No_5_July_and_August__1950 — Page 71

SINGAPORE & THE FEDERATION OF MALAYA SECTION

THE ART OF THE TILE - MASON

Third of a series of articles on the designing, manufacturing and laying of clay tiles by "Ceramico".

We have, in our first two articles, described briefly how a ceramic wall tile comes into being. There are many types of wall and floor tiles and their very necessary fittings, but, in order to maintain the continuity of our narrative concerning the art of the tile-mason we will leave processes of manufacture for the moment and return later in our series to a description of further groups of tiles, specialised or other- wise.

It is said that a good workman can be judged by his tools so let us take a look at the tools that a first class tile fixer requires.

Probably first in the matter of importance to him are his trowels-three of them. He has a medium sized brick- layers' trowel the principal use of which is to "butter" the backs of the tiles that he is fixing with the "compo" a mix of cement and sand. He has also a plasterers' trowel for floating and true-ing floats and for the initial beating down of mosaics and floor tiles and the true-ing of both. His third trowel is a very small pointed bricklayers' trowel which he uses for pointing wide joint work.

To cut a tile along a desired line he first of all perforates the glaze on the surface and then gives the tile a sharp tap on the back, at the proper position, with the sharp end of a light hammer. For this cutting of the glaze he has two or three different types of tools and uses each as convenient. He has a scriber which is any small length of hardened steel. about half-an-inch in diameter and sharpened to a very fine point. Small chisels, from four inches to about eight inches in length of finely tempered steel may be used, or glass- cutters as used by the glazier.

We have already mentioned the light hammer, which leaves the carborundum stones one fine and one rough, and the pincers, to complete the cutting tools. The pincers must be of the strongest possible make with two very sharp pincer teeth as they are used for snatching away small pieces of tile so that close approach can be effected to an already perforated glaze-line. Having achieved this close approach the rubbing stone is brought into use to smooth off the jagged edges and to get accuracy very much in the same way as a file is used by a carpenter,

A few straight edges, varying in length from four to twelve feet, a two-feet folding rule, plumb rule, line and pins, square. spirit level, small saw with finely tapered cutting blade end, are also part of the tile-layers equipment. He still needs a water brush for throwing water on walls to kill suction when the walls are too dry and also for washing down the face of the work immediately after completion. A hawk is a small mortar-board with a handle to it and he will find constant use for this when pointing wide-joint work. A piece of timber, four-by-two and about a foot in length is a necessity in beating down floor tiles and mosaics. He will also need a rather heavy and strongly made hammer with which to strike the beater as he rotates it backwards and forwards over his floor.

The labourer or improver who is constantly in attendance upon the mason will need his own particular tools too. These comprise, a shovel, bucket, brush and squegee for grouting, cloths for wiping and polishing, soaking tub (for tiles), scaffolding, nails of various sizes, hoist, pulley, and about one hundred feet of water hose.

The responsibility of the mason is to lay, as a final finish, wall and floor tiles upon ready prepared surfaces.

No one comes after him to cover up any possible defects in his work, and, since the tiles that he uses are all more or less of a uniform size and shape, thereby readily emphasising lack of skill in the fixing, he has to be "on his toes" all the time in order that he may hold his own in his chosen profession.

He must be able to read plans and on numerous occasions will be expected to act upon his own initiative. He will be expected to lay all types of floor tiles including mosaics and to fix the complete range of wall tiles including faience and terra-cotta.

Note that we "lay" tiles on floors and "Ax" them onto walls.

The general contractor should provide the fixer with ready prepared, screeded walls of true surfaces. This, notwith- standing, he must always strike his own levels.

The screed thus referred to should be composed of one part of Portland cement to three parts of clean, sharp, medium sand. Thickness for walls should be about three-quarters of an inch and for floors should be increased to an inch.

It is highly undesirable if a surface upon which tiles are to be laid or fixed possesses excess suction qualities and the fixer will kill this suction by liberal application of water. Cleanliness is a necessity as is also a good, well-defined key.

Before starting a job the mason must satisfy himself that the intended surface for laying or fixing is satisfactory in every way. He will test vertical surfaces for plumb and by placing a straight-edge across them in various different positions checks them for flatness. Any faults found must be corrected before the first tile is laid.

His next job is to measure the area to be tiled and if he finds, as so often happens, that he cannot fit in an exact number of tiles, he must decide where he will put his cut tiles so that they will be as inconspicuous as possible.

One of the peculiarities about a tile-fixer's job that is not generally known is the fact that he must carefully pre- judge the probable light effect of his finished work. Since during the day natural light will be streaming in through a window or windows, and at night artificial light will be projected from almost any angle this can sometimes be a little perplexing. It is very essential that due consideration be given to light and shadow for without the proper apprecia- tion of their effect a fixer's work although otherwise skilfully carried out will not be seen to best advantage.

The datum is the point from which vertical measurements are to be taken and the fixer must satisfy himself as to its position before commencing work. It is usually the finished Hoor level and it is most important that this point be properly fixed. He must also find out what bond is to be used and is expected to offer suggestions in specific instances.

Whilst the fixer is doing all this the labourer also has his work to do. Since, with ceramic tiles there is no guarantee of homogeneity of size or shade he will be busily occupied with the sizing and grading of the tiles to be used so that the fixer may the more easily match them upon the walls or floors to best advantage. Having sized and graded he soaks them in a tub of clean water until completely saturated. When bubbles no longer rise to the surface of the water he takes them out to drain them and to remove any possible excess which would otherwise weaken the compo. It is important that clean water free from any foreign matter be used in this soaking process, Draining must be done upon a wooden board so as not to chip the tiles when being handled.

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