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Hi everyone, this is my first post and although I ve read a view posts, not seen this question covered, its a simple question but has cost me a recent job.... does it matter what size spacer (within reason) is used on a bathroom wall,, tiles were 500x250 so big tiles were being used.... my understanding was that its purely choice????

There is no hard and fast answer to this, most people prefer minimal grout lines so 3mm or less would be my suggestion.

It can't cost you a job if you are conversing with the client properly prior to pricing, unless they want some unrealistic spacing which is going to make the end finish look crap.

2mm minimum (less depending on tile and grout) 5mm max. 5mm would look pants!!

thanks for taking the time to reply, I m very grateful... I completed a City and Guilds tiling course and recently landed my first big job, to tile a bathroom,,,, I d suggested using 4mm spacers as the tiles were rather big and I suggested it might look nicer,, I had completed 2 days of tiling completing half of the batrhroom, (I had told the customer that I was a newby and would rather take my time, which he was fine about)... then his plumber friend came to plumb in bath and sink etc and said that his friend was a tiler and could have done what I had completed in an hour!!!! and that I should never have used 4mm spacers and should know better!!! as a result I lost the job and he s not paying for the 2 days!!!! suggested that I do the time with another tiler for more experience...... Needless to say I was mortified and felt that Id let the guy down....................
That's life I guess...

I personally like wider grout lines, within reason, and always discuss this with a customer before starting - even to the extent of laying out some tiles on a board with some dry white filler powder between them, to give a visual impression of the different grout-widths. Wider lines do mean you need to take longer over the grouting, but to my eye they look better with bigger tiles. I recently did a bit of kitchen tiling with 100mm square tiles, all in one pale colour, and the customer specifically asked for 4mm spacing because they too liked the look of a wider grout-line. Of course it's a personal choice - that's why the various different sizes of spacers are available!

I don't think you should have allowed the customer to get away without paying you - that's just not fair as you'd told him you were inexperienced and he still engaged your services.

I would not be at all surprised if the friendly plumber was the sort of dinosaur who doesn't believe women should be doing jobs like tiling - he'd probably have said you were wrong if you'd been using 2mm spacers - it's despicable of him to criticise your work solely on the basis of speed and a personal choice of spacer that you'd agreed already with the customer. And if his tiler friend can do half a bathroom in an hour, it must be the smallest bathroom I've ever heard of.

I'd be very interested to know, if you can ever find out, whether they end up taking off the tiles you put up, and start again at smaller spacings, or whether they just finish it with the same - in which case they've taken you for a ride.

I'm afaid if you're going to go into business, you've got to be aware that a (thankfully very small) proportion of customers will rip you off if they can - eventually you learn to recognise them before starting!

Good luck with your next job.

I can see exactly what he means by you needing to work with a tiler.

City and Guilds pay your 3K for a short course is not the way into the trade. It will cut it for a bit of house bashing with 'standard tiles on standard jobs' but not the more in depth stuff.

We used one of our friends who had been on a course, instead of one of the time served tilers we normally use. Had to kick him off the job. It was only a small area of mosaic!! It will probably be another 2 years before we give him another chance.

thank you for your reply, its more difficult than I thought being out there on your own, I doubted my ability and felt that I d ultimately let the customer down.... its all experience, I m not going to give up just yet.... oh and by the way the first tiler didn't even turn up.. so the customer found another tiler and he said to start again!!!!

Chris Skilbeck wrote:I personally like wider grout lines, within reason, and always discuss this with a customer before starting - even to the extent of laying out some tiles on a board with some dry white filler powder between them, to give a visual impression of the different grout-widths. Wider lines do mean you need to take longer over the grouting, but to my eye they look better with bigger tiles. I recently did a bit of kitchen tiling with 100mm square tiles, all in one pale colour, and the customer specifically asked for 4mm spacing because they too liked the look of a wider grout-line. Of course it's a personal choice - that's why the various different sizes of spacers are available!

I don't think you should have allowed the customer to get away without paying you - that's just not fair as you'd told him you were inexperienced and he still engaged your services.

I would not be at all surprised if the friendly plumber was the sort of dinosaur who doesn't believe women should be doing jobs like tiling - he'd probably have said you were wrong if you'd been using 2mm spacers - it's despicable of him to criticise your work solely on the basis of speed and a personal choice of spacer that you'd agreed already with the customer. And if his tiler friend can do half a bathroom in an hour, it must be the smallest bathroom I've ever heard of.

I'd be very interested to know, if you can ever find out, whether they end up taking off the tiles you put up, and start again at smaller spacings, or whether they just finish it with the same - in which case they've taken you for a ride.

I'm afaid if you're going to go into business, you've got to be aware that a (thankfully very small) proportion of customers will rip you off if they can - eventually you learn to recognise them before starting!

Good luck with your next job.

I'd defiantly see if you could gain some valuable experience with an experienced tiler,you'll learn more in a week with a good pro than a college course will ever give you. It's a shame that nowadays 4 year apprenticeships seem to have fallen by the wayside and 2 week courses are springing up all over the place. A course is all fine and well but it should run alongside on the job training(4 years apprenticeship). Good luck with future projects and keep at it.