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Discuss Do your own tiling work? in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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I try and do everything I can, only me to blame then if the poo poo hits the fan.
 
I'm a bit like Halesowen. I can do, and am good at, just about every trade. Learned it all when i was an apprentice. When we were slack or i was bored i would go to the joiners or plasterers or sparks and offer a hand and ask a million questions. They were quite willing to teach me and i learned quick......until i started picking up their homers. Roping windows, hanging doors, putting in fireplaces, sockets outside lights....anything to make a pound :lol:
 
I can skim, tile and lay brick well. My Da is a brickie and he used to drag me about with him on school holidays.
I do my own electrics, studwork, fitted kitchens etc. The only thing I won't do is paper and paint, bloody hate it.
 
When I was an apprentice I did more tiling than plumbing.......I hate doing it.....bores the he'll out of me but do it if needs be.....always nice to see the finished refurb and you've done the lot.

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ive always wanted to learn tiling, think its one of those things that looks easyer than it is.

A 4 year apprenticeship says its not as easy as it looks.

When doing work in someones home & taking there hard earned dosh you should really know what your doing or you could end up in court.

The amount of jobs I was called out to last year that a jack of all trades had attempted was unbeliveable in most cases they didnt get paid or when the work faile they ended up on the other end of a hefty lawyers letter.
 
not taking the mick, i bought one a few months ago, it's an excellent dvd, covers everthing you need to know and only ÂŁ1.99

Ok mate thanks i'm going to pick one up after work and have a watch tonight.
 
erm...not sure if you are taking the mickey :p I thought things like that would be frowned upon on this forum but for ÂŁ2 it's worth a look, think i'll grab 1 tomorrow and check it out. Thanks

Wouldnt bother wasting ÂŁ2 Ash spend it on something usefull certainly not that rubbish, so wrong its unbelievable!
 
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I have done a fair bit of tiling over the years and don't intend to turn down simpler tiling jobs when I set up on my own in a couple of months. That said, I'd always get a pro in for wet rooms or walk in showers etc - the consequences of getting it wrong are just too scary.
 
It usally ends up more cost effective to sub-out the right jobs to the right trades, then you have come back if anything fails and the job is done quicker.

As for folk coming across rough tilers evey trade suffers the same problem.

If im paying for work to be done in my house I much prefer that person to be qualified, get what you pay for I suppose.
 
If I'm not working Sunday i'm going to check out one of the training centres round here and see what they can offer. I don't intend to rely on tiling for work but if the opportunity comes up to earn some money when things are quiet then that's good, would be good to be able to finish off a bathroom etc.
 
that looks good for a basic start ash seems quite reasonable as well. although how they will cram five days worth mon-fri into two weekends sat-sun i don't know.
 
that looks good for a basic start ash seems quite reasonable as well. although how they will cram five days worth mon-fri into two weekends sat-sun i don't know.

I'll be able to do mon-fri as part of resettlement, I wouldn't even consider doing all that in a weekend. I thought the course looked ok for a starter too so I will pay them a visit before I give any money out :)
 
A 4 year apprenticeship says its not as easy as it looks.

Is it really a 4 year apprenticeship in tiling? Never would have thought there could be that much to it. I'm not trying to be facetious, just curious. Surely after you've learned how to identify and prepare surfaces, use batons, work with adhesive and grout and set things out properly it's just practise. I'd have thought a year working with someone would be more than enough.
 
I tiled a wall once after a very heavy days drinking at Newmarket - needless to say it was very hard going!
 
Is it really a 4 year apprenticeship in tiling? Never would have thought there could be that much to it. I'm not trying to be facetious, just curious. Surely after you've learned how to identify and prepare surfaces, use batons, work with adhesive and grout and set things out properly it's just practise. I'd have thought a year working with someone would be more than enough.

Jeez you really do ive up to your signature sorry if I sound condesending.

Its a Trade 4 year apprenticeship Nvq 2 & 3 gained at college with a Trade test at the end Just like plumbing, painting, Joinery etc

Thers more to it than you assume setting out Rendering screeding working with epoxy stone profiling san cement laying.

Worked in some pools and shopping centres where the course lads turn up promtly ceek there pants and are gone.

As I say im a firm beliver in each to there own thats the profesional approach dont think its fair to charge punters for amateurs practicsing in there house and wasting there hard earned dough.
 
the old saying of been a master of one trade is outdated now IMHO , customers rightly dont want a jack of all they want a master of all. i know my limits , i can tile,palster,plumb and heat and repair my weakness is electrics hence why its back to college. one step at a time ash maste what your learning before you take another trade on
 
the old saying of been a master of one trade is outdated now IMHO , customers rightly dont want a jack of all they want a master of all. i know my limits , i can tile,palster,plumb and heat and repair my weakness is electrics hence why its back to college. one step at a time ash maste what your learning before you take another trade on

Good advice, thanks
 
Plus customers don't want an army of trades in the house. If a job involves gas, plastering or electrics I know the right people to bring in. I have more skills than plumbing, heating and tiling, but it's only those skills I sell.
 
