UK/USA Tile Terms Translator

[Rob Z]

Roger (Roger is from the UK but all of his tile trade work has been in the US) and I are learning all the terms for tile work in the UK via this forum. :smilewinkgrin: I jokingly suggested that we should have a thread detailing the vernacular used on both sides of the Atlantic, and Dave said to go ahead and get it started. So, just for fun, here are some of the terms we use in the tile trade over here in the USA (in no particular order):


1. Mud Bed....any layer of mud floated from sand and cement (floors) and sand/cement/masonry lime (walls and ceilings). Mud is Mixed or Chopped in a Mud Box.
2. Float....two meanings...first, float is a verb for troweling mud over over lath or other reinforcment, then screeding and finishing the surface for tile. Some guys refer to it as Pulling Mud.

Float is also a noun...for example, a grout float is used to apply grout, and a wood float is used to finish the surface of a mud bed.
3. Float strips....pieces of metal or wood that are leveled or plumbed in the mud bed , and used as a guide to Screed off the excess mud and to form the flat level/plumb surface for tile.
4. Slip sheet ....any piece or plastic or roofing paper used to isolate the mud bed from the wood floor or walls over which the mud is floated.
5. Pan Liner....any sheet of lead, copper, PVC or CPE that is used to form a waterproof barrier under the mud floor of a shower...the pan liner is mechanically connected to a Clamping Drain.
6. Waterproofing....any product that does what is called Tanking in the UK.
7. Thinset.....our general term for any cementitious product used to set tile with a thin layer. Medium Bed is used in thick layers (up to 3/4"). Thick Bed is a general term for setting tile over mud. Thinset is sometimes called Dryset because the tiles are set over a dry (cured) bed, as opposed to Wetset, is the old-school method for beating the tiles into a fresh bed of mud and bonded with a Slurry Bond Coat or Neat Coat of pure cement.
8. Mastic....is mixed stuff in a bucket, ready to go with no additive or water. I am told that the mastic in other countries is decent stuff, but here in the US the stuff is crap. Many tile setters won't use it at all except for something like a Backsplash (the area behind the counters in the kitchen).
9. Crack Isolation Membrane, Control Joint, Expansion Joint, Soft Joint...I think all of these are used in the same context in the UK.
10. Additives/Admixes...the liquid "Milk" that is added into Thinset, Grout or Mud to make it stronger/improve performance.
11. Tub Surrounds or Tub Hops are the tile installations around a bathtub. The Tub Deck is the flat area around a tub. Curbs separate the shower from the rest of the bath (the Wet Room concept isn't common here).
12. Trim is any piece of tile that isn't a Field Tile (the main tile). Bullnose is any piece of trim that has a rounded edge and transitions from the tile installation to the plaster or drywall outside of the tile. Surface Cap is Flat bullnose , and Mud Cap is a type of Radiused Bullnose that has a curved edge that is used to cover the thickness of the mud on the wall.
13. Tile is Set by Tile Setters. Professional Tile Setters do not want to be called Tile Installers. We think carpet and vinyl guys that do a little bit of tilework on the side are tile installers. :lol:


OK, that is enough to get started. Maybe some of these words are used the same way in the UK, and if so, we can take them out of the list.

Fire away with the translations into The Queen's English. :smilewinkgrin:

Roger, what did I leave out?

 

[Rob Z]

Oh, I just thought to add...


1. Fat Mud is the mud for walls, so named because when it is in a pile on the mud board it will jiggle like a fat belly when the mud board is shaken.

2. Deck mud is also known as Dry Pack... this is the dry mix of sand and cement for floors and shower pans.

3. Backer Board is any product made for setting tile on (Cement board, hardibacker, Denshield, Wedi, etc). Green Board is the so-called moisture resistant drywall, and is not used as much anymore because many building codes are restricting its use.

 

[doug boardley]

when I was plastering in LA we were using stucco, external rendering! looked like artex but outside (well it did when i did it lol)

 

[doug boardley]

never mind across the pond Rob, we sometimes come unstuck with our Gaelic brethren north of the civilized boundary (the land of the picts, celts and blue faced, skirt wearing nation!)

 

[Rob Z]

never mind across the pond Rob, we sometimes come unstuck with our Gaelic brethren north of the civilized boundary (the land of the picts, celts and blue faced, skirt wearing nation!)

OK...I think you're busting on Scotland, but I'm not sure.... :lol:

You mentioned LA...did you live in Los Angeles?

 

[CJ]

I have trouble understanding the bloody Northeners :lol::lol:

 

[Rob Z]

I watched "Trainspotting" when the movie first played here and decided that I would have a hard time when I travel to the UK. I might need a guide/translator for my trip to Scotland. :lol:

 

[White Room]

The dogs danglies, a very good job

 

[Rob Z]

OK, I just learned from Dave that Skirting is what we call Base Tile.

