DIY Tiler - 90 sq m of large format porcelaine tiling making me nervous!

[doug boardley]

...but at least if PJ wantsto tackle it himself he's come to the right place for advice

 

[mz30]

wholly agree doug with him comin to the right place,however its hard to explain to a guy next to you the work involved in this project (apprentice etc).never mind explaining it on the internet.

No diy'er in my opinion should take on this sort of project,when the money he has to spend to do the job and the money he has already spent,will outweigh the pitfalls he will hit and regardless of all the info he is given,he will hit problems beyond what he knows .

Pj am not trying to say you shouldnt do the job by any means mate,what am saying is weigh up the consequences,your spending x amount of money on materials ,tools etc,and you have spent time on here asking how you should do said job.

You want a professional finish but given the size of the job and the materials your using,from what i can gather your not confident you can deliver that.

 

[PJPro]

wholly agree doug with him comin to the right place,however its hard to explain to a guy next to you the work involved in this project (apprentice etc).never mind explaining it on the internet.

No diy'er in my opinion should take on this sort of project,when the money he has to spend to do the job and the money he has already spent,will outweigh the pitfalls he will hit and regardless of all the info he is given,he will hit problems beyond what he knows .

Pj am not trying to say you shouldnt do the job by any means mate,what am saying is weigh up the consequences,your spending x amount of money on materials ,tools etc,and you have spent time on here asking how you should do said job.

You want a professional finish but given the size of the job and the materials your using,from what i can gather your not confident you can deliver that.

Well, I'm committed now! Just spent about £800 on tools! 😱mg_smile:

I'm feeling a little more relaxed about the whole thing. What's the worst that can happen (don't answer that)?

The plasterers have started dry lining in the bathroom. They're putting up green board (a moisture resistant plaster board) in the bathroom with normal stuff elsewhere in the house. We had a bit of a debate about using aquaboard instead for the bathroom but somehow ended up back the green board. They were intending to put a skim over the top but I've asked them not to bother...as I'd have to wait however many weeks for it to dry before tiling.

I'm going to buy some BAL APD primer tomorrow and will slap that on all over the walls. I'll also talk to my local tile shop (who supplies the trade) about suitable waterproofing in the vicinity of the shower. My concern is if I use membrane I'll make the wall thicker due to the adhesive used and it'll give me more difficulties later. If I can get away with it, I'd rather use a paint on solution with tape for the corners, etc.

I'm still not sure if I should be using the matting on the bathroom floor...this question has gone unanswered for some reason....so I guess it's either not needed or requires a complex answer. Clearly, the retailer is gonna want to sell me some so I'll have to make a judgement on the spur of the moment, weighing up the costs against the likely impact of not using the matting.

 

[PJPro]

Not had the chance to read all this thread but have perused it enough(i think).

Honestly and truthfully this job is way to big for a diy job(way to big),the money your going to pay on tools alone,would go a way to paying a pro then the astonomical prices topps charge on top of that,i done a job last week were i knocked £15 per bag off what the client was quoted and still made a little.

I think the money you would have saved hiring a pro,would have outweighed the cost of you doing it yourself(imho).

I understand where you're coming from mz30. The pro tiler would have come in at around £3K to do the whole job....and as I've read in many threads on this forum, getting in a pro doesn't necessarily mean a good end result. That said, the guys working on site seem like nice fellas and know their trades, so I suspect the tiler would have been a good guy.....that's why I used the PM that I did....to identify the good tradesmen and avoid the duffers. Sometimes I perceive the work as being a bit, err, sloppy, but most of the time it's just me wanting perfection in areas that don't really matter.

I suspect my attempts at tiling will be far from perfect. But I hope, with the help so generously offered on this forum, I can get the fundamentals right so at worst I end up with a bit of lippage, sloppy cuts and the odd poorly fitting tile rather than tiles falling off the walls or lifting from the floor.

That said, I'm grateful for your concern and welcome your advice.

 

[PJPro]

OK. Some more up to date photos taken this evening

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room. This whole area will be tiled. Hopefully, you can see the door liner on the right. This leads to the hall.

Looking through from the dining room into the hall. To the left is where the stairs are going in. This whole area will be tiled.

The stairs will go here. They're being fitted tomorrow.

Here's another picture of the hall. You'll notice a door liner on the left. This leads into the downstairs cloakroom.

Here's the downstairs cloakroom. The floor and walls will be tiled.

The next few photos show the upstairs bathroom with the green board on some of the walls and the moisture proof chip board on the floor. The NMP has yet to go down on the floor.


I've surveyed the walls with a straight end and it seems they are each flat but there's an angle at the join of the boards i.e. they are not true with each other. I'm going to speak with the plasterer tomorrow but I suspect they would ordinarily take this lack of trueness out with the skim coat. It looks like I'm going to have to take it out with adhesive, possibly applying a scratch coat?

I'll see if he can do better on the remaining bathroom walls.

 

[PJPro]

I suppose for completeness I should record the tools I've bought for the job.

Cutting Tools
Vitrex - QEP Pro-750 Wet Saw 240v
RUBI TX-700-N
Marcrist CK850 180mm diametre 22.2mm / 25.4 bore
Rubi Ceramic Block
Rubi General Purpose Nippers

Drilling Tools
365Drills Bathroom Fitters Kit
1x 120mm Drill bit only
1x 80mm Drill bit only

Adhesive Tools
Rubi Stainless Steel 'U' Notch
Rubi Stainless Steel 10 mm x 10 mm

Grouting Tools
Rubi soft rubber grouting trowel
Super Hydro Tilers Sponge x 10

Other Tools
Rubi White Rubber Mallet - standard
Adhesive and Grout Whisk
Stanley Chalk Line
Gorilla Tub - Small 14 ltr
Gorilla Tub - Medium 26 ltr
Gorilla Tub - Large 42 ltr

Consumables
3 mm Long leg Cross Spacers x 1000
Red Chalk

Protective Gear
Platinum Knee Pads
Latex gloves - box of 100

Everything was purchased from TradeTiler except for the drills, which I bought from 365Drills.

I have a lot of additional gear already (grinders, drills, drill press, levels, various hand tools, safety gear) so this above does not necessarily reflect what I think I use on the job.

 

[DHTiling]

It is a tapered edge board.. and will be fine.. Make sure you tape the joints.

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Are you saying when you offer up the straight edge to the two moisture resistant boards there is a V shaped hollow? Is it just in the middle (tapered edges) or accross the whole boards?

I've done my fair share of plastering and never not got two boards flat with each other when dot & dabbing.

Edit: Ah my 100th post, nearly catching up to you Dave!

 

[White Room]

The boards need to be laid flat rather than leaned against the wall

 

[Dan]

The boards need to be laid flat rather than leaned against the wall

I thought that you know.