Tiling tips and advice please!

[skylined_gtr]

Hi All

I have read various 'how to' guides on tiling and have gotten the idea of what I need to do but I have one or two questions I am hoping you can help with.

1. When marking out the tiles on the walls, should I do it on a wall with nothing on it or on the bath wall? I am asking because everywhere I read it says to make sure there is not a sliver tile anywhere if possible.

2. I am going to attempt to do a brick-bond pattern. Once I complete one wall, do I use the off cuts I will get from doing a brick bond pattern on the next wall? Or do I start from the middle of the next wall? I'm trying to figure out how to keep the tile line the same height all the way around the room.

3. The bottom half of the walls are plasterboard walls which are not waterproofed or skimmed with plaster, top half have a plaster skim and a coat of matt paint (not bathroom paint). Whats the best thing to apply to the two different types of plasterboard I'll be working with?

Thanks very much

 

[Richard C]

Have you read the tiling forum sticky.

 

[skylined_gtr]

Hi

yes I have and those questions weren't answered specifically hence posting the question but thanks for pointing me to it

 

[Richard C]

1. When marking out the tiles on the walls, should I do it on a wall with nothing on it or on the bath wall?

I’m don’t really understand the question, are you asking which wall should you tile first?

I am asking because everywhere I read it says to make sure there is not a sliver tile anywhere if possible.

Again, I don't really understand your question; what do you mean by “sliver tile”, are you referring to small tile pieces you may get where the walls meet at internal corners? When working out tile spacing, you generally start in the centre of the wall & work outwards but there can be occasions (windows or other features) where this is not always the best practice as it can leave some odd looking or off centre bits; is this what you mean by slivers?.

2. I am going to attempt to do a brick-bond pattern. Once I complete one wall, do I use the off cuts I will get from doing a brick bond pattern on the next wall? Or do I start from the middle of the next wall? I'm trying to figure out how to keep the tile line the same height all the way around the room.

Use whatever you can where you can; again it’s normal to space out from the centre of a wall but, with brick weave, I always start on the external edge of an external corner & work to the internal corner so you get a full ½ tile otherwise it will look odd. If your not sure how it will look, it’s best to draw it out on the wall so you ca get a better idea.

To keep the same tile line use a spirit level or, if you have one, a laser level.

3. The bottom half of the walls are plasterboard walls which are not waterproofed or skimmed with plaster, top half have a plaster skim and a coat of matt paint (not bathroom paint). Whats the best thing to apply to the two different types of plasterboard I'll be working with?

• Not quiet sure how you’ve managed that, is it new PB or have you removed previous tiles from existing PB?
• What sort of PB is it grey (ordinary wall board) or green (moisture resistant)?
• Are any of the areas being tiled behind a bath or inside a shower cubicle?

 

[gcol]

I like you Richard... you keep an eye on that Jef while I'm away will ya - you know he gets carried away.

 

[Richard C]

I like you Richard... you keep an eye on that Jef while I'm away will ya - you know he gets carried away.

Certainly will & you have a good one. I'm counting down to mine & just hoping the Euro keeps going on the right direction, still got 6 weeks to go so keeping fingers crossed

 

[jefoss]

I like you Richard... you keep an eye on that Jef while I'm away will ya - you know he gets carried away.

about 10pm this evening i was happily watching tv when shiver went down my spine, someone was taking my name in vain

 

[skylined_gtr]

Lol sounds like there's an underlying story to this.... you guys going away on holiday??

