Jump to content

Richard & Tracy

Members
  • Posts

    49
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Everything posted by Richard & Tracy

  1. In theory, its very similar to fixing ceramics but with a few other things to consider. Marble cannot be dry cut so you need a good wet cutter with a diamond blade. It is translucent so the colour of the adhesive is important. It must be laid on a solid bed otherwise you may see shadowing. It is porous so it will need sealing. E mail me ifyou need any more help, I am a professional wall and floor tiler.
  2. Don't get any of the acid on the tiles as travertine is acid sensitive and would be etched by any splashes.
  3. Fitting it is quite easy. It comes either in mats where the cable is pre spaced for you, or just loose cable. The latter is better for awkward shaped rooms. Some mats are self adhesive, cable normally fixed down with gaffer tape or similar, or you could use a glue gun. Do not lay under large fixed things like cupboards or toilet pans and, if you are going to put under a timber or laminate floor, check with the flooring manufacturer to see if they are compatible. Some will warp due to the heat. Also consider fitting insulation to conserve the heat and keep the bills down, though it will give you a small step at adjacent rooms. Hope this helps.
  4. I assume that Ikea units are the same the world over, in which case, be aware that they dont have voids behind the back panel for running the services in.
  5. You can tile over them providing they are soundly fixed. Clean the floor with sugar soap and use a polymer modified adhesive. Remove any unsound ones and skim the void with rapid setting cement or tile adhesive.
  6. You can tile over them providing they are soundly fixed. Clean the floor with sugar soap and use a polymer modified adhesive. Remove any unsound ones and skim the void with rapid setting cement or tile adhesive.
  7. Ready mixed adhesives are air drying and only suitable for certain tile types and sizes. It should only be applied give a 3mm bed and so the substrate should be virtually flat. Ideally you should use a bagged adhesive as it dries by chemical reaction, is stronger and can be applied to a thicker depth to cope with surface deviations. Never use combined adhesive and grout, they are two different products for two distinct functions. Let me know if you need anymore advice.
  8. Try phoning a timber mill. They get rid of their waste to firms that turn it into chipboard.
  9. You could e-mail me, or pm me though I dont know how that works or even if I/you are able to!
  10. Yes its extremely hard work and time consuming - by hand. Most grout is cement based after all so its supposed to be durable. However, being a professional wall & floor tiler, I've got a machine that makes the job quicker. Once you've got all the old grout out, you can then re-grout in a huge choice of colours. Please advise the following: Tile type (ie ceramic, porcelain, natural stone etc), tile size, overall area to be treated. I'm in the UK but looking to move to France in the next 12 months, in the meantime we may be able to help each other out with a bit of mutual back scratching. Where abouts are you?
  11. By hand with a tungsten carbide grout rake but its very hard work and time consuming and you have to be careful not to slip and mark a tile. Why do you want to re-grout. Is the existing grout in poor condition or is it just dirty and discoloured? If the latter, you could just recolour it. Or, you could get a professional in to do it, ie me![;-)]
  12. It is just the same in the UK where home improvements are concerned. All the major companies, and a lot of the minor ones, use sub-conract fitters. That way, they dont have to pay wages when its quiet and can 'hire and fire at will. A good way is to find a product you are happy with and get a supply only price. Then get a recommended artisan to do the fitting.
  13. Alternatively, you could fit a trickle vent to the window frame or sash and leave it open to proide the ventilation.
  14. I wouldn't have a problem plastering in November. It should be left to dry naturally and not forcd with heat anyway though some ventilation would help.
  15. Thank you WJT. I didn't see your post but will try and find it. I get this in the UK too where some people tend to be jack of all trades. I specialize in wall and floor tiling only though I can plaster, lay timber and laminate floors etc. I am also a trained stone and tile cleaner/restorer. I am looking at the area between Vannes and Rennes to ensure a decent sized population. We will be mortgage-free but still have to eat so I daresay in the first year or two I will do a variety of tasks until I get established.
  16. I've just looked at the thread and pics of that tiling. Oh my what a mess. A good amateur should have done a better job. I am a professional tiler hoping to move permanently from the UK to France in the next 12 months. Currently looking at Morbihan dept. Any comments on my plan greatly appreciated. In the meantime, if anyone has any tiling queries I would be only too happy to comment or advise.
  17. Speaking as a professional tiler, I would do the walls first. Incidently, I am considering moving to France in the next 12 months or so and as part of my research, I would be interested to know what sort of money your tiler is charging so I could do the 'can i afford it' sums.
  18. We have only recently joined the forum as part of our research towards coming to live in france so please excuse this being some months after the other posts on this topic. Is it just the British who get treated like this or do french artisans mess about their french customers too? I am self employed in the UK with my own business in domestic wall and floor tiling and plastering. Does anyone know what sort of money I could earn assuming that if and when we come over, our french will be good enough. I would want to work in the whole community, not just for expats. At the moment we are thinking of Brittany, not coastal, somewhere reasonably populated. Vannes is on our list of possible places.
  19. I am still in the UK so don't know these tiles but, being a professional wall and floor tiler, in principal the following might help you. Some floor tile adhesives can go as thick as 25mm. A product called Weber Stoneset thick bed adhesive would do. Its made by Weber Saint Gobain so presumably its available in France. You need to use a floor trowel with thick wide ribs to achieve a solid bed of adhesive under the tiles. Any voids could lead to cracking. I dont know the variations in thickness of your tiles but you should sort them into, say, 3 thicknesses and lay the thickest ones first so you can bed out the thinner ones as you go to make sure you dont get any lippage. Every now and again lift a tile you have just laid to check you are getting sufficient coverage of adhesive. Bear in mind that terracotta is porous so you would need to apply something as a finish, probably before you grout. The old fashioned way is linseed oil as above. These days, most people go for a modern sealer. These can be either an impregnating type which is absorbed into the tile, or a topical(surface) type. The second type could alter the appearance(colour, shininess) and this might be important to you. Also, because it sits on the surface, it will wear and so will require re-doing every few years, depending on traffic. A good quality penetrating sealer can last 10 years or more. The purpose of a sealer is to give you a reaction time - ie clean up the spillage or mark, not to prevent stains ever happening. If I was doing this job the sequence would be - wash, sort, fix, seal, grout, seal, admre! Hope that was of some assistance.
  20. Thanks. I think Vannes or somewhere similar will be the start point of our research. Out in the sticks sounds nice but obvously I need to be near to plenty of potential customers. Vannes has a population of around 50k so this would be the minimum size of town.
  21. Thanks for the encouraging replies. I have always gone about my work in a professional way, being reliable, concientious and produce high quality work. So, taking Brittany as an example, where would be a good place to start researching for an area to live and work. I dont mind a bit of travelling for work and was thining of Vannes as a starting point. We will be coming over for a few days for an initial look round in the next couple of months.
  22. Hi everyone, this is our first of probably many posts. We are keen to live and work in France, possibly but not necessarily Brittany, in the next 12 months or so. I have my own business in the UK as a wall and floor tiler. Is there much demand for this type of 'artisan' in France?
×
×
  • Create New...