Nightmare Tiles!

[Deri]

My work at the moment mainly comprises of the same job all the time, kichens 6x6 cream, Bath/Shower rooms 6x6 white with mosaic border. Boring but at least i am tiling.
The company I work for have changed their tile supplier from Thompsons to British ceramic.

The problem is, the new tiles are all shapes and is making things really hard to keep the grout lines straight. if I try and straighten it out on the horizontal I start to kick on the vertical and vice versa. kitchen splash-back is not a problem but the bathrooms when tiling to the ceiling is hard work

I will be doing a bathroom next week and am pretty sure I will have the same problem again. Can anyone give me some advice on keeping the lines straight?

[andy allen]

what spacers do you use?.........if you use crosses try switching to pegs or wedges, you can then adjust the joints to keep the tiles in line.

[jay]

try looking at the back of the tile and try to lay them the same way if you get what i mean

[Deri]

what spacers do you use?.........if you use crosses try switching to pegs or wedges, you can then adjust the joints to keep the tiles in line.

I use 2mm spacers but I use them like pegs.

[Deri]

try looking at the back of the tile and try to lay them the same way if you get what i mean

I understand and i will give it a try.

[tfs]

if its there bumpy whites I generally dont use any spacer less than 3mm as these tiles can have size discrepancies of up to 2mm in my experience.

You will find that there can be convex curvature on these tiles too so the tiles can touch in the centre of tiles even with 2mm spacers. The edges on the tiles are not true and the chamfered effect can cuase issues with spacing.

Unfortunatly, 9 times out of 10 this range is not of decent quality.

[jay]

Spacers_Large_Wedge.jpg


wedges

[tfs]

generaly with tiles of such poor quality you will not get perfect lines (no matter how good you are) as these tiles may niot be square, they have convex edges and they are different sizes so all you can do is use the bigger spacing to give yourself more play to adjust and make the imperfections lsightly less obvious.

These tiles are cheap as chips and this is reflected in the overall quality.

Explain this to anyone who has problems with the end result.

There realy is only so much you can do with tiles like this

[Dave Ramsden]

British Ceramics make some niice tiles! Ive found the odd one with a glaze blemish but nothing noticeable in the dimensions of the tile. maybe your contractor has a deal on end of line and defect tiles??
Still, wedges will help you more than spacers and try taking some extra time setting your starting latt making sure it is supported adequately and not twisted. Draw a few level and plumb guide lines and work to one or two courses at a time, see if this helps...

[Deri]

British Ceramics make some niice tiles! Ive found the odd one with a glaze blemish but nothing noticeable in the dimensions of the tile. maybe your contractor has a deal on end of line and defect tiles??
Still, wedges will help you more than spacers and try taking some extra time setting your starting latt making sure it is supported adequately and not twisted. Draw a few level and plumb guide lines and work to one or two courses at a time, see if this helps...

British ceramics do make good tiles. When I saw the boxes I thought nice one, but when I started laying them on the wall it was a different story.

[jay]

any pics

[poynton phil]

I have found this problem too, i think its down to there not being much , if any quality control, on their cheaper tiles. I always check these cheaper tiles, before i fit them.

[Deri]

any pics

I'l see if I can get back to the flat and take some.

[charlie1]

Increase your spacing to 3 mm, use the spacers as pegs, with most ceramics you can finely adjust the spacing to make the job as good as it can ever by by pushing the spacer all the way in for (max) spacing, or by inserting only a little bit of the spacer for (min) spacing!, same can be achieved by using wedges as said earlier.

Good luck

[cornish_crofter]

I'm about to fit some bumpy whites from CTD. 8 x10 to be exact. I've used 6x6 tiles from the same source and TBH I've been quite impressed with them for the price.

The only critisism I would have is that the glazing on the last lot I laid was a little lacking of a few edges, meaning that I had to grout carefully to avoid seeing the base colour of the tile.

I use the spacers as pegs if I need to.

[timeless john]

IMO too much emphasis is placed on pegs and not enough on levels and eye judgement.
Before spacer pegs came in packets and tubs you had to use matchsticks, the cardboard packaging or anything at hand to give an even 'line'.
If the job was easy - the customer would do it themselves!
just my opinion.
Keeps it interesting.

[whitebeam]

You old professional John

[Scott]

Nothing wrong with a few bits of card wedged in there, thats why they put them in cardboard boxes isnt it?

I have just finished a job in a 400 and 250 british ceramics, apart from a bow across the face they were a good tile IMO.

[doug boardley]

wedges for me when tiles are out of square.

[charlie1]

Im having to use weges on current job, 600x300 polished porc but customer wants tiny grout lines so using 1mm spacers but mostly using wedges to compensate for any off square tiles! wedges are sooo good!