Guideline for labor for Ceramic or glazed tiles

One of the fastest growing trends in the flooring is floor tiles. Floor tiles are available in various designs, sizes and materials. There are so many makes/ brands available in the market which makes the choice even more difficult. Despite of selecting good materials, if good laying process is not adopted, the quality of floor is not up to the mark. In this article we will discuss some of the guidelines for labor one should keep in mind before going ahead with the tile flooring.

Material

There many types of floor tiles as detailed below

Unglazed Tiles

Unglazed tiles are made up of baking clay. Basic color of tiles is orange-red. Now, with the help of upgrade techniques tiles are coming up in more colors but color range is limited from chocolate to ochre. Motted looked tiles are also available in the market.

In unglazed tiles both handmade and machine made with wide range in texture are available.Machine made are harder and durable.

Glazed Tiles

Glazed tiles are smoother and have more shine than of unglazed ones. Wide color range with different motifs are now available in market with which one can go for interesting patterns.Glazed tiles are thin with surface texture range from high gloss to mat and pebbly. Even tiles with rough texture gets prone to slickness when exposed to water, that is why glazed tiles are not preferred to external surfaces.

Mosaic Tiles

Mosaic tiles are right choice for modernizing your house. The mosaic tiles are durable and are available in different designs and shapes. For those who are looking for variety in color, texture and designs, mosaic tile is a good choice for them.

Porcelain Tiles

Porcelain tiles are Ceramic tiles. Porcelain tiles are made of more refined material than ceramic tiles. Porcelain tiles are available in variety of colors, designs and finish. Designer can extend his imagination and create his unique wall and floor design using these tiles. These tiles are scratch resistant, stain resistant and durable.

Labor guideline for laying ceramic tiles

After leveling and compacting the base coat, process of laying floor tiles should be started. A level mark/ thread level is fixed on wall at all end to act as guide. Lay cement coarse sand mortar 1:3 ratio bedding on the base coat. Care should be taken that the mortar should be laid for 2 layers of tiles and 10 to 15 feet in length. The top of mortar is kept rough so that cement slurry can be observed. Neat cement slurry of honey-like consistency shall be spread over the mortar bed such an area as would accommodate about twenty tiles to cover any hollows and to avoid air pockets in the bedding mortar, the quantity of cement shall be 4.4 kg/ square meter.

The tiles shall be washed clean and fixed in this grout one after the other, each tile being gently tapped with a wooden mallet till it is properly bedded and in level with a straight line, so to suit the required pattern. The surface of the flooring during laying should be frequently checked with a straight edge at least 2 meter long, so as to obtain a true surface with a desired slope. After the tiles have been laid for the day, surplus cement grout that may have come out of the joints shall be cleared off.

Finishing the Joints

During 24 hours of floor lying, no one should walk on the tiles. All joints shall be cleaned and all dust and loose mortar removed and cleared. Joints shall be finished with white cement mixed with pigment or without pigment to match the shade of floor tiles. Tile floor shall be kept moist for 7 days.

Precaution while installation/ laying glazed tile or ceramic tile

One must match up the size of the wall or floor with the size of the tile to minimize the wastage i.e. one should try to put those tiles which are best fitted with the surface area to be put on so that odd sized tiles can be avoided.
One should start tiles on wall from corner away from the entrance so that the user would get whole full sized tiles and odd sizes remain away from vision of the user.
On floor tiles should start from door step so that odd sized tiles would get to the far furthermost wall.
On the door step one can use different colored tiles or any other pattern to create interest in entrance of the room.
One should see that tiles don’t get cut with a hand-held stone cutting machine or else all the edges would get rough and uneven. One should use traditional tile cutting blade after wetting the tiles for at least three-four hours.
One can use broken tiles to create interesting patterns.
Purchase tiles with appropriate area calculations to minimize the wastage. Also, sometimes sizes of tiles got varied with in the same company. So one should try to purchase tiles in one slot only.
Vitreous tiles have lesser variations than that of ceramic tiles. Also variations are larger in bigger sized tiles.
One should use Pointing and filling techniques to hide the joints with the help of 'matching color pigment' which in return reduces the visibility of the gaps.
PVC tile spacers can be used to regulate tile gaps.
Tiles should move from top downwards so that odd sized tiles would come above skirting.
While Installing wall tiles in bathroom, one should try to judge positions of taps, switches earlier so that tiles can be cut finely before get installed because afterwards it cause greater effort to cut the tiles.
One should prefer square cuts rather than circular cuts to avoid chances of damage to tiles.
Surface of floor or wall should be leveled up to ensure greater strength and to avoid cracks.

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Tile Flooring, designs & installation guidelines

One of the fastest growing trends in the flooring, tiles come in a wide variety of styles, patterns and colors. In this article we will discuss some of the guidelines one should keep in mind before going ahead with the tile flooring.

What is the specification of glazed tile ?

The tiles shall be of approved make and shall generally confirmed to ISI 777 .

What is the specification of skirting and dado ?

12 MM thick plaster of cement coarse sand mortar 1:3 shall be applied on the walls and allowed to hardened .

What is recommended raw material for glazed tiles flooring & their quantity per SQM ?

Glazed Tiles of required size and colour = 1.05 SQM

What is the procedure of laying of glazed tiles flooring ?

The bedding of the tiles shall be with cement mortar 1:3 with average thickness of 10 mm .

Where glazed tile flooring should be installed?

Glazed tiles floor are bacteria free as no bacteria can grow on it.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of glazed tiles flooring ?

Glazed Tiles Flooring is easy to clean and maintain being stain free, acid and alkali resistant.

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