As said, I learned tailing from my friend Isaque, who leaved me sometimes to his work to show me what he is doing. First I watched only, then I started to help him, first sweeping where he's going to tail, later measuring, mixing paste, carrying tools, cutting tiles and so on, and I liked this work and decided to learn and do it too. He leaved me appr. 15 times with him.
I should mention that I'm living in an oversee territory, and that here it's normal and tolerated that the most construction works inclusive tiling are done by persons without formal qualification, to a high part illegal imigrants. What matters is only the individual quality and, more even, the speed. Also, houses are here much more simple like in Europe, f.ex. there is no heat isolation etc etc.
My friend gone away. Since almost two months now, I'm working depending only on meself. This means, if not directly for the owner of the house, then as one of a few helpers of any chef, in both cases it is expected that I know already to do the service.
I had good luck with my friend Isaque. Even by other professionals he is generally considered as the best local tiler here. He works very good and very fast, and he put in my head that I should work very correctly. Specially in the short time that I'm working with other people, I see many mess and bad quality. See a few remarks below.
I'll put a few fotos since my first work until now, and explain a little what happened in that short time.
My first work I got on a building on my daily way from my house to the town. I called, an african looked out, and said, no there one don't need nobody else, he do tiling, he is a "professional". But I returned next day for speak with the chef, he is from englich Guyana, he told me yes he need urgently someone, I can start imediately. He leaved me to a small ugly-tiled space on a wall in a bathroom, said to remove that, and tile it better. I thought now I'm lost, because I only watched how Isaque did this but I never practicised i.e put wall tiles. But I tried it best possible. After removing the old tiles, I make with a nivel a line and tiled from that downwards. I had the problem that a part of the tiles slipped down, what however later stopped. The result was reasonably, the boss was completely satisfied, dismissed the "professional" and stayed with me. Next day we made a staircase, this I also never did before but only watching my friend doing. After the boss tiled four upper steps, I tiled two next lowers, inclusive the borders. In the next days we tiled some normal floor, made cement sockets near problematic thinks like electrical cables / instalations, cutted and lied tiles at edges, etc, until everything in that building was tiled. Then that boss had no other project to tile.
These fotos I made with a simple Phone of a friend, and I buyed an own phone only from the payment for the next work, so that I have no fotos of it.
Next I worked for a brazilean, which really didn't know nothing, and even learned from me. On the first two days we tiled the bottom of a kitchen / eating space of appr. 40 m2 with tiles 30x60cm . This I seed often how my friend done it, and did it it well. However, then the man wanted to do the joints with a spatel. I did it how I Iearned by my friend, passing a wet ciment mass (barbadinha) by a big gum, then removing, then throwing dry ciment over, removing that and passing over with a cloth. It come out almost good. But because I didn't want to do this with his stupid method, the man was very vexed and almost dismissed me.
On the next day, we tiled an outside space, with raw natural stone plates; the wall of the house and the space wall converged with an angle of perhaps 30 degree towards a corner, both in turn inclined to the tiles. The man wanted I tile only in the middle, the edges he and another brazilean tried to do. They measured all edges and marked the same distances on the tiles, but get completely confused because nothing was in square, cut plenty tiles to waste, and vexed stopped early and gone. Here I seed now the good quality of my friend. He marks without measuring tiles quickly, very exactly and secure against becoming lost , even if the profile to cut is very complicated. That method relies basically on the use of the fact, that if you mark any corner of the tile a) at the tile itself and b) at the bottom, then rotate the tile by 180 degree, then pass with that tile's corner along the wall (or at least on these 2 ... 5 points of the wall which matters), then the marked edge at the bottom under the tile or a pen kept stationary over it will mark on the tile the exact cutting profile (if rotating it back). In the special case of equal-sized tiles, for all relevant points (normally only 2) one marks just the complements till the next joint on the tile, in both directions, and then rotate it. This I lerned good from my friend. Next morning I came short time earlier, marked, cutted and tiled this ready. The man was very surprised, but I didn't explain him how to do that. Then, we make the joints. Surprisingly, the man tried to do it now also with the gum etc as I did before. However, this now was natural stone. I throwed quickly some sugar over my part, that the upper part of ciment don't harden, and cleaned it later without problems, he however was cleaning his side long time but the ciment didn't go more away completely ...
