Do you remember when ....

[Ajax123]

And also make sure theres plenty of water the water level,

I still use a water level now... Far cheaper than buyin a laser....

 

[WetSaw]

And you can see the level even in the sun!

 

[Diggy]

... You had to break the ice off the drum to get to your tiles, you used sawdust to polish the floors and you got 10shillings a yard for fixing tiles with sand/cement!

By those were the days!!.
Who else used to push their bike up the cobbled streets and eat Hovis jammies.

Not quite that old but , did used to fix quarries in S&C with beating blocks and muslin cloths for cleaning followed by silver sand for polishing.
S&C still a good method for falls into gullies etc though.

Diggy :0)

 

[Brian the Tile]

Nice one Diggy,not many left who can fix with sand and cement,and when you talk about it to some people your just a boring old fart who doesn't know how to do the job theese days hahaha

 

[Brian the Tile]

Old timers stuck in there ways springs to mind lol

 

[steve-tiler]

Reading this thread makes me think about when I started in 2001

One of the tradesmen when I started was 66 and retired about 6 months later, he had a water level and dot dabbed everything, never used a serrated trowel.
He used cardboard for spacers which as 'the boy' you had to rip up boxes to keep him supplied and grouted with his fingers and a damp cloth. He liked using a hand tile saw and an hand wound hole cutter which clipped on to the rubi ts-60.


He too used to have the bag of sawdust for cleaning the floors.

 

[Spud]

Nothing wrong with the old methods , still the most economical way of fixing tiles in my opinion 10 sqm floor fixed in sand and cement at 25mm bed depth will cost under £20 for the sand and cement
how much would it cost for levelling compound and adhesive with that type of build up 20 bags of leveller and 2 bags of adhesive around 300 pounds

 

[Simons70]

Nothing wrong with the old methods , still the most economical way of fixing tiles in my opinion 10 sqm floor fixed in sand and cement at 25mm bed depth will cost under £20 for the sand and cement
how much would it cost for levelling compound and adhesive with that type of build up 20 bags of leveller and 2 bags of adhesive around 300 pounds

Not just cheap method but never have the flat and level tiles with adhesive like with sand and cement after vibration....

 

[enduro]

I remember when builders paid you on time..... :lol: only joking!!

 

[Andy Allen]

I remember when builders paid you on time..... :lol: only joking!!

Thats going back some years........2 shillings a yard was the going rate..lol

 

[Brian the Tile]

I remember when builders paid you on time..... :lol: only joking!!

Bloody hell enduro that must have been a long long time ago

 

[SJPurdy]

I still carry my old tipped chisel and pin hammer, in the spare tools box, on my van!
In my garage I even have an old notched trowel that has ~6mm notches spaced every ~25mm - it used to be the norm and the tiles didn't fall off.

 

[afright]

Would carry a tilley lamp as lot of jobs had no electric it was a pain riding along on my moped with my tool bucket strapped on the back and the tilley lamp swinging on the handle bars my, boss only supplied one mantle a week so if it went then it was down to you to buy them,also remember using pitch for the joints,did a few battery rooms at telephone exchanges,did not have a pitched pot had a old copper boiler,one day left it on to long melted the bottom the pitch caught alight and set the ceiling alight.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Would carry a tilley lamp as lot of jobs had no electric it was a pain riding along on my moped with my tool bucket strapped on the back and the tilley lamp swinging on the handle bars my, boss only supplied one mantle a week so if it went then it was down to you to buy them,also remember using pitch for the joints,did a few battery rooms at telephone exchanges,did not have a pitched pot had a old copper boiler,one day left it on to long melted the bottom the pitch caught alight and set the ceiling alight.

Problem with Tilley and camping gaz lamps were they would sweat the walls and if you were grouting the white cement wouldn't go off. On damp dull days we often had to create a wind to help it dry enough to polish off.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I don't remember any of that ha ha.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

You used candles!

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Lol candles would have been a luxury.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

..... Matchsticks were used for spacers.

 

[afright]

I used dried spaghetti as spacers in the 70s.

 

[Andy Allen]

Anyone use spinks tiles....they would come with perforated cardboard sheets that you broke off to use as spacers....

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Anyone use spinks tiles....they would come with perforated cardboard sheets that you broke off to use as spacers....

Sphinx I believe, Dutch company.
Visited their stand at Interbuild in 1984 and won a long weekend in Paris!

 

[Andy Allen]

Thats the ones......spelling not my strong point lol
Used loads of them on the building sites when I was starting out. .

 

[Houston]

Like the 3/4/5 triangle , the water level is a tool worth investing in !
When I bought my 3/4/5 triangle I wondered how I was going to get the 15 foot length in the van!
And how many times has the water level been cut to syphon off diesel ?
Can't get more accurate than gravity to keep your tiles level.

My uncle made my square from straight edges we used, it's at least 20years old but doesn't get used now but a good investment for someone starting out and still bang on. The water level is a favourite of mine and still in use.

 

[afright]

Candy tiles another name from the past,the first floor tile cutter my firm got was a box frame with a platform with what was a bike chain and you turned a handle with the tile on the platform thru a fixed wheel but you would still have to tap the back of the tile with the pin hammer to break the tile.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Candy tiles - made somewhere down in Devon I think.
Absolute $hi£e Calypso range were dished and almost untileable.