I want to arrange the top of a row of tiles to line-up with the window cill. The only way I can think of doing this is to:
- use a spirit level and straight edge to mark a line around the room at cill level
- fix a batten exactly one tile below the line and then tile
- fix another batten one tile + 1 grout width below the first row and tile, then repeat until reaching the floor.
This will work but it might be hard to keep the resulting tiled surface completely flat. Is there another way?
Dave
From the said line and one tile width get a piece of straight wood drill two holes at each end then fix this to the wall vertically and screw the wood to the wall till it becomes level at the thickness of tile and adhesive,tile down the wall with first row of tiles and let the adhesive set before starting the continuation of tiling because then you can use the row as a guidance to gettng them completly inline and flat with each other.
If you understand that your a good man. ;-)
If you start at the bottom, or somewhere near it, how do the tiles work, i.e. what fraction of a tile would be the top row (at the cill)? What's the reason you want to do this? There are options...
Have a dry run, building up the tiles from the lowest level that you can fix your batten at, using spacers. Fix your batten, and build up on it.
This might show what I'm getting at with a bit of exaggeration in the pic.
So the batten has 2 screws at each end, one to hold it to the wall and one to act as an adjustable spacer so the wood can be set at the right distance? The batten is fixed at a distance from the first vertical tiles and then a straight edge used from the tiles to the batten?
Dave (slightly confused)
I think you might be making hard work of it. Are you sure that lining up with the sill won't leave you with small cuts elsewhere in the room? If the sill is flush and you're tiling on to it, it's usual to use plastic edging, so cut edges don't show anyway. If you do want a full tile there, just stick a row up and put a couple of panel pins under each. As the pins are thinner than the spacers, you can carry on doing that down to the floor. If the bottom tile turns out to be close to a full one, it will almost certainly give you trouble further along the wall. Aim for something between 3" and 4" (if you're using 6") so that, if they get smaller or larger as you go along the wall, you'll still have a strong tile next to the floor.
Just pack the tiles with adhesive as you go, and test with a straightedge now and again. You'll never get them dead flat without replastering the wall first, but you can hide minor undulations.
However you tackle uneven walls, you have to fill the voids with something, and plaster is a lot cheaper than tile adhesive. Put a length of 2" x 1" against the wall and see how it looks. Doesn't have to be plumb or level as long as it's flat. Fill big gaps with a plaster/pva mix and use the timber to level it roughly. No plastering skills required :-)
Thanks. The tiles are quite big (approx 12" high and 18" wide). The walls are pretty good, it's just how to get things lined-up with the sill that I can't get my brain around and how to be certain of a flat finished surface.
Dave
If in doubt, draw it out on graph paper! You stand a better chance of a flat surface with that size tile. Be prepared to hack off plaster in places to get them to sit properly.
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