Year: 2017

Tiling is a skill that takes lots of practice to master. Thats why, many people opt for a professional tiler to ensure the job is completed to a high standard. After all, a tiling job done right looks fantastic, while a botched tiling job can ruin the interior of a room.

Take a look at the following 7 common tiling mistakes that DIY tilers often make. Avoid these pitfalls and you’ll be sure to offer a professional tiling service that is sure to impress the customers.

Calculate the number of tiles you need accurately

Avoid the embarrassing situation of running out of tiles by accurately calculating the number of tiles you need by measuring the space you need to cover and allowing for 10% extra.

Think about whether you/your customer needs to use the room

If the room that you are tiling is a room that requires constant use, the kitchen or only bathroom, for example, you will probably want to tile half the room at a time. This will avoid the tiles being unsettled and moving during the application process.

Choose the correct adhesive

Make sure you apply the correct adhesive to the correct area of the room. Although it sounds glaringly obvious to a professional tiler to ensure the tiles around shower, bath or sink are applied with waterproof adhesive. A simple lack of concentration can lead to mistakes being made.

Space tiles evenly

Using a spacer to ensure tiles are evenly spaced means that the tiles will not only look to be applied much more professionally, it means that they are far less likely to move or twist on application.

Wait an ample of time before grouting tiles

Both DIY tilers, and some unreliable professionals, can grout tiles too quickly in haste to get the job done which does not give the tiles ample time to set sufficiently. Tiles should have at least 24 hours to set before being grouted.

Make sure you use a sealant

Using a sealant between tiles and a bath tub or kitchen sink will prevent any leaks and are necessary in areas where water is used.

Don’t cut corners

If you are a professional tiler, allow yourself enough time to complete each job properly, to the highest possible standard. Although you may be looking to earn the maximum amount of profit possible in a week, you’ll gain repeat custom and far more credibility from jobs that are finished to fantastic standards.

A course from UK Pro Tiling Training can help ensure you know how to avoid tiling mistakes and complete all your jobs to a high standard.

Happy New Year from Darren, Tracey and the team here at UK Pro Tiling Training! We hope you have had an excellent start to 2017.

And, because we”re experts in the tiling trade, we wanted to share a few useful tiling tips for 2017. Take a look at some tiling tips of the trade for the New Year from UK Pro Tiling Training.

Take the time to ensure the surface area that you are tiling is dry, clean and flat

It is important to take care before tiling and not to take any short cuts in order to get the job done more quickly, even if your customers are putting pressure on you to get the job finished. After all, if you rush to tile onto plaster that is not completely dry, there will undoubtedly be problems and failure with the tile application. Explain this to the customer and practice correct techniques, and you’ll be sure to do a great job and keep your customer happy.

Always wear the correct PPE

It is highly important that you wear the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when performing tiling in someone else’s home or your own.

If you forget your PPE or perhaps put it down on the job and decide to continue with an element of the task, think twice about completing anything practical without the correct PPE.

Tiling without a dust mask or safety goggles is leaving yourself open to eye injury and breathing in harmful dust particles.

Calculate meticulously the number of tiles you need

Before you begin tiling, make sure you are confident in the knowledge of how many tiles you need and always allow 10% extra for waste cuts.

Of course, you don’t want to spend excess money on lots of spare tiles and you definitely do not want to discover on completion that you do not have enough tiles. This is extremely embarrassing in any professional tiling situation as you will appear to have lacked in your preparation.

Make sure you layout the tiles before applying them

It is important to lay out the tiles you have before applying them so that you are confident in their fit and pattern, therefore careful setting out is required

There are several tiling patterns you may want to use when installing the tiles. You may want to create a portfolio of patterns to show your customers the choice available to them.

Contact us at UK Pro Tiling Training for more tiling tips

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about tiling or, indeed, any of our fast track professional tiling courses.