Hi all, advice needed soon

[4x4]

Hi all,

I thought I'd write another post as I have some questions I would like to ask the resident experts on here in the future if they dont mind helping me out, so here goes,

I originaly first posted around a year ago when I was made redundant from a different trade,
after waiting a while I took the plunge and booked a 4 week tiling course which I learnt a fair bit from and thoroughly enjoyed,

although looking back I felt the course was a bit outdated in certain areas like for example spending 2 weeks using nippers :mad2: and spending time practising things like tiling diamond set window surrounds in 6 inch tiles, which i suppose was quite popular in the 60's lol,

I felt we should have been using larger tiles on the course and taught more about using things like Ditra or Durabase which hardly got a mention,

anyway after the course I bought some tools and got some more practice in at home and for family before going it on my own,
now around 6 months down the line I have got in with an established building firm who sub me a regular stream of tiling work,

one thing I'm a generally a bit disapointed about is I cant believe how far out and uneven the walls are of the jobs I have be doing,

I spend so much time packing out low areas with rapid flex which I mix myself and end up having to butter up the tile most of the time as I rarely seem to get a nice flat wall I can trowel the addy on and slap the tiles up onto, which slows the job down so much and I really get through to many buckets too lol!

Anyway thats a bit about myself,

I have attached some photos of a few of jobs I've done as I know you all like some pics, including a small bathroom I did in ceramics where the customer would not have tile trim and insisted on mitre's, she had already bought the ceramics so I had ago, anyway I mananged to mitre them without them chipping etc. and it came out quit well in the end.

I will have some questions for you all soon as I know I have a travertine floor coming up shortly which i would like some advise on,

keep busy everyone

cheers Dave
​

 

[White Room]

good looking work Dave.........

Are they the safety stair rods for holding up the tile..????

 

[Saltire69]

looks good m8.

 

[4x4]

yeah they are from trade tiler, I knew they would come in handy in the end lol!

 

[4x4]

I just noticed a chip on the corner of that tile on the mitred edge in the 1st picture :yikes:! I must have replaced it with a new tile though i wouldn't let that go :smilewinkgrin: it was a few months ago now my memorys getting bad!

 

[White Room]

yeah they are from trade tiler, I knew they would come in handy in the end lol!

Good idea

 

[david campbell]

nice work mate,stick around and share/learn from your experiences

 

[doug boardley]

the jobs look well mate

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Yes, great looking pics Dave,I also wondered what the yellow posts were!

I know what you mean about the uneven walls, I just tiled one last week, the tiles were cheap and nasty (all different sizes) and the wall was uneven.

Do you do just the tiling Dave or do you get involved in the full refits?

 

[Dan]

Love the stair rods!

Like the mitred window too, not sure if I'd have had the patience to be honest, I'd have probably bought the lady trim instead.

Looks like you're on the right path mate.

 

[4x4]

Hi Bob , just the tiling, I also do a bit of decorating here and there,
how long you been at it mate, i take it you do full bathroom refits,

thanks for the comments everyone

 

[doug boardley]

will the window vent still open tho?

 

[4x4]

will the window vent still open tho?

hi Doug, thats just the vent slits in the frame in the pics, the actual vent mechanism went back on afterwards covering the slits, cheers

 

[py rookie]

hi dave great pics,how did you get in with a building firm,i was helping a tiler for about a year until he ran out of work,ive had a few jobs for my family but nothing much to pack in my full time job.any advise is great thanks

 

[4x4]

hi py , well through a family contact actually, quite lucky with that one, I'd like to say it was through hours of hard work phoning round and business card dropping, advertising etc, but just a lucky break in the end, i really wish you luck mate, stick with it if your passionate about it !