setting out

[mozzy]

apprentice here,

i was wondering if someone could explain why it is neccesary, when setting out your daytum line around a room, to find your highest point of the floor???? or is it the lowest point??? what is the purpose of this? its something that i just don't understand hope you lads understand what i mean, cheers james

[david campbell]

if you find the highest point on the floor then that would be where you would work out where your finsihed floor height would be! basically you would make up the difference on the lower parts by using extra adhesive or slc before you start!

[Rad2474]

You find the high/low points so when you tile you know from setting out that even if the floor/ceiling runs out your not going to be left with a bad cut

[faithhealer]

It's just to get your head round where your tiles might run out so you don't end up with a 'sliver' of of tile!

[brian c]

you can also see how far out of line the roof is by finding the lowest and highest points..working upwards.

i think we all replied at the same time with the same answer.lol

[whitebeam]

A datum is so you get a continuos line around the room so all tile jounts follow thru, then use a gauging stick to mark out your vertical and horizantal lines but use the datum as a fixed point for all your setting out

[Dan]

You need to find the highest point of the ceiling, and the LOWEST point of the floor.

If you imagine starting off tiling from the highest point of the floor, say from the skirting board (you wouldn't and shouldn't - this is incorrect). And you stick your tiles on the wall level, you'll find as the skirting board drops away, as you tile around the room, keeping your tiles level would result in a gap appearing as the floor dropped-off.

A small gap means a small cut which is both time consuming and looks horrible.

Imagine the other way around, you'll tile from the lowest point of the floor, and as the skirting raises into your first row of cuts you'll end up simply trimming off that row, leaving an illusion that the first row is full tile.

Though working this out using your datum line will also tell you what the highest point is like also. As you don't want to start full tile from the lowest point and find your highest point ends up with a small cut.

So... the art of setting out is to aim to find the size of each cut, high and low, left and right (in wall examples) and the aim is to ensure all your tiles are as big as they can be around the edges, and the windows, doors, baths etc - to ensure when the job is done it looks the most pleasing.

Cutting 5mm off a 200mm tile, is easier than trying to cut 195mm of it, to save the 5mm to use.

Does that make any sense?

you should always use a datum line, though from then on you need to find your own way of working this out - a few ways are common, but every job is different. The main thing is you understand what you're trying to achieve, and spend time making sure you're sure - BEFORE you get your adhesive mixed!!!!! (or buckets out the van)

[Daz]

I guess you are talking about wall tiling Mozzy.

Example.....
You find the lowest point on the bath / floor (if setting out with a full tile) and make sure that you don't end up with a nasty cut. You may have to nibble extra bits from the other tiles but at least the job will look good. If you were to start from the highest point you could potentially end up with some nasty gaps under a tile where the bath / floor falls away.

Does that make sense / help?

*Posted same time as Dan, but he put it better than me.

[mozzy]

thanks very much lads so its 2 ensure that if your floor or ceiling runs out you have big enough cuts to compensate, instead of starting of at the highest point of the floor i.e the skirts and finding out theres a gap which means small cut, which looks bad and takes more time than if you had good cuts from starting at the lowest point which might only need 5mm of etc

i really appreciate the comments cheers