A
Ant
Hi All
Just done 1 week plastering and 1 week tiling course at Ashton School of Tiling and Plastering (Ashton, North West). These are the only courses they offer.
Before I did these courses I looked at others and also visited Construction Skills College in Stoke on Trent.
The main reason I chose Ashton was my budget.This also includes a bucket of tools for each course (Tiling: Bucket, 6mm notched trowel, bucket trowel, Tile nippers, tile scorer, tape measure. Plastering: Bucket, claw hammer, metal snips, hawk, bucket trowel, tape measure).
The place is run by Terry and his son Paul. They also run a local building/diy firm and opened these training courses about 12 months ago. They were getting plenty of trainees until government stopped giving grants out so now rely on trainees paying out of their own pocket. There was just myself and another guy on the tiling course.
Both Terry and Paul are nice down to earth guys. They teach in an informal way, and are very open to questions, etc. The course is probably not as structured and 'professional' as some offered by longer standing training centres, and the building is a bit rundown. But they have the same work bays, rubi cutter, wet cutters, etc as the other centres have and thats what matters.
For the tiling course you get your bay approx 1.2 m square, with a plain wall, a door wall, a window wall (with reveals, trimmed) and the floor to tile. And also another section where you can tile round various plug sockets etc. In 1 week I tiled the lot, inc sockets. As there was just 2 of us on the course, there was plenty of time to ask him about substrate prep, materials, etc.
I am now confident enough to tile my mums bathroom floor and walls and then set up on my own as a tiler. So, I'm happy with that.
The plastering course was similar bay with a plain wall, a window wall and ceiling. You have to board the walls (inc reveals, trimmed) and ceiling in plasterboard (1 wall fixed to wood frame, 1 solid wall for dot and dab technique) Then skim everything in plaster. Also artex the ceiling. We then knocked 6 big holes in my finished wall, which we then had to bond and re-skim to a nice,flat finish. After that I skimmed 5 walls to brush up my technique. Am also confident in basic plastering now, which i'm sure will be handy.
Cheers
Ant
Just done 1 week plastering and 1 week tiling course at Ashton School of Tiling and Plastering (Ashton, North West). These are the only courses they offer.
Before I did these courses I looked at others and also visited Construction Skills College in Stoke on Trent.
The main reason I chose Ashton was my budget.This also includes a bucket of tools for each course (Tiling: Bucket, 6mm notched trowel, bucket trowel, Tile nippers, tile scorer, tape measure. Plastering: Bucket, claw hammer, metal snips, hawk, bucket trowel, tape measure).
The place is run by Terry and his son Paul. They also run a local building/diy firm and opened these training courses about 12 months ago. They were getting plenty of trainees until government stopped giving grants out so now rely on trainees paying out of their own pocket. There was just myself and another guy on the tiling course.
Both Terry and Paul are nice down to earth guys. They teach in an informal way, and are very open to questions, etc. The course is probably not as structured and 'professional' as some offered by longer standing training centres, and the building is a bit rundown. But they have the same work bays, rubi cutter, wet cutters, etc as the other centres have and thats what matters.
For the tiling course you get your bay approx 1.2 m square, with a plain wall, a door wall, a window wall (with reveals, trimmed) and the floor to tile. And also another section where you can tile round various plug sockets etc. In 1 week I tiled the lot, inc sockets. As there was just 2 of us on the course, there was plenty of time to ask him about substrate prep, materials, etc.
I am now confident enough to tile my mums bathroom floor and walls and then set up on my own as a tiler. So, I'm happy with that.
The plastering course was similar bay with a plain wall, a window wall and ceiling. You have to board the walls (inc reveals, trimmed) and ceiling in plasterboard (1 wall fixed to wood frame, 1 solid wall for dot and dab technique) Then skim everything in plaster. Also artex the ceiling. We then knocked 6 big holes in my finished wall, which we then had to bond and re-skim to a nice,flat finish. After that I skimmed 5 walls to brush up my technique. Am also confident in basic plastering now, which i'm sure will be handy.
Cheers
Ant
