Novice tiler seeks help!

I am about to start tiling a couple of bathroom walls and I have a couple of things I am not sure about.

1. Are the tile spacings dictated by anything other than the "look" of the job. The guy at the tiling shop has given me 1.5mm spacers for 400mm square wall tiles. I am happy with the way it will look but do they need to be bigger?

2. I have got some plastic trims for the edges of the row where it will meet the untiled wall. Do I mark the line and bed this in first, then tile into it, or should I try and slide it under the tiles after I have bedded them?

3. One small area (behind the toilet) has been jointed with a multi-purpose joint compound which seems quite soft. I know you can't tile over topping compound but does the same apply to this stuff and should I sand it all of first or could I paint on some spare waterproofing membrane to "seal" it instead.
Hope someone can help!! Cheers

not sure about anything else, but 1.5mm seems mighty tiny for that size tile. I may be way off though!

:)

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Originally Posted by adam01

I am about to start tiling a couple of bathroom walls and I have a couple of things I am not sure about.

1. Are the tile spacings dictated by anything other than the "look" of the job. The guy at the tiling shop has given me 1.5mm spacers for 400mm square wall tiles. I am happy with the way it will look but do they need to be bigger?
1.5mm is standard for walls. Are the tiles rectified(a very flat surface right to the edge)
2. I have got some plastic trims for the edges of the row where it will meet the untiled wall. Do I mark the line and bed this in first, then tile into it, or should I try and slide it under the tiles after I have bedded them?
Slide it under later
3. One small area (behind the toilet) has been jointed with a multi-purpose joint compound which seems quite soft. I know you can't tile over topping compound but does the same apply to this stuff and should I sand it all of first or could I paint on some spare waterproofing membrane to "seal" it instead.
same goes for multi purpose stuff. If you find it is only under a small part of each tile maybe quarter to a third on any tile, just leave it.
Hope someone can help!! Cheers

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Cheers
Michael

Bigger tiles is my advice, if you can find one the size of the wall that would be ideal.

Never ever let the missus pick out those itty bitty little tiles, you'll be there forever.

Jokes aside, If you're worried about spacing, cut up some little squares of double sided carpet tape, bung em on the corners of your tiles and temporarily stick a couple of em on the wall, then you can fool around with mock-ups to your hearts content. Don't use too much tape though or they'll be hard to get off without taking some wall with em.

A sealer coat of waterproof membrane is good to use prior to tiling. The topping coat sets by drying which is why water can be a problem.

Cheers
Pulse

Hi Adam,
I'm a fairly rough tiler and so I tend to go for a larger joint, it helps to cover the mistakes. I used 3mm spacers on 400 x 200 in my place.
If you have some membrane material use it. By rights you should use it around the bath-shower etc.

Paul, I'm with you, the bigger the better. I also did a mock up like you say, on a bit of ply using blue-tack. I did a bit of grouting to check colour when dry also. I was really surprised at how strong the grout was when I pulled it all apart.

Regards
Bill

The problem with larger tiles is that if the wall isn't perfectly flat then any imperfections throw the edges of the tile off. It can be near impossible to get a smooth transition between tile edges. At least that has been my experience laying 460mm square tiles.

:2tsup: Cheers for the tips guys, I might do the mock up thing on a piece of board. Billbeee, don't worry have waterproofed the whole shower/bath area, the area I was going to use it up on is behind the toilet, just thought it might give better key.
As for the edging trims well I'll just have to see how it goes but I'll probably slide em in as I go.
Cheers again