UK/USA Tile Terms Translator

[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: