tile spacer law

[brian c]

depends how well calibrated the tiles are aswell to what spacer i use,i tend to use 3mm for walls and floors,i did a job last week with rectified quartz tiles and the customer wanted 1mm joints but i advised that the floor would probably fail as it was a plywood floor and 1mm joints is a no no due to deflection,expansion and contraction etc....in the end she opted for 3mm....:smilewinkgrin: also told her i was deadly serious in that i wouldnt guarantee the floor.

 

[gizzy2007]

yeah it all depends on the tile some have chamfered edge which when you but it it gives you a 2mm space some have flat edges which you need to space

 

[tilestars]

what about the old johnsons tiles which where manufactured to be butt jointed, isnt there something in the british standard which says that 2mm is the standard unless the tiles have been manufactured for butt jointing ,i may be wrong, its a long time since i read the british standards

 

[DHTiling]

what about the old johnsons tiles which where manufactured to be butt jointed, isnt there something in the british standard which says that 2mm is the standard unless the tiles have been manufactured for butt jointing ,i may be wrong, its a long time since i read the british standards

British standards have changed since the days of butt jointing on lugged tiles.

Standards change to meet the way houses etc are built..and to cope with more demanding substrates.

 

[disco]

Well that kind of answered my question. Ive just come back from Vietnam where I stayed in some pretty nice hotels whilst stood in the shower I noticed that all of the tiles were butt jointed (as you do) and even though they had a slight chamfer they looked damn good Im thinking about trying it on one of my jobs Ill make sure the walls are pretty rigid and use a good flexible adhesive but if there is movement the first to go is the grouting Ive never seen tiles snap because of movement.

 

[Alan.P]

Recipe for disaster imho, but ( no phun ) I have seen it before in a Pizza Express that was done by someone else.

 

[bugs183]

I'm with Alan P.
Spacing allows for a little bit of movement, and also gives the tile a little bit of lee way when fixing the tiles, the substrate has to be perfect to butt joint.
You'd just be making life hard for yourself.

 

[macten]

I was taught 2mm for walls and 3mm for floors as British Standards. Just been reading through them as I have a bathroom coming up where the customer wants 1mm joints (as per porcelanosa display).
Could only find this in BS-5385:

Tiles should never be fixed with butt-joints, as an adequate width of
joint is necessary for the relief of any local stress. Joints of
approximately 1 mm to 2 mm should be left around every tile
by inserting spacing pegs of suitable thickness between the tiles as
fixing proceeds. If for design reasons wider joints are required, the
same technique should be adopted.

 

[disco]

Getting the substrate spotty dog wont be a problem finding a tile without a noticeble size difference might be, unlike timber I cant buy it regularized. I could allways buy straight edges and run them all through a cutter with fixed straight edge first.