Tiling courses: what are the requirements to become a good tiler?

Tiling is a hands-on profession: we all know that! No matter what you learn as a student at tiling courses, you have to remember that the actual hands-on experience is what really counts. Most employers don’t really care where you did your tiling courses from but they do care whether you have practical experience or not. Just theoretical knowledge is not going to help you in out in technical details of the materials you will be handling. For that you need at least a year’s experience before you will be allowed to work on any tiling courses irrespective of the tiling courses you have taken or not.

You will have to learn details about the tiling profession in your tiling courses like-
 Hand work specifics like-
a. Measuring out areas to find out how much adhesive and how many tiles you will need to cover a given service area.
b. How to remove old tiles and then prepare the surface area for tiling with new files.
c. How to use special appliances like machines and hand cutters to prepare the tiles to fit into special nooks and crannies.
d. You might be also required to cut tiles to fit mosaic or decorative designs on to the prepared surfaces.
e. Cutting tiles to specific shapes.
f. Preparing special surfaces primed with cement, sand and plaster to take up the tiles.
g. Attaching tiles to the prepared surfaces
h. Restoring heritage projects which have antique tiling designs without damaging the original patterns.
i. Fixing battens
 The equipment which will be used in the tiling profession like laser levels, tile cutters, tile snippers, parrot snappers, tile saws, hand saws, tile rubbing stones, tile cutters and shapers, miters and a whole range of powered machines to cut the tiles should be taught in tiling courses. After you finish any tiling courses you should be able to recognize and be completely familiar with these tools. Once you are completely familiar with the tools you are also taught how to use powered machines to ease the process along.
 A few tiling courses are such that they have tiling studios where you can learn how to attach tiles to the walls for practical sessions. You should also be taught how to use tiling materials, how to mix them and how to choose tiles to fit into specific places.
 When you finish your tiling courses you should be awarded a basic NVQ grade1 certification. After you finish your first grade, you are then tested in NVQ grades 2 and 3 which are on-the-job testing certifications. An independent assessor will come to check out your work while you are working your apprenticeship job. Your tiling courses should also help you to get a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card.

If you are serious about your profession and being a full-time tiler then you should remember that it a hard job and the tiling courses take hard work to complete.