tiling 3 areas

[sengaul]

Hi all

I have been asked if I could do some floor tiling for a friend who has just had a conservatory built and is looking to renew the kitchen as well.

i have done a bit of tiling before but mainly bathroom walls, and i was hoping you guys would be able to help me out with a couple of questions regarding floors?

They have asked if I could tile the hallway through to the kitchen and then through to the conservatory. Am i right in saying it would be best to start of in the hallway as this is the first section you will see when entering the property? Also is it best to do one area at a time or do as much as possible in a day?

the main thing I need advice on is the time frame for this amount of work, i know it would depend on the surface of the floors to be laid (if they need leveling), type of tile and any patterns and various other factors but I don't really know how long tiling these 3 areas would take? Here are the dimensions:

Hallway - 1.8m x 4.1m
Kitchen - 5.9m x 3m
conservatory - 5m x 4m

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as this is an opportunity for me to get some good experience with tiling floors.

[Daz]

To answer your underlying question, the timeframe can only be judged by yourself. Someone that tiles everyday is likely to be faster and able to cover more area in a day than someone that doesn't.

The setting out will need to be calculated to avoid slithers and achieve the best look in all rooms. This may involve you moving the datums many times until you are happy that you will achieve the best look in all rooms.

Depending on the overall room layout I would probably aim to start in the kitchen as that will be the area with the dominating focal points and work through the other rooms. I normally try to tile the full area and grout in one go but sometimes this is not possible if the client is living in the property and wants to use certain rooms.

Good luck and take your time to make sure that you achieve a solid bed of adhesive under every tile.

[nybor62]

as above , how square is the hallway in comparison to the kitchen ,does the conservatory come of the kitchen or is it a separate room

[TilerJames]

Your layout is largely going to depend on size of tiles, pattern, layout of hall leading into kitchen leading into the conservatory.

Run a centre line along the length of the kitchen, itl help you for staffing out so you can check what your cuts will be like down the hall, around the kitchen and into conservatory etc.(you can dry lay a row from this line to help if still unsure.) Ideally you would like to have symmetrical decent size cuts running down the hall, once happy you can check how the rest fairs out in the kitchen, conservatory entrance and inside the conservatory. Its all trial and error and will probably take a few goes and a couple of sharpened pencils before your finally happy with the layout.

Best to start of tiling in the kitchen imo and branch of to the hall and conservatory from there making sure that your bringing everything back nice and square and straight.
Timescale wise, I suppose for a basic installation allow yourself about 3 days from marking out to packing up. Add another day if the floor needs levelling compound and if theres any other obstacles that you think will hinder you add on another couple of hours which brings it up to 4 and a half days.


Good luck and I hope it goes well for you.

[sengaul]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.

I have attached a rough sketch of the layout to be tiled ( well i hope i attached it properly), looking at it i can see why it makes sense to start from the kitchen.

The conservatory is the same floor level as the kitchen so the tiles will run right through from the hallway to kitchen to conservatory. As I mentioned I haven't done any floor tiling before so I'll probably add another day, and as you guys said it depends on the type of tile and design.

Any recommendations for an adhesive and grout? something that will not set too quick as I'm new to this. Is it best to always use a flexi adhesive?

[Alan.P]

The question hasn't been asked yet so I'll ask, what are the floors ? wood / concrete .....

[sengaul]

They are concrete......sorry, should of said.