Help with Stacking tiles - Tile Advice

[Dumbo]

Ply fails

 

[Flintstone]

Are you Tiling customers houses ?

 

[Crocotile]

Yes I'm tiling customer's houses. I started off tiling with my uncle/boss and then he left me for a day or two every now and again and then I started doing them from start to finish. I've done around 5+ bathrooms on my own now. As I said, the standard is alright but I want it to be as good as I see some jobs on here. I also have only worked with what I'd call 'common' tiles, the 600x300 etc and metros on splash-backs etc. I just want to improve and gain speed. My uncle says I'm too slow as I can take around 6 days to tile the whole bathroom and grout it sometimes and it's not quick enough. We normally only price to do a bathroom for around 9-10 days.

 

[Qwerty]

May I recommend that you attend a tiling course or work with a reputable tiler for a year or so before progressing further with being a tiler. You have mentioned alot of bad working practices and only use clip when you can tile.

 

[Crocotile]

I would love to work with a reputable tiler but it's not possible as I work full time and need the money, I don't think a tiler would match my wages and also I get to do other jobs in the firm and have the opportunity to learn different trades etc although I enjoy tiling the most. Why do you say not to use clips until you can tile?

I wouldn't say my work is amazing but it's not bad. As I've said I've tiled around 5 bathrooms from start to finish alone and the customers and my boss are always really happy with my work. I just want to improve and become quicker. I'll try and find the jobs from our page that I've tiled.

 

[Crocotile]

These are just a few pictures of my work over the last few months just to try and give you an idea where I'm at. I want to get faster as I'll be on better money when I can do it quicker but mainly I want to improve the quality of work and speed should come with time. Just to say I didn't do the shower area floor with the mosaics, my uncle chose to do them as I'm not experienced enough really and didn't feel confident but I did tile all the walls etc.

 

[Flintstone]

You can post all the photos you like, your tiling customers houses, without really knowing what you are doing.

 

[Crocotile]

I'm not being rude or arrogant. I'm not even trying to claim I'm a good tiler. I just want help and advice. I get that I should try and work for a tiler, which I'd love to, but it's not possible at the moment. The pictures where just so that people can have an idea where I'm upto. I thought I'd get help on here not a rude response. I want to know where I'm going wrong and what I can do to improve. As I said my uncle can only teach me son much and figured that I'd get help from people on here.

 

[Italy]

from the boys, we do not exaggerate.
here we have seen many works done by tilers
much worse than these photos.
the guy just asked where he can improve ..
if its bases are wrong, it's not his fault.
but it is the fault of his uncle, which moreover tells him to be faster.
and that's the biggest mistake.

 

[Crocotile]

Thanks for understanding. I didn't even realise that dabbing tiles on was bad until I made this thread. I only have my uncles word to go off and my own research. He wants me to be quicker because it takes me twice the time it takes a subbie he used to use who had 20 years experience. I've asked a few times to start using backer board on the floors and he says he will look into it but it's more expensive. Quite often I have to tile on walls that aren't great and I was told dabbing the tiles is the only way to get over walls like that.

 

[J K Tiling Cornwall]

Hi those are British Ceramic fossilized wood effect tiles and as others have stated not the best to work with (slight variations in size and squareness) have done about 4 bathrooms in those but 3 were in brick bond making it easier to loose any variations. You should try to get a 6ft (1,800mm) level and small wedges to get the first course as level as possible and keep checking as you go. With those tiles you might have to offer them up as you go to check the grout joint and swap/turn around until ok as they can vary so much. Also never dot and dab, get a good slow set powdered adhesive with a good bed depth that should get you over most walls and give you time to get things right.

Don't worry about speed that comes with experience, focus on the finish and doing things right.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

doing a good job faster will only come from experience, read as many threads on here as you can, search for ways to do things correctly and ask questions when you're unsure. Good luck.

 

[Italy]

doing a good job faster will only come from experience, read as many threads on here as you can, search for ways to do things correctly and ask questions when you're unsure. Good luck.

same. I wanted to write that too, but Google translate prevented me.

 

[Crocotile]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll definitely be investing in new different sized levels soon. Thanks for everyones feedback and I'll continue to ask questions on here, probably too many!

 

[Crocotile]

I've took your advice guys and startEd combing, just struggling with getting a thick enough bed but I'll get there with practise. I've had to add the odd dab to bring a corner out but that's it. Apologies for the blury picture, only front camera works.