need advice on first job

[jonno]

I have today been to look at my first job to give a quote.

the job involved a bathroom at 18.10m2and an ensuite shower room at 15.5m2. both rooms will have all fittings removed including baths toilets rads etc.
my problem is the tiles he has bought are 18inch square travetine. as I have not done the natural stone course at nett I am feeling out of my depth and need advice on cement, grout to use and even if my ten mill cutter wheel in my dry cutter will cut this. The customer told me he saw one of his old tiles had moved off his wall so he tried to push it back into place when all the others started falling away as well. I wondered if the house builders had tried to seal the plastered wall with pva or something stupid like that and if they had can i score the wall to try and get a decent bond this time as i don't want these tiles to fall off as his old ones did. do you think i should attempt this or just tell him i cannot do it.

You cant score and snap travertine or any other natural stone product.....you can do it with most porcelains though...
fixing the tiles regardless of size is the same affair......i would use a 20mm wide 10mm deep floor notch trowel and away you go......you can use non flexi adhesive with stone on plasterboard/plaster however i would reccomend that you prime the walls and fllors and use a good quality flexi adhesive...because of the large format....hope this helps.....good luck

[devonmark]

firstly you will have to prep the walls, if the existing plaster is loose and crumbling it would be preferable to remove all and dot and dab the walls with plasterboard, if the walls are stud walls you may need to reboard inserting noggins to give the wall more strength/rigidity. good prep of the substrate is first and foremost in producing a good tiling job.
adhesive should be single part flexible in white..i prefer rapid so i'm not waiting for ever and a day for it go off.
you will need a wet cutter or an angle grinder for your cuts..

hope this helps...Mark.

[jonno]

the plaster seemed ok to me my only worry was his old ones falling off and they were only ceramic.

[jonno]

thanks mate that helps a lot. my neighbour was showing me today his small cutter with a diamond blade it is just like a circular saw and he says i can use it whenever i need it . lucky or what.

you are going to remove all the old tiles right?

1. remove the old tiles and check the paster is solid (tap the wall and listen for hollows)

2. if there is blown plaster remove it (not all just blown area's)

3. also look for any damp patches that may have caused the tiles to blow.
if there is damp your customer has a diiferent problem that will need fixing prior to the install (leaking solder joint etc.)

4. also look at the removed tilers to see how they were fixed......you can tell the difference between a bucket adhesive and a cement based just by looking at it.

5. also were they dot and dabbed......dot and dab is not recommended.....espesially with bucket adhesives....they shrink even more.

basically you must get the substrate back to a good clean solid, then prime, then use good quality powdered flexi adhesive (i dont like buckets at all.)
and you should be fine... i reccomend keraquick or keraflex maxi sp flexi.