First Travertine floor completed

[GatesheadCol]

Well guys,

Cheers for the help. I completed my first Travertine floor today. Started it on Friday 8m2 in a conservatory. 3 days (well 1 full day and 2 half days).

Toook my time on it as the customer was a building inspector for the council lol

Anyway Im pleased with it and the customer is over the moon with it. I have to say I did well for my first time but it hasnt been easy A few things I noted with travertine

1. They're bloody soft. Had 2 break and I mean literally crack in 4 places just moving them

2. The softness again caught me out. Laid first 5 tiles, decided to lift one to check coverage (as you do) slid my trwel under it and lifted only to break the tile Arghhhh

3. Cutting them was a pain, or so I thought. I have 2 wet cutters. Plasplugs compact (DIY Market bought years go) and the plasplugs Pro Tiler from the NETT course. Anyway the big one (pro) which I decided t use cos these tiles were 600x400 handled them well if not a little slow, but them the motor overheated. So while waiting (as I only had 5 tiles left tu cut along the 600 I got the little guy out of the van. well to my surprise this machine cut through them like a hot knife through soft butter. Can you believe it????

Anyway Im pleased to have it over and done with abd been paid plus tip. But I have to say I wouldnt like to do walls in them. I found them really soft and prone to break very easily.

Will post some pics as soon as.

 

[wetdec]

Nice one m8

Generally Trav will break much easier when wet but you will find there is an awfull lot of crap out there that looks pretty on the surface.

Good you learned as you went and got something out of it.


tiler

 

[CBTC]

Col - Well well done for yr 1st travetine floor install - you still have a way to go to learn about the vagaries of fitting stone, we all trip up along the way, even with guidence!
There are definitely different grades of stone of all types out there nowadays - at the cheaper end it certainly does not work very well; all the harder for the fixer to price acurately for the fitting...far too easy to catch a cold on!

 

[brian c]

yes as the guys say Col well done bud,it is soft stuff to work with especially if its unfilled.

 

[howard]

just done 20m2 of marble 600x 400 took me twice as long as i thought to lay very slow to cut but the end result was worth it

 

[wetdec]

There is far more satisfaction to be gained from stone "it lives" If you like it work at it and do it well you will become ahead of the game. A tiler is a tiler to be known as a stone fixer is totally different.


tiler

 

[GatesheadCol]

Cheers guys, I enjoyed the experience mind.

Some of the tiles too had really bad voids when looking at the back of the tile, some were so bad that when held with the light behind the tile face it shone through the surface of the tile and looked like there was only a mill or so of face on it.

Those ones I didnt use in the centre of the room, had 3 in total and only had to use one of them, made sure I filled the void with addy and the void ended up only a few mill from a wall right in the corner

scary stuff, next tiome I'll price a bit higher.

it was 8m2 in total and I did id for £250, materials supplied by customer as it was a jamies tiles special bulk buy.

 

[TilingLogistics]

Good On you glad you enjoyed it

Kev

 

[Grace'sDad]

Welcome to stone - glad you enjoyed it!

Wetdec is on the money- it's great stuff to work with simply because it is challenging. I'd fix stone every day of the week if I could. I bought a large bridge saw last month and it makes a massive difference to cutting and bullnosing quality.

I think the satisfaction from a good job with stone is greater than with tiles. (having said that though, I REALLY enjoyed a simple 30x30 ceramic job last week)

I start another Travertine bathroom tomorrow, only this time it's very good quality tackle. The last lot I did with AndySTile was so crap it broke under it's own weight even when dry!