Help with Stacking tiles

[Crocotile]

Thanks for all the replies! It's great that I can get advice from professional tilers. I aim to be a top tiler myself one day.

I did originally start combing that wall and then my uncle/boss told me to start dabbing them as it's the only way to get all the corners to line up perfectly apparently. I believe dabbing is better when the wall is all over the place? It's rare that I get to tile onto plasterboard really. How come dabbing is frowned upon anyway? Also what does BCT stand for? I always try and spend time setting up my battons, even bought a 120cm stabilia level. I also try my best to get all of the first row perfect and yet I still have the odd line open up slightly.

Thanks for all the help and replies, if anyone has any advice to someone starting out and learning or tools that I should buy etc please do tell me!

 

[Dumbo]

You should have quality levels of all lengths . Once you have your battens set using wedges under the tiles will stop them opening . It allows for a less than perfect batten or for less than perfect setting of batten . I will leave to someone else about dot and Dab.

 

[Flintstone]

My advice is, if our serious about wanting to be a tiler, find a good Tiler who will take you on as an apprentice and go from there, learn properly, not off some builder who obviously doesn’t know what he’s on about.

 

[GoneGuy]

Bct stands for British ceramic tile, they are a tile manufacturer producing budget tiles which seem to have a variation on sizes in each pack

 

[Crocotile]

I thought BCT might stand for that. I've noticed with a lot of B&Q tiles that they're all different sizes and shapes half the time and it only takes 1mm difference to ruin your wall. I'll definitely be investing in more levels. A customer just gave me a really good bosch 120cm electric level which just needs batteries. Are laser levels worth the money?

In regards to working with a professional tiler, I'd love to but I'd have to try and do it of a weekend or whatever as I need a full time job and I'm not paid too badly at the moment. I have children and bills to pay so an apprenticeship wouldn't suit me financially but I really would love to. I try to watch tilers on YouTube to see if they do anything differently and see what their routines are etc.

I'm wondering if I should give clips a go, again I know a lot of people hate them! I've read recently that backer boards are better than ply and have tried to convince my boss to try them. I don't know the pros and cons to using them over ply though really.

 

[Dumbo]

Ply fails

 

[Flintstone]

Are you Tiling customers houses ?

 

[Crocotile]

Yes I'm tiling customer's houses. I started off tiling with my uncle/boss and then he left me for a day or two every now and again and then I started doing them from start to finish. I've done around 5+ bathrooms on my own now. As I said, the standard is alright but I want it to be as good as I see some jobs on here. I also have only worked with what I'd call 'common' tiles, the 600x300 etc and metros on splash-backs etc. I just want to improve and gain speed. My uncle says I'm too slow as I can take around 6 days to tile the whole bathroom and grout it sometimes and it's not quick enough. We normally only price to do a bathroom for around 9-10 days.

 

[Qwerty]

May I recommend that you attend a tiling course or work with a reputable tiler for a year or so before progressing further with being a tiler. You have mentioned alot of bad working practices and only use clip when you can tile.

 

[Crocotile]

I would love to work with a reputable tiler but it's not possible as I work full time and need the money, I don't think a tiler would match my wages and also I get to do other jobs in the firm and have the opportunity to learn different trades etc although I enjoy tiling the most. Why do you say not to use clips until you can tile?

I wouldn't say my work is amazing but it's not bad. As I've said I've tiled around 5 bathrooms from start to finish alone and the customers and my boss are always really happy with my work. I just want to improve and become quicker. I'll try and find the jobs from our page that I've tiled.