In the afternoon, it was to be tiled the big varanda, with good-quality 60x60 cm tiles. The man made a big show with measuring, marking and nailing a cord, but didn't check and ignored my advice that the borders of that varanda aren't in 90 degree. Because I'm supposed to be stupid, he wanted to tile this with a next brasi, and put me to lie the foot-borders... After the 3rd line, he noted that something is wrong, he had to remove all tiles etc etc. It was a suffering until they got through that varanda !! I meanwhile made joints in bathrooms, foot-borders etc. Also with the footborders 'we two had a problem'. He smears with a spatel the mass at the wall, somewhat higher than the foot-border, lie it, and then smears back and press downwards the excess of mass for make the upper joint. But my friend teached me to put 2 or 3 dots mass at the backside of the foot-border tile (not on the wall), lie it, but make the joints never at the same day. We made an 'agreement', I lied the borders by my manner (putting paste on the tile, not on the wall, but make the joints immediately. The house-owner, for small problems by the man, speaked not with the man but only with me and I fixed it. The man was glad when this house was done ...
This was on a noon. When I gone, I passed at another construction, and called. There was the english man, and called me. He had finished a ciment chap, and we tiled it, by throwing a ciment soup over it and lie the tiles on that, I also marked, cutted and lied all margins. Next day I helped him to carry cement and sand upwards, then we finished.
Then, on the weekend, the same brasi called me to tile together with him the wall of a bathroom, my first one (with exception of the before-mentioned small space). This work gone good without any problem for him or for me.
Next day however the man got a big problem. We started to tile another building. Together with me and two other helpers, he wanted on one day to make the ciment 'chapa', to tile, and to make the joints, of a space of about 30 m2 , upstairs where hadn't yet a normal staircase but only one of wood. He put me for carry sand and ciment, for make the mass, and to lift it half-way upstairs, where he together with two Haiti tiled. I see they make a total mess, but I kept shut my mouth so that the man dont dismiss me. On the evening came the owner of the house, was totally unsatisfied, and dismissed the man, requested even that he pay all material. This day was my hardest day of work, carrying and lifting everything, but the brasi refused to pay me my diary for that day because the owner didn't pay him. To him, I didn't return.
The next work I searched and found in a big new village of some hundreths new social houses. The bossman was an 'english' (-guyana) man. I should start with wall tiles for dush corners. I should use a cord for the distances, what I tried out. I felt the work gone good. However, that man came every minute to 'explain' or to 'reclaim' something, what was extremly disturbing; moreover, later he even claimed, that because of me, he don't come to work, and I work slow. I finished one dush corner and gone, before I would throw the gum hammer on ths head. I think I lied good that dush corner.
The forth patron was again a brasi. First, I lied foot-borders, what I know to do already good and fast. Then were to tile the walls of two bathrooms. One had a window inside, whose hight is also the upper edge of the tiles, so I tiled it from up to down, the other one hadn't such a condition and I tiled from down upwards. One of the walls were rough so that I used more paste, one other wall was old and painted, so I scratched the paint and beated plenty holes in order that the tiles don't fall down. An existing nivel would be 'by laser and very exactly', good that I didn't trusted because it was 2cm different on both sides. I used plastic crosses for the distances. I cutted the holes for the tubes etc. well round, not squared (or even cutting the tile in two peaces) like I see doing people often. That patron was the opposite than the previous, he didn't come at all, but only when I called him. I felt me comfortable during the work, the work gone good, and I had no longer problems with downwards-slipping tiles, with the correct amount of paste, etc. , and I think I lied this bathrooms very good. The man and also the house-owners were very satisfied. For each of the bathrooms (appr. 10 m2) I needed some 5 hours, without the joints made on another day. Meanwhile I buyed a phone with camera, see the pictures.
At my side however happened a big drama. They made the bottom of the new annexes of both houses. They used split stones for make the 'chapa' (underground). This I found very strange; until now I see people only using sand with cement. But the man said that is OK so, because split stone would draw down more fast the humidity, so that they can tile on the same day. They throwed cement soup (barbadinha) over this, but really the chapa had dried so quickly, that it wasn't possible to smothen it and to lie the tiles plane, they didn't paste. After 'tiling' the half, they desist, removed, cleaned the tiles. On the second day the made the same again, with the same result. On the third day I came only to watch, they didn't learn and made the same mess a third time, and after this, for not remove everything again, they pasted other tiles over this (even this I suppose is stupid because the lower tiles aren't pasted good). Both house owners were extrelmy unsatisfied with this, and I think they dismissed them. At least my bathrooms are good and the man paied me also.
