Wall and Floor Tilers
Lay ceramic, clay, slate, marble and glass tiles on external and internal walls and floors to provide protective and decorative finishes.
A bathroom with surprises
You are a wall and floor tiler on a bathroom renovation, on your own for the day while the other trades are away. It is 8am on Tuesday. The wall is prepared and the tiles are on site. The owners are away until evening, and they have asked you to finish the shower area by tonight.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Morning. The waterproofing in the shower finished curing yesterday. I did not get time to check it, but the guys said it is all good. You can tile straight on it, can't you? I need you out by tonight.
Tile straight away, since the builder has told you it is cured and ready
Eight weeks later the owners notice a damp patch outside the shower. The membrane had a gap nobody had inspected, and every tile you laid must now come off.
Check the waterproofing yourself and note it down, then ask Dale to confirm before tiling
You find it looks fine, but you have spent an hour and Dale feels checked up on. You were careful, though you could have asked for the paperwork the evening before.
Look at it, ask for the sign-off, and tile once you have seen both
Dale sends the sign-off within ten minutes, and you spot one corner that needs a touch-up. It is done before you lay the first tile, and nothing is hidden behind the wall.
Hi! I know you are busy, but I have just seen a photo online of herringbone tiles in a bathroom. Could you do ours that way instead of straight? I would love it. Can you change it today?
Say yes and change the layout, because the customer is always right
A new pattern means more cutting and wastage, and you run out of tiles at four. The wall is half finished, the tiles are nearly gone, and nobody had a chance to agree the cost.
Say no, because changing the pattern halfway through a wall is a bad idea
You are right that a half-finished wall is a bad time to change, but she hears a flat no by text. She feels shut down, and a good idea for the next room never gets a chance.
Pause, explain the extra time, tiles and cost, and let her decide
Ms Lund thinks about it and keeps the straight layout on this wall, but books herringbone for the floor. She decided with the facts in front of her, and so you both got something you could stand behind.
Sorry to bother you, but the tile cutting is very loud. I work night shifts and sleep during the day. The building rules say no noisy work before nine, and it is half past eight. Could you stop?
Say the job has to be finished today, and carry on cutting
She rings the building manager, who stops all work for the day. You lose the morning, the owners hear about it, and Mrs Okafor has trouble sleeping.
Stop, apologise, and check the building's rules for the week
You find that noisy work is allowed from nine until four. You plan the cutting for those hours and the quiet work for the rest. Mrs Okafor sleeps, and the job stays on schedule.
Stop cutting, wait around until nine, then rush to make up the time
You respect the rules, but you lose half an hour and rush the afternoon. Nobody told Mrs Okafor what to expect for the rest of the week, so she is back at your door tomorrow.
How it went
At six the shower is tiled and the owners come home to a clean room, with grout ready to set overnight. Tiling is exact work where the skill is in the planning, not just the laying. Would you enjoy turning a plain room into something people admire?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The tile that would not line up
A fictional case set in bathrooms, kitchens, pool surrounds and entrances being tiled in homes and commercial buildings.
The situation
Kaito was tiling a feature wall in a family bathroom with large, patterned tiles that the owner, Ms Dubois, had chosen from an online photo. Halfway up the wall, Kaito noticed that the pattern was drifting a little off true. A few tiles from the second box seemed to be a slightly different shade from the first. Ms Dubois had already paid for the tiles and wanted the job finished by Friday, as her parents were arriving from overseas.
What they did
Kaito stopped and laid out tiles from all the boxes on the floor in the daylight to compare them. The shade difference was real. He rang the supplier, who confirmed the boxes were from different batches. Kaito explained to Ms Dubois that mixing them would show up as a stripe. He suggested using one batch on the main wall and the other on a side wall, where the difference would not be seen, and ordered a third box.
How it turned out
The wall was finished on Saturday instead of Friday. Ms Dubois was disappointed by the delay but pleased by the result, and her parents loved the bathroom. Kaito now checks batch numbers before the first tile goes up, not after.
What would you do?
- Why do you think Kaito laid the tiles out before deciding?
- How would you explain a delay to someone who is excited about a deadline?
- What other small things could affect how a tiled wall looks?