 

[R Montgomery]

And skirting board is wood base Rob.Crack Isolation Membrane is Un-coupling membrane here.A slip sheet was a cleavage memrane in Ca.Never actually said that though as it was always just aquabar.Run out and get a fibreglass float and throw the wooden one in the trash on your way out.They were difficult to get in SF but they are everywhere here if you can't find them I'll have to send some.The mud doesn't ball up half as much so you're not scraping them clean half the time.
It's late so my brain has shut down.Time for the tools next?

 

[Rob Z]

Roger, sweet....I need to find one of those FG trowels. Yes, my cedar wood floats get wasted because they gum up with the lime in the fat mud.


I started using Aquabar after I learned about it from a guy in CA. It's a lot better than roofing paper, IMO.

Tools next...sure.

 

[R Montgomery]

I thought of one term before the floating.When a tile setter arrives at a job he's usually confronted with one or more of 3 different surfaces.On the walls there will be sheetrock(plasterboard)or in wet areas greenboard/rock(moisture resistant sheetrock)and on the floors there will be plywood in some cases(ground floors and hi-rises)there will be concrete.The first operation is "roughing in" otherwise known as "paper and wiring".On the walls tar paper is affixed horizontally with a 6" overlap using staples or roofing nails and this is followed by 20 gauge chicken wire or in some cases expanded metal lath(EML) attached in the same way but vertically with the curve of the wire to the wall.Then the floating begins.On plywood floors it's the same or with bituthene instead of the tar paper.On concrete floors the paper is gone to be replaced with slurry or my personal favourite weld-crete.

 

[Rob Z]

Here are a few more observations....Maybe some of these are the same in the UK and I just haven't noticed it on this site yet.


I've never seen this type of trowel in any of the photos from the guys here...it's called a Margin Trowel and everyone uses them.
Marshalltown Margin Trowel. Huge Selection of Tile Tools. Big Savings.

Also, I've never seen anyone have one of these in their photos....these Straightedges are on most jobsites, and a definate must if working with mud. I have stragithedges from 8 inches all the way up to 10 feet in length.
Barwalt 5 Pc Bent Angle Straight Edges. Tile Tools. Contractors Direct.

We call this a Snap Cutter...
Rubi TX-N Professional Tile Cutters. Tile & Stone Tools. Contractors Direct

And these are called Biters or Nippers....
Superior Tile Nipper. Tile Cutters. Large selection of tile tools online. Big Savings.

I also use this tool to rake out the thinset from grout joints.....a Tuck Pointer...
Marshalltown - Masonry - Tuck Pointers

 

[lucius]

Hi Rob i use a margin trowel and different size tuck pointers all the time would be lost without the margin trowel though i must admit i have never seen the direct pressure tuck pointer before i take it is for jointing brickwork.
Lucius

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Lucius,

The one thing that I picked up on from one of my Canadian friends is the bucket trowel (looks like a brick trowel with the point cut off). My buddy sent me a Karl Dahm and I've been hooked ever since.

Yes, the direct pressure tuck pointer is for brickwork, although none of the brickies I've worked with have ever used one when I was around.

Here's a question: after working in Spain for so long, have you learned any of the Sanish words for working in the tile trade?? Both of my employees are native spanish speakers, and even though I can speak with them in Spanish, I don't know any of the tile-trade specific words and neither do they becuase they moved here before they were adults and started working in construction.

 

[White Room]

Blabbing, Blebbing and Blistering, All mean the formation of small swellings on the plastering surface
Pricking up coat, The first coat on wood or metal lathing
Shelling, The lifting off and loosening of plaster or cement coats due to adhesion failure

 

[lucius]

Hi Rob i will post a short dictionary of Spanish tiling terms for you some time this week when i get a bit more time.
Lucius

 

[R Montgomery]

Might be able to get back to you on that one just give me a couple of days.

 

[R Montgomery]

Hi Lucius,

The one thing that I picked up on from one of my Canadian friends is the bucket trowel (looks like a brick trowel with the point cut off). My buddy sent me a Karl Dahm and I've been hooked ever since.

Yes, the direct pressure tuck pointer is for brickwork, although none of the brickies I've worked with have ever used one when I was around.

Here's a question: after working in Spain for so long, have you learned any of the Sanish words for working in the tile trade?? Both of my employees are native spanish speakers, and even though I can speak with them in Spanish, I don't know any of the tile-trade specific words and neither do they becuase they moved here before they were adults and started working in construction.

Hi Rob,
It must be different in Virginia to California as there all setting materials etc are all translated into Spanish on the bag or bucket etc.With tools when they are packaged like at Home Depot they are also in Spanish although I wouldn't want to buy them from there.

