Any Tilers on PH?
Discussion
Have a go yourself. With great caution I managed to tile my bathroom walls with 12mm travertine stone and it looks pretty damn good. Flooring has to be a doddle because gravity is on your side! Just make sure you do the right preparations and get the right adhesives (which aren't cheap)
Just had about 10m of "chinese slate" laid in my conservatory. If your granite is anything like similar, £30 a metre to lay it is cheap. The problem is the stone is different thicknesses, so laying it level is tricky, having to build the adhesive to get the thinner tiles to the same height/level as the thickest. My bloke (who did a great job, but I live in West Yorks) charged us £30 a metre to lay, plus the cost of materials (the 7 bags of adhesive and whatever bags of grout) It took him just under two days, so his day rate @ £150 is about average for skilled labour up here.
rich1231 said:
its the cutting that is a complete mare though!
not at all, all you need is the right kit.
www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101289&ts=95537&id=40530
got one of these myself. just laid 50m2 of travertine
I laid 20m2 of differing thickness 'Indian sandstone wiv fossils onnit' which I got as an end of line special at £14 per metre. It did require a lot of gloop, but I mixed it partly with silver sand to make it go further. Mine was onto a wooden floor, so I layed 1/2" pasterboard first, then 1/4" insulation, then the underfloor heating mats, then the tiles. I used a diamond wheel tile cutter which cost £30, and here's the result:
Tallbloke,
Looks a good job. To really "make them tiles glow", (unless it's the photo) get yourself to the nearest Wickes and buy a bottle of Grout Film Remover (about £9) and a stiff scrubbing brush. Use this to get the grout residue off, give it three days to dry out then seal the tiles (according to my tiler, HG's "Impregnator" stuff is the mutts nuts and is what he uses. Expensive, but worth the cash) prior to applying HGs satin gloss polish. It brought "Chinese slate", that look similar to yours, up from nice but dull matt to amazingly good. Waterproof too, which may be iportant.
Looks a good job. To really "make them tiles glow", (unless it's the photo) get yourself to the nearest Wickes and buy a bottle of Grout Film Remover (about £9) and a stiff scrubbing brush. Use this to get the grout residue off, give it three days to dry out then seal the tiles (according to my tiler, HG's "Impregnator" stuff is the mutts nuts and is what he uses. Expensive, but worth the cash) prior to applying HGs satin gloss polish. It brought "Chinese slate", that look similar to yours, up from nice but dull matt to amazingly good. Waterproof too, which may be iportant.
Mostly, it's doggy footprints you can see rather than grout film, but we have been considering getting a bit more shine on. I've got some Lithofin colour intensifier and cleaner but a good sealer on top would probably be a good idea. It had a couple of copats a while ago but some more won't harm. It does look nicer than the photo suggests, I think it's the flash.
B17NNS said:
not at all, all you need is the right kit.
www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101289&ts=95537&id=40530
got one of these myself. just laid 50m2 of travertine
But they piss water all over the place - I got a self-contained one for £40 from Homebase and I did all the cutting in the spare bedroom.
Similar to this:
However if they're big tiles get a cutter with an extension table.
sparkythecat said:
............... so I layed 1/2" pasterboard first, then 1/4" insulation, then the underfloor heating mats, then the tiles.
Didn't you have to raise the ceiling to stop you banging your head. After all you are a tall bloke!
I live in a proper stone built old fashioned house. Even the cellars have 7'6" lath and plastered cielings! The internal doors are 6'8" too.
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