Tools for new tilers

[charlie1]

Adhesive mixer from lidle £40

 

[Concrete guy]

And if you're not quite sure about something - ask. Most people on here will have come across or up against what you need.

There's no such thing as a stupid question. There are plenty of stupid answers about though!

 

[charlie1]

As a newbie, in your first few jobs, your only ever one job away from complete disaster, what I mean by this is you will take on a job that's out your depth and it will end your career. You will learn so much on your first job though, when I think back to the first ever paid job I did, it was a 11 m2 large bathroom floor that was failed by another pro, this job took me 3 days as I remember, I had to self level the floor then tile. My stress levels where so high, now, the same job I would do in 1 day no problem and others on here I'm sure would do even quicker but point to my story is, on your first few jobs do your homework, take your time, understand why certain things do what they do like the adhesive, if you get any lippage they to understand why it's happened rather than repeatedly pressing the corner of the tile in only for the opposing corner to push out.

 

[cam_low]

For the price and ease of use and how much time they save i think a laser level is a must to start out. Will all newbies know about flipping the level to counteract the tolerance ?

 

[hotrod]

Not disagreeing with the original post but just to offer an alternative train of thought good quality tools hold their value incredibly well so buying the best brands second hand you should be able to recoup most of your money if things go wrong, for example I bought a rubi tx700 in good condition for £200 and feel pretty confident that unless I break it (that's always a possibility !) I should be able to put it back on eBay for the same or close to, if I buy a cheap cutter for say £50 will I be able to get any of that back if things don't work out well for me? For me I'd rather spend say £1000 on tools that I can sell on for £800 than £300 on some that are worthless. My son is an apprentice plumber and rather than pay me housekeep I make him buy 1 tool every week but buy the best he can afford so rothenberger etc that way he either has tools for life or if he decides plumbings not for him he has a couple of grands worth of tools to sell on. Like I say not disagreeing with the post as I think it's good common sense advice for lots of people starting out.

 

[High Peak Tiling]

And don't tip the remains down the sink/bath either when cleaning up, major blockage is possible....

We had a lad labouring for us briefly.. we had 10 bathrooms to tile @ 12m2 each and 1 kitchen backsplash & 4 Toilets @ 35m2 each ... It was made clear where to dispose of the waste gear and grout water by the Site foreman & Myself...
I got called back to the job 2 months later with the foreman and Contracts manager to determine what had blocked a filter system in the drains!!
On arrival the drive has been partially dug up and inspection covers were off...
Due to poor flow on the system (original piping having barely any fall) the waste from addy washouts & grout water residue being sat in the bottom of these pipes had gone stiff, so the drains were backing up!!


Never again... to this day we don't know how you can mistake a big metal yellow skip for a drain !😳

 

[Dan s]

One tool that gets neglected is a plumb bob only a few quid and great bit of kit for getting a plumb line in awkward spots, and a chalk line to go with it (handy when the lasers batts have died:lol🙂
I recon starting out you should spend £50 or so on a few bottles of good cleaning products heavy and light duty lithofin, hg etc

 

[AliGage]

A carpenters square.

I brought a cheap from Wickes. About £8 i think.

 

[High Peak Tiling]

Got the old Square.
I use the chalk line for setting out large floors with rooms going off it

 

[Paulyboy]

For the price and ease of use and how much time they save i think a laser level is a must to start out. Will all newbies know about flipping the level to counteract the tolerance ?

Good shout......for around £70 you can get a DeWalt self levelling crossbeam laser kit, adjustable pole and clamp included. Shoots a line around 3 walls and a plumb line floor to ceiling....takes the "human error" factor down a notch!!