Floor Tiling

[Woody123]

Hello all
What size trowell would everyone recommened to be used on a concrete floor that is fairly level and the tiles i will be laying will be 30 x 45......
I am doing a job this weekend finishing off someone elses job so i m obviously going to have to use the same trowell as he/she did but just wanted to know what you guys would use if you were starting from scartch? I would probably use a 10mm notched trowell and also back butter tiles to ensure full coverage but not sure if that's right or not? P.S it is brickbond effect that i am laying if this makes any difference.........

[grumpygrouter]

Thick bed /Solid bed trowel woody. You might get away with a 10mm notch. Try it first, lift a tile and check your coverage. If it is ok with a 10mm, fire on.

[Woody123]

Cheers grumps will try that.
Out of intrest would you have used a biggner notched trowell?

[grumpygrouter]

I would have used my thick bed/solid bed trowel - 20mm half round notch, but it is the coverage that is important not the notch size. If you can use a smaller notch and get full coverage, then great as it will use less adhesive and should, therefore be a bit cheaper for your customer.

[Oli]

Solid bed for me too, this one infact



From tradetiler http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/stainless-u-220.jpg

Ive found it to be excellent, comfy to use and very sturdy.

[grumpygrouter]

That's the very chap Oli, mines a bit dirtier than that now though, thanks to fastflex...

[Oli]

The markings went a long time ago due to scrubbing clean with a wire brush, its a bit scuffed here and there, but it still spreads as good as the day it was born.

[Woody123]

Oli with that trowell would you back butter the tiles also?

[grumpygrouter]

Oli with that trowell would you back butter the tiles also?

This comes back to the "coverage check" woody. Some tiles you need to, some you don't. Don't back butter if you don't have to, it adds loads of time to the job and makes it more messy.

[Oli]

Depends on the tile mate really, lift a tile every now and again to check coverage. When back skimming is needed i just spin in round and use the flat side no problem infact ive used it to back skim slate today

[Dave]

Back skimming and back buttering is 2 different methods imo......one is a light skim and scrape off as you go to fill voids /tile back profile.....the other is buttering the back up to get a solid fix...ie with uneven slate etc....

[doug boardley]

if floor is nice and flat woody, you should be ok, assuming tile backs are flat too

[Woody123]

Ok that's cleared that up fella's! Cheers for the advice everyone......

[cp3147]

i bought a cheapo 10mm round notch trowel and within two jobs the notches wore away lmao ended up like 5mm notch. As the sayin goes ..buy cheap buy twice