Help!: brick affect tiling

[terry the tiler]

hi all ! just wondering if there is a quick way to tile brick affect ? ive just done a 7mtr job inc 800 by 800 shower enclosure on plaster boarded walls , the tiles where 8 by 4 and its took me from 8 this morning till 5.30 and i still havent grouted it !! the amount of cutting was almost insaine! i done it for a ood price thinking i would be done by 1 and at the pub by 2 but it was not to be and ive got to go back 2mrow to grout it. the way i tiled it was to put the first row on then put a centre mark with a marker in the centre of the tile to go on top then lined the mark up with the lower row of tiles grout line, i done this every time i started a new row ? also didnt help that i hade no 3 peg spacers. any advice would be great thanks!

[dagger]

if you have two self leveling lasers you can ping two vertical lines (one on centre of the joint and one halfbond) and just tile away...its quicker than marking!

[Daz]

Other than a bit longer to set out, it shouldn't really take you any more time.
Just draw 2 vertical datum lines and away you go .

[grumpygrouter]

hi all ! just wondering if there is a quick way to tile brick affect ? ive just done a 7mtr job inc 800 by 800 shower enclosure on plaster boarded walls , the tiles where 8 by 4 and its took me from 8 this morning till 5.30 and i still havent grouted it !! the amount of cutting was almost insaine! i done it for a ood price thinking i would be done by 1 and at the pub by 2 but it was not to be and ive got to go back 2mrow to grout it. the way i tiled it was to put the first row on then put a centre mark with a marker in the centre of the tile to go on top then lined the mark up with the lower row of tiles grout line, i done this every time i started a new row ? also didnt help that i hade no 3 peg spacers. any advice would be great thanks!

I only use spacers as removable items you don't need 3 leg spacers in that case, also if you rely on the spacers for your joint, what do you do if a tile is 1mm longer than the next?

[whitebeam]

I would have done some vertical lines with a level and followed them

[faithhealer]

for the record terry, I've never done a tiling job in the time it should take!

[grumpygrouter]

for the record terry, I've never done a tiling job in the time it should take!

Glad to hear that John, me neither!!!

[timeless john]

Terry - Although brick design tiling can take slightly longer than 'straight' work, I would think that 7sq mts in a day would be a reasonable estimate for the area in question - a shower enclosure.
Personaly I would always leave the grouting till the next day and so it should be priced up on one and a half days labour rather than 7sq mts ( or whichever is the higher).
I'am with grumpygrouter in that I re-use the spacer pegs and apart from a vertical datum line and measuring the middle of a tile this design is self spacing and IMO much easier.
However when your on the large format 600x400mm travertine you need good straight walls or plenty of adhesive to overcome any 'lippage'.
Hope you've had a successful day at work as I'am afraid I had to spend the day in the garden getting my head burnt, drinking a few glasses of wine and eating off the BBQ. - Its a tough life!

John.

[Daz]

Quick question for you Terry (slightly off topic) but......shower enclosure, plasterboard? Tanking???? How frequently are they going to be using the shower?

[terry the tiler]

true ! it was just one of them jobs ! while iam on hear i might aswell pick your brains, ive got to price a slate floor job soon but have never layed slate before! the slate in my old house was very lippy with at least 15mm grout joints it wasnt level but looked great ? some of the tiles where much thicker than the rest. do u put a thicker bed of adhesive on the floor and try to make them level ish, and r spacers used also wen do i seal them and how much do u think i should charge per smtr?

[doug boardley]

It' d take me a day and a half, too! I, also rarely grout until the next day

[terry the tiler]

Quick question for you Terry (slightly off topic) but......shower enclosure, plasterboard? Tanking???? How frequently are they going to be using the shower?

dont think there using shower much ! i no wot your saying about plaster board and showers ! they dont mix well ! ive primed the walls ! the guy was gona pva the shower the day before but i told him not to . ive used pva in the past with no problems (yet) but after reading up on pva iam NEVER using it again!!

[timeless john]

Terry - start another thread on the slate question.
It'll need a bit of input from others!

John.