhere in the world? When I started on my own at the age of 24 I built up quite a good business, I ended up employing a lot of the guys who had taught me. I found myself pulling their work and having them put it right, so things come full circle.

I guess it shows that if we had not been broken down and rebuilt, as they do in the military we would not be the people we are today. I'm sure Billy for all his faults made you what you are, a time served tiler, who can handle any job anywhere. Unfortunatley we are a dying breed, that is not taking anything away from the people who were not able to do an apprenticeship, but imo the skills are just being diluted as each year passes. Rant over.

 

[Brian the Tile]

yea Phil he was a hard man but taught me all i know really and i have to thank him for that,a lot of folk wouldnt know what thepin hammer was for i bet,that and the little tungsten tipped chisel and a scriber for the wall tiles,another thing he used to have me doing was making the jollies,the mitred edges he wouldnt buy them ,yours truly had to back edge them and then rub them down ha ha ,he used to say the easiest way wasnt always the best way,then when folk used to say to him why not buy a cement mixer instead of mixing by hand his reply was ,i have one that walks ,talks and brews up,ba...rd,got to laugh although it was very tough