Near my house is a shopping center. People started to put nice new tiles over the old ones. Whom I see there was my old 'friend'. Again he said to me, no, they don't need nobody, he is a "professional"; again I see evering was done very ugly; again I came back asking the bossman, a brasi which said, yes he need urgently someone, contracted me and dismissed the profi. Here were to tile expensive, thick tiles in a nice, diagonal way with plenty borders inside. This patron has better knowledge than the other ones, and he also tiles fast, however not good, neither so fast nor so good as Isaque, about which alias he speaks very good. He let me do everything in my manner, and reclaimed almost nothing. The space of the shopping is complicated; plenty small pieces of the area one have to understand as an own cell where one make a border and inside lie tiles diagonally. The width of the borders is not prefixed; with preference one start tiling from one edge (or corner) and finish with a exact half (diagonal) tile near the other side which (until the wall) determines the width of the border. In the short time i gone with him, Isaque didn't tile nothing diagonally, so I worked just as I thinked it's correct. My whole work there, subjectively gone easy for me, and also objectively the results are rather good. For each cell, I used as reference the longest side of the already existing neighbour cell, and beat 90 degree angle, as the direction of one new border, and also 45 degree as the reference for the diagonal tiles in this cell. The 90 degree I beat measuring and marking 5 m along the existing border, 5 m approximately squared to this, and then 7,07 m diagonally, where this meets is the right point. And either on the half or at 3,536 m of that diagonal, or where meet two 5 m measurements from the end corners, is the 45 degree reference. Then I tiled first the two ( 90 and 45 degree ) reference lines. After, starting from the diagonal reference line in both directions. This fitted very good, the edges finished within 1 mm on the border line. During this work, the man buyed a big water-cooled cutting machine. He didn't know how it works. I had observed however how my friend used it, and explained the man what I knowed; i also was whom set up and used as first that machine; and now I got enough practics to use it further.
I brought with me a friend of me and Isaque, which want to learn tiling too, for he can start to watching and to do things like sweeping, mixing etc like I did with Isaque, and I even pay him something for his help. However, it happened that he works good, and now the patron corrupt him by start to pay him a diary, and say it's not longer my but his helper. Because of this desrespect, I pretended Monday not more to come back to this work; at the same time if my friend continue with him it will not take long time and he will dismiss him, then he shouldn't come back to me wanting I leave him to my next work. Yesterday, however, that patron becomes to know that I start to work on another place too (see below), became very vexed, and called me that on Monday I don't need to return.
Because the customers during the day step on the tiles etc, we changed to work in the night. So I take another service for during the day, too. Here is in work a big new hospital, there is plenty to tile. This service has an old tiler, for which during his first five years here also worked and learned Isaque, he treat him like his child, and after he became independent he helped him often with material, transport etc. I think he has better quality then my previous patrons, and he works fast and good. He has as helpers a brazilean, and an african which is also working very good, and he tried to get Isaque for that project who however didn't want. In opposite to my earlier patrons which didn't know (nor perceive) that I'm just starting, this man knows that I was just now introduced by Isaque, and he agreed to teach me more. I started last week, and what I mainly did was put foot-borders. He teached me already several valuable things, f.ex. how to cut the margins of the foot-borders diagonally for corners, and how many space to let on doors depending of their situation (no wood, wood but unfinished, finished). I hope from him I'll learn more.
Meanwhile I get the first opportunities for work under own responsibility, too.
First, a friend want to get tailed a container. This has iron bottom with a few mm thick layer of wood. I don't want how to tile this, and will ask in this forum.
Second, an owner of a house of appr. 130 m2 pretend to give it me to tile it. Good that I observed how Isaque organized his projects. The house is easy, everything flat, no staircase or other dificulties, so that I have good faith that this don't gives problems for me. And I also will put two experienced helpers (these of Isaque) which know what to do if arise unexpected problems. The raw bottom is rather smooth, I will ask them their opinion if this needs really a chapa or can be smothen and tiled directly
So, my own opinion at the moment is: I think the 'normal' things I know to do and I do good and careful. Mainly I take care only of my own work, however now in the shopping, I compared the spaces which I tiled with those which the other people tiled, and I see my spaces have no real problems (such as I see on these tiled by others) - neither with the joints, nor strightness, nor nivel. I mark and cut well any profile, and make round or other kind of holes where necessary. I can resolve alone problems of various kind. On the other hand, certain things I don't know at all - such as, curved staircases, good that in the hospital are some so that I'll learn that. But I have problems with the speed. My work has to become faster. What f.ex. eats speed is, that for level them, often I have to lift tiles and put more paste under them or remove paste. However, I don't want to sacrify good quality for speed. If I don't get it through to work good and fast, then I prefere I open my own firma for without pressure I can work good even slow. I see on one side how important it is to work good, by my friend Isaque, which also get offered the most qualified works in exclusive houses, on the other side I would feel shame for and want to stay far from such a mess of quality like the second and third patron explained above and like I see otherwhere too. My friend worked fast and excellent. He isn't longer here, but during working I feel what he would accept, and what he would reprove I remove and make again. Good that the old tiler in the hospital which teached him many, also works good and fast, and also my other friend which is working with him; I have to observe them better during their work.
The received money I used mainly for buy tools. Isaque had almost everything; what was too big to transport in a normal car, he lent from his earlier patron. But many "professionals" have nothing, so as my first three chefs which used my tools ... . I try to make my service good, so I buyed everything. I still want to buy a big electrical cutting machine, and an elevator to lift cement and sand upstairs.
