Wall and Floor Tiler
What the work is
Lays ceramic, clay, slate, marble and glass tiles on external and internal walls and floors to provide protective and decorative finishes.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Examines plans to identify project requirements, measures and marks surfaces, and lays out work
- Prepares wall and floor surfaces by removing old tiles, grout and adhesive, filling holes and cracks, and cleaning surfaces
- Applies waterproofing systems
- Uses tile-cutting tools to cut and shape tiles to fit around edges, corners, fittings and pipes
- Spreads adhesive onto prepared surfaces and tiles, sets tiles into position, and ensures they are correctly aligned and spaced
- Installs and secures tiles, and applies grout and polish to tiled surfaces
- Checks existing tiles for damage, and repairs or replaces them as required
- May lay floors of granolithic, terrazzo, cement or similar composition
- May lay coloured tiles in patterns to create mosaics
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in bathrooms, kitchens, pool surrounds and entrances being tiled in homes and commercial buildings. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A pattern of tiny tiles lines up perfectly across a whole bathroom wall
- The last tile is cut and set, and the room suddenly looks finished
- An owner stands in the shower for the first time and just admires the walls
Hard days
- Kneeling on a cold floor all day to lay a large entrance in a hurry
- A wall that is not flat, so every tile fights you
- A client who picks a tile with a pattern, then finds out it needs exact planning
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 362431, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.