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Roger

I should have said more when I posted that to Lucius....there is Spanish on much of the material packaging here, but some of it is crap translation according to the guys that work for me....it's kind of like when we read stuff in English for something made in China....it's English, but it isn't GOOD English.

One funny one, the people at Custom Building Products sent to me a pallet of Easy Board to field test. We had some condos to work in so I said OK I'll use it. The Spanish that was on the face of the panel was really, really bad. When the guy from Custom called me I told him about it, he acted as if he cared and would do something about it. Just the oher day I was in Home Depot and saw Easy Board (I haven't used it since that condo job), and it had the same poor translation on it.

Another good one, Laticrete's 209 deck mud, it is translated on the bag as literallly "mud-sticky, gooey clay" like we have in the southern US. Hahaha, to the spanish speaking guys the Laticrete bag is labeled as a bag of crap.:lol:

 

[R Montgomery]

Shouldn't "mud-sticky,gooey clay" be on the bags of fat mud?

 

[Rob Z]

Blabbing, Blebbing and Blistering, All mean the formation of small swellings on the plastering surface
Pricking up coat, The first coat on wood or metal lathing
Shelling, The lifting off and loosening of plaster or cement coats due to adhesion failure

WB, I might have to add pricking up coat to our daily use. We call this scratch coat , but with the double entendre here your terminology is better. :smilewinkgrin:

 

[lucius]

Hi Rob if you go into the Rubi catalogue in Spanish which is at [email protected] that will give you all the name for tools in Spanish i will put some other things together for you later.
Lucius.

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Lucius, thanks!

 

[White Room]

WB, I might have to add pricking up coat to our daily use. We call this scratch coat , but with the double entendre here your terminology is better. :smilewinkgrin:

You will find most plasterers over here call it a scratch coat nowadays,saves getting a verbal attack

 

[Rob Z]

On another thread, Fred used the term Set Out in a way that makes me think it's the same as what we call Lay Out.

As in, do your lay out (the plan) for how all the tile is going to be set, the cuts, balanced around main feature in the room, etc.

 

[Rob Z]

Hey Lucius,

I spent some time on the Rubi site ....I see quite a few things that are named differently from what I hear the guys say here. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Rob Z]

Maybe I should add in here some of the terminology that we use for framing houses, or at least the terms that the tile setter needs to know for his or her work.

For us, all the wood that goes into building a house is called the FRAMING. This is both a noun and a verb, and all of this work is done by FRAMERS. Any wood product that goes into the framing of the house is called LUMBER. We only use the British word TIMBER for a stand of harvestable trees that are quite large and tall, and when really large pieces of wood are used for building barns or houses in the old-fashioned way, which then is refered to as TIMBER FRAME CONSTRUCTION.

I read the word NOGGIN here, for which we use the words CLEAT or BLOCKING. BRIDGING is any wood or metal that is used in a cross-brace fashion between the FLOOR JOISTS. Floor joists are any lumber that are stood on the narrow end and span across a room to support the floor. BTW, noggin for us is a word for your head, such as I got a bonk on the noggin when I stood up under that *@&! cabinet and hit my head. :lol:

SUBFLOOR is any wood product that lies flat on top of the floor joists. Most subfloor is either tongue and groove plywood or OSB (oriented strand board). We nickname OSB as "Beaver Barf" or "Vertical Mulch" because we don't like it that much.:lol: In the days before plywood, subfloor was almost always laid down as dimensional lumber such as 1x6's and 1x8's (measured in inches). SHEATHING is any wood product that is used to clad the exterior of the house (behind the siding, brick, stone, etc) or the roof (as base for shingles).

UNDERLAYMENT is any finished surface that is laid on top of the subfloor as prep for vinyl, tile, etc. Underlayment is usually some sort of good quality plywood that can receive vinyl flooring or a tile membrane of some sort, and is the second layer over the subfloor plywood or OSB.

I read about MDF being used in the UK for floors, but here MDF is only used for some moldings and some cabinets products.

Nails that secure framing and subfloor are called SINKERS.

STUDS are the vertical pieces of lumber that form the walls. On the top and bottom of all stud walls are PLATES , and over door and window opeings are HEADERS. The studs that hold up the header are the JACKS and the studs on the sides of the headers are the KINGS. CRIPPLES are any short studs that fill in between a header and the top plate or the bottom of a window opening and the bottom plates.

A short framed wall between a tub and a shower (for example) is called a KNEE WALL, although in the Western US they call it a PONY WALL.

I might think of more and will add it later.

 

[mikethetile]

hi rob

framing....................................stud work

lumber.....................................timber

bridging....................................herringbone struts

sheathing.................................cladding

sinkers.....................................lostheads

studs.......................................standards

plates......................................head.............at top
sill................at bottom

headers...................................lintols

jacks, kings, and cripple are terms used in roof construction as the name for various rafters

knee wall..................................dwarf wall