Newbies

[CON5933]

Ok, you've finished your course, you're sittin at home waitin for the jobs to come...you're reading the information on the forum...
There's alot of information and stories on here which may in some cases seem a bit over-whelming.
Natural stone is one subject which gets alot of attention. cutting...sealing..grouting..etc It's not rocket science, they've been around for thousands of years...but you do have to know what you're doing..
You can use the time you have on your hands to take a bit of the mystery out of it..
Go into your friendly tile shop manager and ask him politely for some samples...if he won't or can't give you any 'broken tiles' from the bin then buy a couple, Slate, trav, etc... polished porc too..

Get a piece of plaster board or ply, cut the tiles in 2 (or 4 if big enough) glue them onto the board, seal half and leave half unsealed then knock up some grout and have a play with them.. you get to see how some stone behaves with and without the protection.
You can even drill some holes in them to give you an idea what to expect on the job...

I know the best thing for experience is experience but it might just help some to understand what some of the topics are on about on here..

[365drills]

Yes there's nothing like hands on experience and practice.

Our local tile shop has a skip in front of it and I am forever in it pulling out bits of tiles to test out.

Sad or what!

But then we do a lot of training at tile training centres up and down the country and they do get snotty if I demolish their tiles (which they have to pay for)

So taking tiles out of skips (with shop keepers permission) helps reduce their waste charges, keeps our tile schools happy because using our own samples and keeps the cost down for everyone. And gives a great chance for a practice.

I even pulled a toilet out of the skip to practice drilling holes into ceramics. Please note toilet was unused showroom model. Ex-Demo!

And we also pulled an ex-demo bath out of the same skip to drill holes into it for LED lights and hydro massage jets.

As part of our service we have been working with WhirlPool Express Who retro-fit baths with a body jet and LED lighting system.

Yes guys... There are clients out there who want LED lights sunk INSIDE their baths and who want their soothing Jacuzzi bubbles...