Hall renovations

[woolybanana]

Well, the rotten pillars have been replaced and the new floor guys are coming this afternoon. Which means I have to wait at least ten days until the stuff is dry before tiling the floor. Now, I have been wondering about the gaps between the tiles. Is there any reason why they should not be as small as possible? Each tile is 46x46 cms.

[Araucaria]

One reason for leaving a gap of a millimetre or two (or maybe more) is to ensure that the grout you push down into the gap will both go in and stay in. If the gap is too narrow it's hard to get the grout in.

Another reason is that if you are doing the tiling yourself, or if the tiles are not quite regular in shape/size, a gap between tiles helps you even out the irregularities. Very few tiles come exactly all the same size: there is always some very minor difference. Amateurs (like me) tend to go for a wider gap for that very reason.

But if you have the luxury of having a real professional doing it, just ask him/her to make the gap as small as possible.

[Anton Redman II]

If you tile too tight then when the tiles expand they can crack against each other.

[idun]

AND if one gets damaged it is easier to cut around to replace, so keep some spares.

Our builder in France left very fine gaps between tiles and it is not as attractive as a bigger gap.

[Chancer]

Some tiles can look really nice with small gaps particularly larger ones but they must be very regular, a good example is the granite type floor tiles.

The tiles on the ground floor of my building are around 80 years old, laid on sand on terre battu and dont have any joints, they butt directly against each other, I dont kow if they are called tommetes or not but they are very thick, have an elongated octagonal form and are tesselated with small tiles about 30mm square, it was a bar so has the flooring common to the epoque.

I have only ever once seen these tiles and that was in a museum in Paris showing a 19th century working kitchen.

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Wooly - I don't know what your floor is made of, nor how thick it is. But if it's concrete or sand cement screed please take care to leave it long enough to dry out. 10 days may be too little.

[Chancer]

Especially at this time of year.

The enduit that I trowelled up over a week ago and in a well insulated piece still has not completeley dried and it is only about 5mm thick in most places. I can tell this from the colour which varies from grey (dry) to black (still quite humid) and also my damp detector.

I also drilled a wall tile that I had put up 4 days before, it came away and the colle carrlage was still damp and it had been applied to BA13, non hydrofuge and without any other preparation.

I think the high relative humidity as well as the low temps in the last week have played their part. 

[woolybanana]

I reckoned two weeks and then carrelage?

 

[Chancer]

It will probably be alright as long as the guy is laying the tiles on colle carrelage, 99% of the artisans around here, and it pains me to use that term to describe them, will trowel off the screed in a real hurry and then lay the tiles directly on top before it drys, they then grout them immediately thus doing in one day what should really be done over 3 seperate days.

Now it can work under ideal conditions (spring and autumn) but you the customer are taking all the risk for them to save a huge amount of time and money, it also means that they have to rush the cutting of the tiles.

You may not notice any tiles coming loose for 6 months but once one wobbles all the others follow suit.

[woolybanana]

Me lay tiles, so loadsa colle carrelage.

Thank you for the help, Chancer.

[mint]

[quote user="woolybanana"]

Me lay tiles, so loadsa colle carrelage.

Thank you for the help, Chancer.

[/quote]

PM, Wools

[woolybanana]

Not so far dearest sweets!

[idun]

In France our tiles were put onto what looked to me like a dry base and then the tiles were 'hosed' down? That is how it looked to the untrained eye.

I can't remember if they came back and grouted or that system took care of itself. Never had a problem with any of them though and we owned that house for 25 years.

[just john]

[quote user="woolybanana"] Me lay tiles, so loadsa colle carrelage. Thank you for the help, Chancer.[/quote]

No doubt the finished result will be showcased in pics here for our approval[:D]

 

[woolybanana]

Your wish shall be my command jj!