if a floor is not level before i start i put down a sand/cement screed, i don't use levelling compound, as inevitably it isn't. if it only has miner imperfections i go over the floor with a long straight edge and fill in any dips over 2mm with adhesive. then all you have to do is spread the adhesive _evenly_ drop the tiles in place and worry about getting the spacing accurate. that way you don't come back next day when the tiles are stuck solid and find one or more edges proud of it's neighbour. also when Mrs walks across the floor with heels on you don't get that dreaded click click, clonk, as she steps on a tile that is part hollow underneath because you had to use extra dabs of glue to get the tile level. it's also SO much quicker in the long run. Preparation is the key to many jobs i.e. painting, tiling is another good example IMO. :)
Yea. Laid my first 10 tiles today. Took it slow, much mental planning, drew up the tiles on inkscape (imported my floor plan in) and determined the best position for the tiles without having silly slivers or other bad things).
Set out the battens to give 2 edges, mixed up the Mapei kerabond + Isolastic (needs elastic due to going onto marmox) and started laying.
Thanks to all the good folk here, I had everyone's tips on hand.
The extra blob method worked well when I knew I needed to pack up one corner. When I needed to pack up a whole tile, I back buttered the tile with a 6mm notched splatter and that worked really well.
Firstly, I found that the adhesive was a joy to work with. 8 hours bucket life and 45 minutes of tile wibbling time is plenty to fiddle and re fiddle with tiles.
However, one must be sure to clean up properly afterwards - I scraped the joints out with a screwdriver and used a damp j-cloth to wipe the face of the tiles and just into the joint. That adhesive with the additive sets like araldite so leaving it till later would be unwise.
In the end, I allowed the tiles to follow the slight undulations in the floor but aimed to make the joints matched.
It worked out better than I'd hoped. 2-3mm gradual variance in the height on a 4' rule but you wouldn't notice as the tile edges seem pretty much aligned - which is what I was aiming for. Quite satisfactory by my standards. It's under the bath anyway - perhaps the next session will go better.
I found the wiggle method of bedding the tiles worked very well too. I could see the adhesive squeeze out at the edges so I'm pretty confident I've got a 100% seating in most places - definately have under the bath feet where it counts the most.
On an aside - got my Rubi Star 40 tile cutter today. It works pretty well. the guide rail measure thingy is completely gay - as to be more or less useless, but the actual score and snap mechanism seems very good. I suppose the 200 quid pro version has better guides, but I'm happy lining it up with a couple of pencil marks.
Haven't tried the Erbauer saw yet but I will have by Monday.
Once again - thanks - couldn't have done it without uk.d-i-y!
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