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The usual thing is for the tile fixer to come on to the job after the plas- terer has finished his work and where a tile dado is to be fixed, as in bath- rooms, etc., the plasterer brings his work down to the place where the top of the tiles in the dado will come. The plaster very seldom exceeds thickness of 3⁄41⁄4”. and, since a satisfac- tory job of tiling requires a "conpo" float of 1⁄2" plus a 1⁄4" bed of cement mortar on the back of the tile, in addition to the thickness of the tile which is normally ", making in all 1-%", it is necessary to allow for a set-back of about " at the top of the tiling. This can be done by having for the top course of the tiles moulded capping, angle-head, rounded edge, or combination angle of suitable section. The most commonly used tile for this top course is a rounded edge which gives a complete and satisfactory finish although it does not set-back the whole of the ". The remaining small gap can be nicely finished off with white cement.
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It sometimes happens that the tile fixer does his work before the plasterer and, in this case, when his work is finished he covers this with a layer of brown paper to protect it from splashes of cement from the plasterer's work. The brown paper is stuck to the tiling by a simple mixture of boiled water and flour and, after the plaster- ers and painters have finished, it can easily be removed by soaking with water, and any particles of the paste still adhering to the surface of the tiles can be removed also with little effort.
As the tile fixer prepares to com- mence fixing tiles on the wall he knows at what point the surface of the finished dado will be, and he fixes spots at frequent intervals to guide him. A spot is made by a little blob of cement mortar on the top of which is palced a piece of broken tile and each spot is checked for trueness with its neighbour throughout the whole length of the wall. For the setting out of floor tiling similar spots are fixed all across the floor and these control the finished level of the work. The spots are fixed by taking a straight edge from the datum line and by using a spirit level on the top side. Care must be taken to avoid upsetting any of the spots before the mortar has had time to set. If the room is a large one, and subsequent spots after the first cannot be
set direct off a datum point, the first spot must
OF THE TILE-MASON
PART 5
be fixed quite solidly and then the other spots can be taken directly off this one, which will, of course, keep them in line with the datum. The level between the spots must also be checked.
Most bathroom floors are laid to a fall and, in this case, by the careful use of straight edge and spirit level the spots are set to a slight fall in the direction of any aperture which takes away the water.
Floor spaces that are supposed to be square should be carefully checked and if these are not true, arrangements should be made for the necessary cutting in the tiling.
By testing the two diagonals accross a room it is possible to find out in a very simple fashion whether the room is square or rectangular. Single angles can, of course, be tested by means of the set-square which is part of the fixer's tools, as previously pointed out. A very satisfactory method of finding out whether a right angle is true is known as the 3.4.5. method and is as follows:-- Mark a point on one wall exactly 3' from the angle and on the adjacent wall 4 from the angle and, if the angle is a true right angle, the direct distance between the two points should be 5'. The possibility of any error can be easily diminished by increasing the measurements two or more times, i.e. 6.8.10 or 9.12.15.
The laying of floors differs in vari- The British ous parts of the world. method is to lay the floor in consecu- tive strips with the width of each strip being controlled by the distance a kneeling man can reach to place the tiles in position. The British fixer normally starts his wall tiling from two adjacent square walls and allows any raking cuts that may be necessary to work out. He is also careful about the
ineans of access to the room because he does not want to have his materials subsequently brought over the newly- laid floor. He starts at the further- most point of the room and works backwards to the door.
The expert masons of the Far East, the most outstanding of which are the Shanghainese, will not lay a floor in sections if it is at all possible to lay it as a whole. They use all the afore- mentioned methods of acquiring levels but differ from the British masons by employing sufficient men to lay a complete floor in one section as al- ready stated.
The most suitable thickness of bed for floor tiling is P', but the tile fixer clearly understands that he may have to increase this in places to allow for uneven floating of the floor and pre- pared surfaces which are not abso- lutely level. He must, however, be very careful not to have his bed too thick, say, not more than "as the tiles will tend to sink under their own weight if this is the case.
Care should also be taken to ensure that the bed is not too thin as the tiles must be properly beaten home, also no matter how much care is taken with the sieving of the sand to make the composition, small stones have a the habit of infiltrating through "compo" and these cannot be absorb- ed into the general thickness of the bed if this is too minute.
Before laying floor tiles, with the exception of mosaics, they must all be thoroughly soaked to saturation point in CLEAN water and then put out to drain so that any excess moisture may be taken off, If any tiles are to be cut they should be cut before soaking, after soaking cutting is more difficult,
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司公蟻白滅專雲高
THOMAS COWAN & CO.
Tel. 30722
Room 320 Queen's Bldg., Hong Kong
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