Month: May 2016

Update after UK Pro Tiling Training

Thought I’d post an update on how things have been going since completing Darren’s course at UK Pro Tiling Training 4 months ago to maybe help anyone who’s thinking of changing career.
I’ve been a builder for the last 15 years and have done plenty of tiling jobs during this time but could never really call myself a tiler hence the reason for going on the course in the first place and finally learning how to do it properly.

The course was fantastic with everything needed to know about tiling taught in a very straight forward fast track way.
Once all the tiling skills had been taught, the first things we were advised to do was to get a website built as most tradesman don’t have one. Having a good marketing plan is crucial for getting the customers in as fast as possible and a website is a big part of this. So, the day after the course finished I found someone on recommendation and I now have my very own website Hampsteadtiling.co.uk, anyone looking for tiling work in the North London area, please feel free to check it out and contact me for an estimate. Below is a picture of my latest tiling work.

The next thing was to start getting some business in. I basically just walked into all of the well-known tiling shops in my area and simply asked if their customers ever needed a tiler. Not one manager said no and neither did they refuse to take my Business cards and set up a trade account for me.

Long story short, within 6 weeks of walking into that first shop I had a constant stream of work, which has never stopped and is constantly growing. It does also helps to “take care” of the managers that pass on the work!

Another thing I found is that it really doesn’t take long for other tradesmen to notice your work if done well. As I mentioned earlier, I had done a lot of tiling prior to the course but never got anywhere near the type of praise coming from the other trades as I do now.

Those same guys are now recommending me to their own customers and good quality work/customers have subsequently followed.

The long and short of everything that has happened so far after completing Darren’s course is that I now “feel” like and can talk like a Tiler as opposed to just acting like one which comes across to everyone I speak with.

Tiling Courses

So for anyone who’s thinking about doing the UK Pro Tiling Training course for whatever reason, whether it’s a career change or just learning how to tile the right way, I highly recommend Darren and his team to get you where you want to go in the absolute shortest possible time absolutely everything is covered on the course from how to tile to how to run a business.
Thanks
GaborӬ; Hampstead Tiling (North London)

Contact
Anyone interested in learning to tile or a career change, please visit UK Pro Tiling Training

UK Pro Tiling Training

Testimonial; Neil Conroy

Hi Darren and Tracey,

Thank You

Firstly I just wanted to say a massive thank you not only for the quality of the tiling course I attended but the support I’ve received since completion of the course and secondly to give you an update on myself and the my business ”¨Diamond Tiling Services North East.

Since leaving the course in February I went back to my job in the Middle East and instantly got to work on my marketing strategy.

I returned home on the 1st of April and instantly had 6 weeks worth of work booked in.

The nerves soon kicked in and I started questioning my self.
– Am I capable of doing this without instruction?
– How much did I actually learn on the 9 day and did I actually take it all in?

Well after my first job the nerves went and I soon realized Darren had given me all the skills I needed to complete even the most complex jobs.

I am now booked up for the next 12 weeks and have great reviews from customers who are really pleased with the quality of my work.
Once again thanks to you both.

Above are some of the tiling jobs I’ve completed recently.

Best Regards
Neil

Tiling Courses;

Anyone thinking of a change of career like Neil then visit UK Pro Tiling Training to find out more

Fixing Wall and Floor Tiles

Applying Adhesive to walls

It is important to trowel at an angle of 45 degrees and slightly reduce the angle going up the wall, this way the adhesive will stay in contact with the wall and not run out after a few inches.

Applying adhesive to a floor

When applying adhesive on the floor, put a large pile of cement adhesive on the floor and keep the angle at a constant 45 degrees.
In both cases make sure you are left with a rib of adhesive that is full and not broken up, also make sure you scrape the surface enough to remove adhesive between the ribs so you can see the surface in between the ribs

How to get tiles on the wall.

Placing tiles on the wall should be quite an easy process if you follow the below instruction.

