What size spacers and trowel notches?

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I've bought tiles for the bathroom walls, size 16 x 10" x 8mm thick and plan to fit them in a brick bond style with a mosaic border. What size spacers would be recommended for this size of tile? Also what size of notch would be best for a trowel (and should this differ for the mosaic border?).

Similarly, for the floor, we have 1' square tiles which are about 8mm thick, to be fitted onto 25mm ply. What sizespacers, and trowel notch, would be best for these? It is highly likely that these will be fitted over electrical underfloor heating.

I currently have no tiling tools other than an electrical "wet slitter" style cutter, but want to get the right trowels etc to help towards a decent job. I'm already looking for a Marshalltown grout float as recommended by gcol :cool: .
 
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Have a butchers on here under grouting for a Marshaltown float http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/

Trowel for large tiles http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/Marshalltown_Trowels.html Have a look at the 10mm one. If your walls are very flat then you can get away with a smaller notch - there's an 8mm one here http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/Rubi_Trowels.html (Look at the 3mm one for mosaics.) For the spacers for the mosaics; just see what space there is between the individual tiles on the sheet and get that size of spacer.

Wall tiles that size will be about a 3 or 4mm spacer. The smaller the spacer, the more any tile corners will appear to stick up if you don't get them perfectly flat.

Have a look at the Washboy on here http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/Grout_Washing___Cleaning_.html They're expensive (you can get cheaper ones that work as well) but they do make grouting a cinch. Any grouting job you have to do for the rest of your life will be a doddle.

Get yourself a cheap mixing paddle for mixing the grout and you're laughing http://www.screwfix.com/prods/61617/Drill-Bits/Paddle-Mixers/Titan-Power-Paint-Mixer
 
Aye thank you! I've got a cheap mixing paddle but it's a bit worse for wear so a new one is needed.

So, a 10mm notched trowel for large wall tiles (and floor?), plus a 3mm one for the mosaic? Am I right in thinking that 4mm spacers will also suffice for the floor tiles?

I'll check out those links and get tooled up! :cool:
 
Ah forgive me, I read your post as you having 1" square tiles on the floor so thought you were talking about mosaics for the floor. I see now you're on 1 foot square tiles. Use a 10 mm radius 'U' notch for the floor tiles http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/Rubi_Trowels.html

Are your mosaic border tiles the same depth as the wall tiles or thicker? If they're thicker then you would be better to use a smaller notch that you used for the wall tiles - this will help even out the face levels. If they're the same thickness, then using a smaller notch will result in the border being lower than the wall tiles - so just use the same trowel for the mosaics as you did for the wall tiles. Usually the mosaics are thicker though.

Yeah, 4 or 5mm spacers for the floor are ideal for tiles that size. This is my bathroom floor done a couple of weeks ago with the same size tiles and 4mm spacers.

 
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This is my bathroom floor done a couple of weeks ago with the same size tiles and 4mm spacers.
You forgot to mention pub breaks to relieve the stress of diagonal tiling
;)
 
You forgot to mention pub breaks to relieve the stress of diagonal tiling ;)
You're not wrong. The worst bit is that I can't make the cuts with my Rubi cutter because the breaker is fixed at the top. Meant that every cut was with the angle grinder and meant a trip down and back up the stairs. :rolleyes:
 
Are your mosaic border tiles the same depth as the wall tiles or thicker? If they're thicker then you would be better to use a smaller notch that you used for the wall tiles - this will help even out the face levels. If they're the same thickness, then using a smaller notch will result in the border being lower than the wall tiles - so just use the same trowel for the mosaics as you did for the wall tiles. Usually the mosaics are thicker though.

Yeah, 4 or 5mm spacers for the floor are ideal for tiles that size. This is my bathroom floor done a couple of weeks ago with the same size tiles and 4mm spacers.

Gcol, thanks for your help. I have the sticky printed out now!

The mosaic are approx the same thickness as the wall tile. I'll go with 4mm spacers all over and get myself a couple of decent trowels. Just bought the recommended marshalltown grout float for £7.81 + VAT.
 

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