I'm concentrating on the plumbing/gas side of things for now but I have resettlement funds to spend so may as well get something good that I can use along side that. It was a toss up between part p and tiling. From a strictly money point of view for now tiling is the more practical option. If I don't use it for 2 years it's not going to cost me more money and I can get plenty of practice in on friends and family's houses before I start using it in customers houses. Don't really fancy having to get my head around electrics while I'm learning plumbing, part p can be done in the future.
 
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the locked off trusted advisor section of the tilers forum. Gall B will be telling everyone that all plumbers learn to tile watching a ÂŁ2 B&Q DVD!

Not true, mine was the Homebase version. :38:
 
there is a 4 year apprenticeship in plumbing/heating too. and i just can't help but think that there has got to be a lot less to learn in tiling than there is in plumbing. even basic wet plumbing. if that's not true, then fair enough. you learn something boring everyday. but if it is true then either the plumbing apprenticeship route is massively rushed (you don't often hear people claim that) or the tiling one is laboured and leisurely.
 
When i started my time there was no such trade as a tiler as far as i know. Tiling was done mainly by plasterers and plumbers used to build tiled grates.

I really like seeing old tilework. There are lots of old tenements up here with tiled stairs. The work is amazing to look at if you take the time to look properly.
 
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the locked off trusted advisor section of the tilers forum. Gall B will be telling everyone that all plumbers learn to tile watching a ÂŁ2 B&Q DVD!

Not true, mine was the Homebase version. :38:

Nah I posted it in the HELP yet another handyman wrecked my bathroom section.

WaterTight if you knew anything about the Building trade at all you would know thats not true & if you find it boring its usally because your no good at it & you shouldnt be doing it.

Didnt mean to offend anyone with my comments the the part of reason I stick to my own trade & sub work out is I have respect for the trades and tradesman that do a good job & know there game inside out, the Handyman culture or the im going to do a couple of weeks course, call my self a tradesman undercut every body else is part of the reason quality of work is so low in this country
 
When i started my time there was no such trade as a tiler as far as i know. Tiling was done mainly by plasterers and plumbers used to build tiled grates.

I really like seeing old tilework. There are lots of old tenements up here with tiled stairs. The work is amazing to look at if you take the time to look properly.

Take it you never heard of Toflo Jackson Tam? Never seen a Victorian Geometric floor?

The stairs you mention are hand fixed in sand cement, some of the ones in Glasgow are the work of my Grandad, his Dad was a Terrazzo layer/Tiler again a diffrent trade, Grates where done by Grate builders/Stone masons. Time served Tilers Render so maybe why you confuse us with plasterers
 
I'm concentrating on the plumbing/gas side of things for now but I have resettlement funds to spend so may as well get something good that I can use along side that.
Well mate, there's always the Alloa Plumbers benevolent fund, all donations welcome.....
 
WaterTight if you knew anything about the Building trade at all you would know thats not true

Ah. Ok. But just to be clear: What, if I knew anything about the building trade at all, would I know to be untrue? That there is less to learn in tiling then in plumbing? Well then I'm afraid ignorance of this fact does leave me knowing nothing at all about the building trade. A setback to say the least. I hope everyone else reads this to avoid a similar fate.

if you find it boring its usally because your no good at it & you shouldnt be doing it

I find washing my socks fairly dull. Same with peeling potatoes. Sitting in traffic is a distinct bore too. Infact, I suspect the dullest things in life are actually the ones that require precisely no mental involvement at all but still demand to be waited out. I tend to find that the things I'm no good at to be frustrating, confusing, even worrying. But rarely boring.

Incidentally, you were right with your first assumption. I know nothing about the building game. I'm a relative novice. I'm here mainly to learn. Hence my signature which you cleverly noticed and used to damning effect exposing me as such.

But I do know how to argue!

Grrrrrrrrr. Woof woof. Etc.
 
We have some amazing geometric and encaustic tiling work in our village hall foyer. It's quite a work of art, and the planning and design stage must have taken longer than the tiling itself. It dates from approximately 100 years ago.
 
Just to add my tuppence worth....tiling has been around for centuries, in fact just as long as plumbing has. The Romans are a good example and going further back so were the Egyptians. I think that both are trades and deserve merit as such. Without tiling there wouldn't be any bathrooms!
I am competent at tiling, but prefer to leave tiling to a tiler as a higher quality finish is achieved than me doing it. Anyhow I hate doing it! LOL
 
Trouble is I tend to end up doing a lot of my tiling work as a lot of the local tilers I have seen don't meet the standards of work I would expect from them.
 
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