Sorry I should have made myself clearer, ok let me start again...Pictures always help don't they? Let me try explain by pictures:

So this is what I call wall number 1, I think this is the wall I should start with. As you can see I have placed my digital tiles onto it so you can see what I mean note the cut tile in the bottom right run.:

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• skylined_gtr
• 10 Jun 2009
• 1

This is wall number 2, note you can see the rad from wall 1 in this picture so you hopefully understand where this wall is. The cut tile offcut is the one I continue with on this wall, is that the right way to do it? Or do I have to start from the middle of this wall like I did on wall 1? (PS you were right! Drawing it out helped me to see I'm doing something wrong here as the patter isn't working right :

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• skylined_gtr
• 10 Jun 2009
• 1

This is wall 3, this wall follows on from wall 2 and is opposite wall 1:

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• skylined_gtr
• 10 Jun 2009
• 1

When I removed the old tiles I managed to damage the plasterboard that was there so I cut it out and fitted new pieces in. That'show I've ended up with the half and half situation. The area around the bath, up to about 1 meter above the bath, is going to have the BAL WP1 Waterproofing kit applied to it (the paint on stuff) does that sound like the right height? The bath does have a fixed head shower up on the wall though so i'm guessing I should waterproof the entire height of the walls above the bath?

The rest of the walls are going to have BAL acrylic primer applied to them but not sure if I should dilute or not (haven't read the instructions yet!) Is that the right stuff?

Hope i'm making sense, if not please let me know and I'll try explain again. Thanks for your help fellas.

 

[jefoss]

i feel i should make this clear me and GC arnt going away together!!





i very rarely start from the middle of any walls to be honest, but i guess its each to his own, i measure the wall work out how many tiles go across then see if the edge tiles are an acceptable size, i.e. not 3 cm i like to make sure its going to be there or there abouts half a tile if poss.

also looking at windows to see if your going to get a sliver there too, easily avoided with a few mins ground work. then whack em up.

using the bal 1 meter up is more than adequate around the bath area, where the shower is just go up a meter or so, no need to go right to the shower unit, if you think about it you dont face the unit to hit the wall directly 5mm under the shower nozzle do you?? im sure im making sense if not let me know ill try again!!!

 

[skylined_gtr]

Hi Jefoss thanks for clearing up the mystery - I was starting to worry lol

Yep I think I understand you, so around the shower only waterproof up to the height water will be splashed onto the tiles.

Sorry, I started the tiles in the middle of the wall because I didn't want to digital-tile over my rad that digital adhesive is a** ache to get off shiny surfaces I'll start in the bottom left corner. So if I understand you right all I do is complete one wall, then carry on the pattern round to the next wall? When I'm measuring up what'll happen if I end up with a sliver tile on the next wall, should I just shift it all along a bit from the first wall?

 

[jefoss]

treat each wall as an individual, so dont follow round with the tiles.

do wall 1, then start on wall 2 afresh.

 

[Richard C]

You’ve already got good advice on the tile layout but, personally, I think them’s rather large tile to be “brick weaving” & get to look right. Whatever; always do what looks right &, as jefoss says, treat each wall as individual. Get them to match as best you can but concentrate on the wall everyone will see as the walk into the room; get that right & no one will notice the rest unless they are either lying in the bath or sitting on the bog without a news paper & nothing better to do.

Make sure you tank that crap wall board behind the bath before you tile though.

 

[skylined_gtr]

Thanks Jeffos that's exactly what I need to know. I guess my question should have been "Do I tile each wall individually?" We got there in the end thanks to you guys.

Richard are you saying you don't like my custard coloured digital tiles?? the tiles aren't actually all that big, I just made them that big when I was putting them on the picture but I'll remember the advice for any future jobs around the house I do.

Yep tanking is the first order of the day Richard doing that today and leaving it a full 24 hours at least to go off before I start the job.

Will no doubt be back so watch this space thanks for the help.

 

[jefoss]

when you tank do the first coat leave approx 3 hours then do the second coat, thats when you leave it a day

 

[skylined_gtr]

Thanks for the advice Jefoss

If I'm looking to tile half way up the wall then have a mosaic border then continue with the tile the rest of the way up, how would I do that? Do I do the upper half of the wall with tiles first then do the bottom half then press in the mosaic after?

This is what I want to do:

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• skylined_gtr
• 12 Jun 2009
• 1