Successful tiling with large format tiles

Large format and very large format tiles is becoming increasingly popular.

As these tiles can be over 3m long, a number of tilers are asking “How do we tile these?”.

Tips

· Be prepared, make sure you have the right equipment for the job

· As ever, the substrate needs to be primed and the back of the tiles clean and free from dust

· Most obvious challenges are; these tiles are heavy and awkward to handle;

breaking the tiles – they can be thin so more prone to breaking when handling;

· air pockets/bubbles:

correct application of adhesive and the use of beaters are essential;

· Lippage:

it’s important to use a suitable levelling system

· Handling:

Using a suitable handling system. These can be used along with our system to move the tiles from the crate, ease buttering the back and then installation.

· Cutting:

Cutting tiles over 3 Meter can be a challenge. Cutting system anchors a rail onto the tile and then supports different tools for cutting the tiles, creating miter edges or bull nosing tiles. We also offer Benches can be connected together to make it simple to process even very large tiles on a suitable flat surface

· Large format tiles ALWAYS require back-buttering. Always apply the adhesive in stripes running parallel with the short edge to ease getting rid of air pockets/bubbles

· The floor or wall also needs the adhesive applied in stripes in the same direction as the adhesive on the tile

· Use a thin trowel (3mm) with notched teeth for the back buttering and a bigger trowel (10mm) with notched teeth for applying adhesive to the wall or floor. The sum of the two trowels notch sizes ought to equal or be greater than 13mm (3mm + 10mm + 13mm)

· Slant ridge notched trowels give the best coverage, such as our Trowel

· Beat the slabs from the center to the edges

· Use Tile Leveling system for best levelling results