Spacers (floor)

[charlie1]

Oright guy's,

What do you guy's use? I personally think the smaller the better. And whats your method of spacing, do you place spacer all the way in or only 1 leg or do you even use spacers at all?

I know this question will be determined by different factors but base your answers on a normal porc or ceramic straight edge tile?

I currently use 4mm spacers for floor and place spacers all the way in between the 4 tiles.

 

[GazTech]

I always use spacers as a peg, remove b4 grouting....

 

[Mike Strutter]

4mm for floors, 2mm for walls, unless the customer asks for different. Same here Gaz, i use spacers like pegs and remove before grouting

 

[MICK the Tiler]

Using spacers is of personal preference, I don't think you are less of a tiler if you don't use, or a rank novice if you do. Spacers if pushed into the joint provide support to the corners of tiles allowing for movement as they will compress. they also lock the position of the tile and stop any twisting motions. If you push them in on a floor for example and someone accidentally walks all over you work whilst still wet then the humble spacer might save the job to some extent as the corners will lock against each other. On walls they will help against sag and also lock against each other.

I push mine in and don't remove, leaving them as pegs is fine though although I find the extra step of pulling them out before grouting rather tedious. Also pushing them in makes for easier cleanig of your work as there are no crosses to sponge around

 

[bigandy]

i use them and tend to leave them in(unless i forgot to pick some more up then re use them) as mick says its a boring job puling them out again

 

[DHTiling]

I personally don't use spacers on floor tiling.......floor tiles tend to be more sizey thus using spacers can throw the lines out.....rack of eye for me..!!.......

 

[grumpygrouter]

Wall tile sizes can be all over the place too, as I found to my cost when I first started. I remove spacers now as I find that poor tiles need more "adjustment"!

 

[charlie1]

I agree with you there Mick, I find pushing the spacers in makes for easier cleaning but I also agree that sometimes tiles can differ in size. I also give the tiles a good check for size before I start just to see how well they are calibrated. The worst Ive seen are from homebase.

 

[MICK the Tiler]

I agree with you there Mick, I find pushing the spacers in makes for easier cleaning but I also agree that sometimes tiles can differ in size. I also give the tiles a good check for size before I start just to see how well they are calibrated. The worst Ive seen are from homebase.

Yes you are right there Charlie tiles do indeed differ in size, you should still use a straight edge to re-check your lies, and if a tile varies by too much you should pull it out and grab yourself another one.

 

[pjtiler]

i dont use spacers on floors
but that dose,nt mean i,m a bad person

 

[LM Ceramics]

i use spacers on walls and push them in or i take them out it depends but im with dave on the floor spacers i dont use them you can lose your lines easily as tile sizes can differ

 

[Daz]

I tend to use spacers as pegs, and have done quite a few floors by eye, depending on customer request.

I have tried to use cross spacers on walls and floors pushing them in as it does, indeed, make for easier cleaning but have never been able to get on with that method. I find that there is the potential for the spacer to work it's way under a floor tile, hence causing lipping, and to potentially "kick" the lines out with wall tiles, so I stick to my tried and trusted method off "pegging".

To answer the other part of your question (I think), I usually go for 2mm gaps with smaller format wall tiles, 3mm gaps for larger format and sheer edge wall tiles. Floors are usually 3mm or 4mm unless customer asks for larger gaps.

 

[Perry]

i use model making matches on 2mm joints 600 x 600 porcelain but anything bigger than 2mm i grid the floor ete

 

[Grace'sDad]

What's a spacer???!!

 

[Spud]

spacers for floors ? i dont understand the need for them, i have seen tilers asked to pack their tools up and go home for using spacers on floors as it was always considered that diyers used floor spacers as a tiler would be able to grid a floor out or have guage rods and and a square for spacing their tiles,
i dont think that is any thing wrong with using floor spacers but would never waste money on something that is not needed to do the job