Hi All
after following the good advice from Tim Watts et. al. regarding
levelling my front porch, I have now done that and put down the main inner
'island' of tiles. I'm now looking at cutting the outer 'ring' of tiles to
size, and fitting them.

The guides I've read have a heuristic 'put adhesive on the floor for full
tiles, and on the back of the tile for cut tiles'. But surely this isn't an
absolute rule? My cut tiles will almost all be roughly of the size 250mm by
300mm (cut from a 300mm square tile). Thus there is enough room to get my
notched trowel onto the floor and put the adhesive down 'normally'.

I am assuming that the rule to put adhesive onto the back of the tile really
applies when the tile is too narrow to do this. Is this right, or am I
missing something?

Thanks
J^n

The Night Tripper wrote:

Hi All
after following the good advice from Tim Watts et. al. regarding
levelling my front porch, I have now done that and put down the main inner
'island' of tiles. I'm now looking at cutting the outer 'ring' of tiles to
size, and fitting them.

The guides I've read have a heuristic 'put adhesive on the floor for full
tiles, and on the back of the tile for cut tiles'. But surely this isn't
an absolute rule? My cut tiles will almost all be roughly of the size
250mm by 300mm (cut from a 300mm square tile). Thus there is enough room
to get my notched trowel onto the floor and put the adhesive down
'normally'.

I am assuming that the rule to put adhesive onto the back of the tile
really
applies when the tile is too narrow to do this. Is this right, or am I
missing something?

Thanks
J^n

Hi,

The rule is not absolute - just do whatever is more comfortable.

If the subfloor is dead flat, notching an even spread of adhesive down is
pretty reliable. If not, or you are using stone tiles with varying
thicknesses, then here's what our pro did (with slate):

1) Splat some adhesive down;

2) Drop tile

3) Lift tile

4) Whichever bits of the back don't have much/any adhesive on - add a bit
more to the tile in those positions

5) Drop tile back for prefect fit

Seemed to be his favourite trick for speedy laying.

Cheers,

Tim

--
Tim Watts

The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi All
* *after following the good advice from Tim Watts et. al. regarding
levelling my front porch, I have now done that and put down the main inner
'island' of tiles. I'm now looking at cutting the outer 'ring' of tiles to
size, and fitting them.

The guides I've read have a heuristic 'put adhesive on the floor for full
tiles, and on the back of the tile for cut tiles'. But surely this isn't
an absolute rule? My cut tiles will almost all be roughly of the size
250mm by 300mm (cut from a 300mm square tile). Thus there is enough room
to get my notched trowel onto the floor and put the adhesive down
'normally'.

I am assuming that the rule to put adhesive onto the back of the tile
really
applies when the tile is too narrow to do this. *Is this right, or am I
missing something?

* * Thanks
* * J^n


Doesn't matter a damn what way round you do it. Its just a bit easier
to put adhesive on the floor with open spaces, and on the tile where
space is cramped.


NT

Hi Chaps, thanks for the replies:

NT wrote:

Doesn't matter a damn what way round you do it. Its just a bit easier
to put adhesive on the floor with open spaces, and on the tile where
space is cramped.

That's what I thought - thanks. I shall continue with my planned approach
then.

Interesting technique your tiler adopted, Tim - I'd thought of something
like that but dismissed it as being a bit amateurish ;-o

Luckily these tiles are (a) a bit on the 'rustic style', and (b) only in the
front porch; absolute flatness is not crucial, phew.

FWIW I've been cutting the tiles with a Plasplugs Electic Ceramic tile
cutter I got cheap (£3 at a car boot sale, then £4 at same sale for a new
cutting disc). It's worked very well, to my slight surprise. I would be
happy to use it again for a similar job.

Cheers
J^n

On Jul 5, 8:25*am, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi Chaps, thanks for the replies:

NT wrote:

Doesn't matter a damn what way round you do it. Its just a bit easier
to put adhesive on the floor with open spaces, and on the tile where
space is cramped.

That's what I thought - thanks. I shall continue with my planned approach
then.

Interesting technique your tiler adopted, Tim - I'd thought of something
like that but dismissed it as being a bit amateurish ;-o

Luckily these tiles are (a) a bit on the 'rustic style', and (b) only in the
front porch; absolute flatness is not crucial, phew.

FWIW I've been cutting the tiles with a Plasplugs Electic Ceramic tile
cutter I got cheap (£3 at a car boot sale, then £4 at same sale for a new
cutting disc). It's worked very well, to my slight surprise. I would be
happy to use it again for a similar job.

* * Cheers
* * J^n

£3! What a bargain


NT

On Tue, 5 Jul 2011 06:10:03 -0700 (PDT), NT wrote:

FWIW I've been cutting the tiles with a Plasplugs Electic Ceramic
tile
cutter I got cheap (£3 at a car boot sale, then £4 at same sale
for a
new cutting disc).

£3! What a bargain

Meh, I found one at the local bottle/plastic/card recycling point. I
haven't actually plugged it in and pressed GO but I figure the
virtually unworn disc will do as a spare for mine. Maybe other bits
as spares as well...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jul 5, 8:25*am, The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi Chaps, thanks for the replies:

NT wrote:

Doesn't matter a damn what way round you do it. Its just a bit easier
to put adhesive on the floor with open spaces, and on the tile where
space is cramped.

That's what I thought - thanks. I shall continue with my planned approach
then.

Interesting technique your tiler adopted, Tim - I'd thought of something
like that but dismissed it as being a bit amateurish ;-o

It would depend on the finished tile. Slate would only have one
finished surface. It might get milled for an extra small fortune but
more often the tiles would vary tremendously in thickness and
evenness.

In which case it is easier to dab and relay repeatedly trying each one
separately as one goes.

You'd need a good mix to stand up to that though. Of couse it helps
that slate is impervious.