Ricky Andrews Wall & Floor Tiler

Start to finish. Black and white checker Original Winklemans Tile. Finished with white grout. The tiles have been sealed with Lithofin sealer, hence the shine. Once dried, the tiles will return to a more matte finish. A real classic style pattern. Ideally the walls would have been upright and square to enable the corners to meet nicely. However in an existing building this is not always possible.

Start to finish. Long metro tiles, fitted in a Herringbone pattern. Ran a tile along the bottom and along the ceiling to give the effect of a border. The grout is a silver grey. The smaller of the tiled boxing units will have a basin fitted to it. I have made the front completely removable, hence why in the picture you see a piece of masking tape keeping it held in place until the plumber has done his thing. By having made it removable it will make it easier for the plumber t...o access the pipe work for the basin if need be in the future. I cut out a triangle shape wedge so it will be easy to get a finger in there and pry it open, the triangle shape doesn’t look out of place with the theme of the room. The existing floor tiles will later be covered with a wood effect style laminate, not fitted by me. Matching silver grey silicone to finish.
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Start to finish. Quirky ! Wall tiles, 150x75mm Ceramic. 350x350mm Porcelain tiles on the floor. Prior to me Tiling, a pre-formed tray had been installed. These pre-formed trays are great if you having mosaics, as mosaics will follow the falls of the tray nicely. In this case the customer didn’t have mosaics, meaning I had to create the falls myself with the tiles he wanted. I installed a waterproof tanking system kit made by Aquaseal prior to Tiling. Some tanking systems can ...be cheap and I would question the quality. I have experience of installing a few different systems, and this particular product was good. I’m told there will be some kind of glass doors being fitted across the front now it’s finished. Blue grout was used on the walls to accent the blue detail within the tiles. Silver grey grout on the floor with matching silicone around the perimeter.
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The Bathroom Before Christmas. 300x600mm stone effect tiles. Silver grey grout. Usually I like to get a photo of the tiles before the plumbing second fix happens, but as it was getting tight for finishing before Christmas the second fix had to happen around me. Nice to see it all completely ready to use though. Spot the sneaky plumber in the photos ! There is such a wide range of tiles out there now. These bathrooms are becoming more like you’d expect to see in a 5 star hotel suite. Really enjoy being part of the process.

Wet room. Start to finish. 100x300mm Marble Tiles laid in Herringbone pattern. 2mm joint spacing. White grout, white silicone to finish.

Wet room. Start to finish. 100x300mm Marble Tiles laid in Herringbone pattern. 2mm joint spacing. White grout, white silicone to finish. The shower tray is set into the floor on this one. Prior to any tiling, I fixed waterproof tanking tape around the bottom of the walls to seal the gap where the wall meets the tray. I also like to tape the corners where both walls meet. I set out the position of the tiles on the floor where it would look best in the room. The pattern continu...es up the wall. Once I had finished tiling, but before grouting, a Stone sealant was applied (a brand calIed Fila was used on this particular job but another good brand to use is Lithofin) The Stone sealant is a must with it being such a porous material. Shower gels are usually coloured and over time it will stain the Marble, and who wants to ruin their new Marble bathroom right ?! Once I had grouted another coat was applied before I done the finish silicone sealant .. One of the last photos I’m holding up a page from a magazine from which the customer got the idea and inspiration for this bathroom.
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Shower enclosure. 300x600mm gloss tiles. Shelf set into shower wall for shampoos and shower gels. These built in shelves seem to be becoming more popular over the last few years. They are definitely better than having the chrome type shelves you can fix to the wall, they always seem to rust over time.

Marble Mosaic Worktops. Start to finish. The Marble mosaics comes in 300x300mm sheets. The joints between tiles flow up the walls. I was governed by the corner return of the work top as to where I started the tiles. That meant I had no choice as to how the tiles would finish around the plug sockets. But in the end it all turned out fine, some things are meant to be ! Smoke grout with matching silicone.

Start to finish. Bathroom. On the walls 175x75mm crackle glaze tiles. On the floor 450x450mm ‘4’ in one tile. The grout is a silver grey, same on both floor and walls, with colour match silicone.

