New guy from Plumbing forum needs info

[armyash]

Hello everyone

I have been a member on the Plumbing forum for just over a year now. I am currently still in the army but I have signed off so will be out in approximately 12 months, possibly a couple of months earlier.

I have some plumbing/gas qualifications and ideally want to become a plumber with a company or working alongside an experienced plumber. I lack experience to go on my own as I have been trained through the army but have not used the trade a great deal.

Although I know nothing about tiling, I think it would be a good idea to do a tiling course as part of my resettlement, it would come in handy when doing my plumbing work to be able to do any tiling my customers might need doing too. Also if the plumbing goes quiet I may get small tiling jobs come in to keep putting food on the table.

sorry for the life story so far. I have some questions I'd like answered if anyone can help.

What tiling course/qualifications would I be best off doing?

How much should I be looking at spending on tools to get me started?

What tools are a necessity to get me started?

Thanks for reading.

[Rich]

Hello and welcome to the forum. To be honest I think there might be a bit more to tiling to a professional standard than you realise. Not being rude (or at least not trying to be) but I think you would be better off concentrating on either tiling or plumbing as the learning curve is steep to say the least. Best not to bite off more than you can chew.

[armyash]

Hello and welcome to the forum. To be honest I think there might be a bit more to tiling to a professional standard than you realise. Not being rude (or at least not trying to be) but I think you would be better off concentrating on either tiling or plumbing as the learning curve is steep to say the least. Best not to bite off more than you can chew.

That's an understandable reply cheers. In an ideal world I would love to put al my efforts in to plumbing but don't think it would hurt to have other qualifications and skills that I can improve over time. I'm not looking to bodge work to make some money quick I just think even if took 10 years I could be competent at both and make a respectable career from it.

[Rich]

Fair enough, where abouts in the country are you? Im sure somebody can recommend a good course near by

[armyash]

I'm in Kent at the moment and will be staying down south after I leave the army so anywhere in that area would be great.

[andy allen]

hi and welcome to the forum, i hope your resetlement from the army gose to plan, to answer some of your questions,

basic tools you will need,.... dry cutter, wet cutter, levels, trowells,grout squeege, other bits and bobs like tape measure, hack saw, tile trim snips,mitre block etc.........and not fogetting the most important things a kettle and a radio..

arround £500 should get you a decent wet / dry cutter and the bit and bobs to get you started.

as for courses, ive never been on one so can't comment on that, but im sure someone can...

[armyash]

hi and welcome to the forum, i hope your resetlement from the army gose to plan, to answer some of your questions,

basic tools you will need,.... dry cutter, wet cutter, levels, trowells,grout squeege, other bits and bobs like tape measure, hack saw, tile trim snips,mitre block etc.........and not fogetting the most important things a kettle and a radio..

arround £500 should get you a decent wet / dry cutter and the bit and bobs to get you started.

as for courses, ive never been on one so can't comment on that, but im sure someone can...

Thanks for the info! I have plenty of time on my side so any snippets of info I can get will be a bonus.

[Dave]

Hello and welcome....

[Bri]

Welcome along to TF. Have a read of this, Tiling Courses Feedback and see what others have thought about the courses they have been on. My one piece of advice would be, don't just do a course because it's local to you, spend that extra time travelling/staying away, to get a course that will give you the best possible introduction into the tiling profession.

[armyash]

Thanks for the heads up, plenty to be reading in there i'm bound to find what i need.

[Phil Hobson]

Hi and to TF as above with the coarses, but it has been said before, if you could spend some time with a pro tiler, you would benefit no end.

And your plumbing skills could help the tiler, maybe team up, and do a full bathroom service. Good luck, whatever you decide

[armyash]

Hi and to TF as above with the coarses, but it has been said before, if you could spend some time with a pro tiler, you would benefit no end.

And your plumbing skills could help the tiler, maybe team up, and do a full bathroom service. Good luck, whatever you decide

Many thanks. Yeah hopefully i can get some experience with a pro. Good idea teaming up and doing full bathrooms it has crossed my mind.

[Rich]

Where abouts down south will you be when you have left the army?

[armyash]

Where abouts down south will you be when you have left the army?

It's not set in stone yet but more than likely Kent or Wiltshire

[Rich]

It's not set in stone yet but more than likely Kent or Wiltshire

Thats not down south! Thats way up north for me!

Bit far from where I am.

[armyash]

Thats not down south! Thats way up north for me!

Bit far from where I am.

south'ish' then lol

checked out your website mate - pretty impressive

[Rich]

Thank you but it was thrown together, doesnt have any decent pics on it and is full of spelling mistakes

There are better pics on my profile on here if you are interested.

[waterfd]

I went on a course at Alpine in Rye in 2005. Gary runs a great course hands on from the begining check out his site on here.

[chille]

stay in the Army mate at least you get paid every month, loads of really good plumbers are struggling to get work as are lots of quality Tilers

[Ajax123]

My opinion ..... Look to plumbing ..... The construction market should start to see recovery towards the end of next year and at that point there will be a clear shortage of skills in the industry as there have been so many dorp out over the last couple of years. That means that work will be available. Also as we approach 2013 the regs on household emissions will change and the need for underfloor heating and heat recovery systems will become more prevalent than they are currently and if you think the underfloor heating market currently runs to about 8million square meters plus in the uk. This will increase. Additionally, and no offence to the tiling fraternity, but anyone can go on a three day course to become a tiler and they can call themselves professional which means there are lots of "cowboys" and they are cheap so prices on tiling will continue to fall for the general tiling guys. Plumbers can also look to go corgi and oftec to do gas and oil.

The bespoke housing market is still bouyant so there is work to be had. I don't know any reliable plumbers who are not busy. I know lots of plumbers. If you get into underfloor heating that will open the door to screeding which is quite lucrative and that can lead you to either install or sub contract floor coverings into your package. Most main contractors are keen to put as much of the floor build up into one package so that is concrete subfloor, insulation, screed,underfloor heating and tiling.

Whatever you decide though I wish you the best of luck.

[armyash]

Ok been a while since I checked in here as been spending a lot of time in the plumbing forum.

I now know where I stand in the army, my last day is 29th Nov 2012 but by saving all my leave and my resettlement entitlements I could be out by August/Sep so my plan will be to get on a course between Sep-Dec a long way off but time flies when you are busy and have a lot of important decisions to make so will be here before I know it.

I will update when I have decided on which course to do.