straight line

[dotto]

Hi all. It is the second time i have tiled floor and walls and i have experienced that when i draw a straight line to put wall tiles and screw a batten in at the bottom of the wall so that the first run of wall tiles is nice and straight, the timber batten moves slightly but enough ( when screwed in the wall) that my line is not 100% straight anymore. Do you have any tips as to how not to make the timber batten move when screwed in the wall?
Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[xerxes]

You do not say if you are fixing the batten to a masonry or a timber stud wall.

Presumably, when you say the batten is no longer straight, you mean it is no longer level. If so, you either need to take more care with fixing the batten, or make it adjustable (by elongating the holes) so that you can tweak the level before finally screwing it down.

You can buy adjustable batten supports like the ones shown on this page. I don't know if they are worth having for people who do only a small amount of tiling.

Hope this helps.

 

[Symptoms]

dotto - don't use countersunk screws, use round-head or pan-heads. Then follow xerxes' advice about making it 'adjustable' - fix one end as normal then the other end drill a bigger pilot hole only through the batten, when you fix a screw through this hole put a washer under the screw-head. When tightening up you'll be able to adjust the batten, due to the enlarged hole, and then tighten down against the washer. Keep the washer/2screw combo in your tiling toolbox for next time.

 

[dotto]

dotto - don't use countersunk screws, use round-head or pan-heads. Then follow xerxes' advice about making it 'adjustable' - fix one end as normal then the other end drill a bigger pilot hole only through the batten, when you fix a screw through this hole put a washer under the screw-head. When tightening up you'll be able to adjust the batten, due to the enlarged hole, and then tighten down against the washer. Keep the washer/2screw combo in your tiling toolbox for next time.

clever little piece of advice!!! Thank you very much both of you