Put your adhesive on the wall and place your first tile on top of your level batten and move lightly in a diagonal motion about 3-4 mm away then move back, do not press hard.
Place your second tile touching the first tile then move out 3-4 mm then back until it is 2 mm from the first tile and place spacers in.
Place your third tile on top of the first tile touching then move out 2-3 mm diagonally then move back 2 mm from the first tile and place spacers in
Place your 4th tile touching both sides of 2nd and 3rd tile, move away diagonally and put a 2mm cross spacer flat in the joint and make sure it sits below the surface, then move the 4th tile back into position

How to get tiles on the floor

You should now have 4 tiles in a square block which are clean and perfectly spaced.
Just keep tiling in this sequence until you have completed the whole area to be tiled

Tiling Courses

Good quality tiling courses such as UK Pro Tiling Training give a full understanding of how to tile walls and floors correctly, working from your own bathroom simulated unit you will be fitting tiles and shaping tile around many commonly found objects in the bathroom

For more information on courses visit UK Pro Tiling Training

Tiling on a floating floor

A floating floor is a floor that is not a floating attached to a timber joist framework. It is usually a chipboard or moisture resistant board that is tongue and grooved and just lies on top of an acoustic material such as a polystyrene block. Due to the floor boards not being fixed they produce a lot of movement and therefore tiling on this surface need extra attention otherwise failure of the tiles will occur.

Deflection

The biggest problem here when tiling on a floating floor is that the floor will be moving up and down, this is called deflection, a slight spring or bounce can be felt as you walk upon this type of floor.

Lateral movement.

As well as deflection the floor can expand and contract due to the wood surface heating and cooling, this also causes a problem in tiles which causes uncoupling of the tiles resulting in failure.

Flexible Adhesive

Although flexible adhesives and grouts must be used to counteract the movement it is not enough to stop the tiles from coming loose and failing.

Preparation

To stabilise the floating floor, the tongue and groove floor must be strengthened, the use of cement tile backer boards are a good option here, No More Ply or Hardi Backer board is an overlay board that will do the job well.

NO More Ply cement board

1. To install the No More Ply tile cement board,
2. First clean the floor
3. Apply a bead of Mega Strength glue to the back of the board
4. Fix the board to the floor leaving a 2mm joint between each board
5. Screw 8 self-drilling 25mm screws into the board securing it to the floor
6. Prime the No More Ply
7. Tile with flexible tile adhesive and grouts using at least a 12 mm floor trowel creating a 6mm adhesive bed

The cement particle board is a better choice than plywood overlays due to the cement board having no expansion or contraction properties.

A good tiling course will cover all the installation and preparation guides to using tile backer boards.

Uk Pro Tiling Training is a dedicated purpose-built tiling training centre which companies and anybody wishing to retrain as a wall and floor tiler

Please visit www.tiling-courses.co.uk for more information.

How Tiling Trowels Work

If you’re undertaking a new tiling project, then it’s essential that you choose the correct trowel for the size of tile that you’re using it’s one of the most important tiling tools you’ll need on a job.

In the same way as masonry trowels, tile trowels feature handles and flat metal plates, designed for scooping up and pasting mortar onto smooth surfaces. Trowels feature notches, which do two vital things.

Tile Sizes

Tiles come in varied sizes these days, from very small to extremely large and, therefore, getting the right amount of adhesive on the back is essential to make the tiles stick to the wall or floor.

The smallest tiles are mosaic tiles, which are usually about 1-inch square and come on a sheet covering approximately 12 x 12-inch squares or 300 x 300mm.

The largest tiles can be up to 1.2 metres long or 1200mm x 600mm wide, so which notched trowel do you use where? Well, as a rule of thumb, the larger the tile, the larger the notched trowel you would use to fix them.

Tiling Trowel Sizes

There are different trowel sizes available, including:

• 3mm square notch
• 6 mm Square notch
• 8 mm square notch
• 10mm square notch
• 12 mm square notch
• 20mm square notch

The Types of Trowels Explained

3 mm tile trowels are often used for fixing mosaic tiles as this produces a very thin bed of adhesive which means there’s less chance of the adhesive coming through the tiles when fixing.

After that, the mm size of the notch roughly equates to the inches of tile being fitted plus another 2 inches. For example, 6mm notch = 6-8 inch tile, 8mm notch = 8-10 inch tile, 10mm notch = 10 -12 inch tile, and so on. A 12mm notch would be used for any tile over 12 inches.

This is a general rule and things can change due to the flatness of the surface you’re tiling onto so this information is for general guidance only. If the surface isn’t flat, then you can increase the notch to the next size to what would be generally used.

For floor tiling, a minimum of 10mm trowels would be used to ensure there’s enough contact on the back of the tile to make sure there are no voids.

When trowelling your adhesive onto walls and floors, make sure you trowel at an angle of 45 degrees and press hard scraping the wall or floor only to leave the notch of adhesive.

When placing a tile, move it out 5mm then back to make sure your adhesive gets a good contact with the tile.

Tiling Courses

Decent quality tiling courses can show you the correct methods of tile application. UK Pro Tiling Training offers fast track professional tiling courses which give you the correct methods of application and the background knowledge to do the job correctly. For more information visit www.tiling-courses.co.uk