first job with travertine

[davy583]

HI all only me,
Got to do an estimate on a kitchen floor and little splash back in travertine not sure on size of tiles and square meter etc? This will be my first job with travertine

What would you lads and lass charge per square meter and what are the pits falls of fitting travertine. Is it ok to cut travertine with dry cutters and porcelain nippers etc.

Any advice you kind and knowledgeable people have would be greatly appreciated

Many many thanks

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Davy,

I can't help with pricing advice except to say that you should include extra for the job so that you can seal the stone prior to grouting and possibly also will need a bit more time during grouting as compared to ceramic.

You might have a bit of time needed to sort the stone because there might be some quality issues (depending upon where the stone came from and who supplied it). We have used travertine that had multiple pieces per box that were crap and had to be culled out and then other times every piece was beautiful and could be used.

Advise your customer that the pits in the face of the travertine will hold the grout and that is part of the look. Every tilesetter I know has had at least one :mad2: with a customer that wanted the pits in the travertine to stay free of any grout, and they just don't understand that it's virtually impossible to grout the stone without filling the pits, and the pits should be filled to keep crud from accumulating in the pits and holes.

Also, if the stone has a pillowed edge, I usually use a tighter grout joint because by the time the stone is set and grouted, the grout joints look larger than we thought they would because the grout rolls onto the pillowed edge.

I don't think there is any way to get a snap cutter to work on stone.

Also, we skim the back of each peice of stone with thinset to prevent the possibility of "ghosting" of the trowel lines from coming through the stone.

I'm sure others will have more advice-good luck!

 

[grumpygrouter]

Hi Davy,

I can't help with pricing advice except to say that you should include extra for the job so that you can seal the stone prior to grouting and possibly also will need a bit more time during grouting as compared to ceramic.

You might have a bit of time needed to sort the stone because there might be some quality issues (depending upon where the stone came from and who supplied it). We have used travertine that had multiple pieces per box that were crap and had to be culled out and then other times every piece was beautiful and could be used.

Advise your customer that the pits in the face of the travertine will hold the grout and that is part of the look. Every tilesetter I know has had at least one :mad2: with a customer that wanted the pits in the travertine to stay free of any grout, and they just don't understand that it's virtually impossible to grout the stone without filling the pits, and the pits should be filled to keep crud from accumulating in the pits and holes.

Also, if the stone has a pillowed edge, I usually use a tighter grout joint because by the time the stone is set and grouted, the grout joints look larger than we thought they would because the grout rolls onto the pillowed edge.

I don't think there is any way to get a snap cutter to work on stone.

Also, we skim the back of each peice of stone with thinset to prevent the possibility of "ghosting" of the trowel lines from coming through the stone.

I'm sure others will have more advice-good luck!

Wot Rob said......^^

 

[Rav daniels]

hi mate,
we are currently charging £35 m2 for laying those tiles, but i know people are doing it alot cheaper in the area, but we are sticking to it,

everything rob said, you can only use the wet cutter, or angle grinder on trav, we lay, then seal, grout, then seal again. make sure you use white powder, and work very cleanly,

hope it goes well

 

[david campbell]

probably getting about £35m2 where i come from but it is well earned because they are a lot more time consuming than ceramics/porcelain!

 

[Fred]

£35 m2 with me as well. Did 8m2 over a two day period recently as I had to lay cement board etc & did it day rate of £150.00p.