Quick questions about tiling.
What size spacers are the norm for tiling in a bathroom on the wall specifically.
Also do you have to pull the spacers out after the tiles have set or do they stay in the wall ?
Thanks
For small (10-15cm) tiles, 2mm or so looks good. If the tile has a bevelled edge, use a thinner spacer than you think you want as the grout line will appear a mm or so wider.
You can do either. Either use the spacers flat at the corners and make sure they are pushed well in. Or (what I do more) is to stick just one leg in between each tile. I pull then out afterwards.
Sometimes, you don't want spacers - if you are trying to correct a slight error, you may need the tiles fractionally closer. Using a high grap adhesive (eg BAL Greenstar I find is good, others swear by Bluestar) then the spacers are almost redundant except as a guide. the tiles will stay where you put them.
I also love having a self levelling laser line on a pole - set for the row and work to that.
Trouble is the adhesive behind the tile and the shape of the rear tile edge can make getting even grout lines tricky with this method.
This is what I do. Consistent width and can be used as a lever (by twisting) to make micro adjustments to the spacing if required.
I start with a very carefully placed batten and work from that. Using spacers in single leg mode to position the tiles, but paying attention to alignment of corners etc.
Yup its what I do as well.
I find with some spacers, the leg is marginally thinner than it is wide. So rotating it 90 degrees in the gap make it a little smaller. Two used together are a tad more than one width etc. Hence careful selection of combinations can tweak the gap in or out as required.
Spacers might work if your tiles are all perfect sized, but many arent. In which case folded card allows a little wiggle.
NT
1mm thick plastic plant labels make good tweakers
And bits of cereal box.
matchsticks.
I too use the plastic spacers, placed at different angles and at different locations to level up irregular stone tiles etc. Simply remove oncce tile cement is almost set.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember stuart noble saying something like:
If you find yourself running out, folded cardboard from the tile boxes is good enough.
As do the plastic straps that you sometimes find around the boxes. I also keep a pair of small Mole grips to hand. They will easily squash the spacer legs to any amount you want, thus making thinner ones for smaller gaps, or ones that you can stack with full sized ones to make bigger gaps. I also use a laser level. Very good for tile levelling. I used 600 x 300 tiles in my bathroom, which are very unforgiving for making level - a fraction of a degree out at one corner, becomes a couple of mm at the far end of the tile, and a couple of tiles further on ... !
The laser level made going round a window opening where I had to come up either side before going across the top, made the job a doddle.
Arfa
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