Start to finish. Metro tiles, 100x200mm. Titanium grout with matching titanium silicone. The laminate flooring wasn’t fitted by myself, so can’t take credit for that ! I personally like this colour of grout, I always think if you have white tiles, you should have a contrasting colour grout. Otherwise if you have white grout with white tiles, it all just looks like a big white mass ! But that’s just my opinion, ultimately it’s the customers choice. I used the matching colour silicone around bottom of the tray and up the corners of the shower area. I also ran the silicone around the laminate floor where it meets the walls and tray.

Start to finish. Bathroom. 175x500mm Wood Plank Effect tiles laid vertically. Grey grout. The customer had the idea of laying the tiles vertical to create the illusion of the room being taller. I think it works pretty well. Maybe the photos don’t do it justice but certainly when you are there in person, the long vertical joints make the room feel a lot taller than it is. I’ve staggered the joints between the tiles to give it that “Floor Board” look. That’s how you’d lay them if you were Tiling on a floor, as they are wood plank effect Tiles after all. I wasn’t sure it would look right in a bathroom on the walls, but I think it actually looks really smart. The silicone will be done at a later date.

Start to finish, just in time for Christmas !! Bathroom, walls and floor. Initially Hardie Backer board was fixed down to the existing wooden floor. I then fixed Ditra Mat ontop of the Hardie Backer board. Then the tiles, Black and White laid out in checker style. 330x330mm. The house itself is an old Victorian house, the floor was way out of level, it slopes away to the back of the room. The bath which will be installed is a free standing bath, so you can basically see under...neath the thing. Which means I had to make sure the joints between the tiles on the floor fell right around the pipework coming up through the floor. The walls were particularly bad, not necessarily for up right but for flatness. White Metro tiles for the walls, 200x100mm. A white boarder tile around the top. The grout is a very light grey, used on both floor and walls. Finished off with matching colour silicone. (Notice in the shower area where the walls meet in the corner the grout is darker, this is because at the time these photo's were taken I'd literally just siliconed up the corner. The darker grout lines are from the spray I use to remove the silicone).
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Start to finish. Lily pad encaustic hexagonal cement tile. The tiles themselves are 16mm in thickness. Ideally you'd have them laid on a floor, however in this case, they are on the walls within a shower enclosure ! Spaced apart with a 1mm joint. Where the walls met in the corners, I wanted the hexagonal bond of the tiles to meet. I was fighting a losing battle with the wall on the right. It was an existing wall which had been skimmed, when you put a level on it the wall lean...s inwards as the wall goes up. This throws the joint bond out of the tiles meeting the adjoining wall. It was a case of getting it looking the best I could with the situation, I think I achieved that (and obviously the customer did to !). I used a product called Lithofin Stain Stop to seal the tiles prior to tiling, once tilled, and again after grouting. The tiles are so porous, within a wet area like a shower it's vital to make sure the tiles are well sealed. Light grey grout. Light grey silicone to finish.
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Phase 3. The job is complete ! Carrying on with the Victorian mosaic from the kitchen, into the hallway, down the side of the stair case and into the porch area. This job is definitely one of my personal favourites out of the jobs I've done this year. (Notice in some places the grout is a darker shade, this is not because I've left hollows in the grout, it's where in some places it's still wet!) The idea of running the border tile "through" walls was to the make it look as though the floor was put down first and the walls were then built on top afterwards.

Start to finish. Shower area tiled. White metro, 200x100mm. Grey grout, grey silicone to match. The shower tray is matte black slate effect.

Start to finish. Phase 2 of the bathroom, tiling on the walls. The tiles are white Craquele Glaze 200x100mm. The grout is Space Blue !! The whole bathroom itself is very quirky. As I said previously I'm very honoured to be given the opportunity to do work like this. It's very bespoke and it's certainly unique. You'll notice the tiles change from being laid out in herringbone pattern to brick pattern. The area laid out in herringbone pattern will be inside of the shower area once a bespoke shower screen has been made to fit. The skirting tiles and the finish tile beads around the window finish the whole thing off perfectly.

Bathroom start to finish. The floor itself has no break, it starts flat into the room under the vanity unit/toilet and falls away down into the shower tray gully, basically a wet room style floor. A tanking system was installed prior to tiling and I also fitted Ditra Mat over the entire floor. Ceramic metro tiles, 300x100mm on the wall. Porcelain wood plank effect floor tiles. Gunmetal grey grout throughout. Matching silicone to finish it off.

Bathroom start to finish. 200x100mm gloss white metro tiles. Grey grout.