Tiling in the winter?

[LadyGodiva]

My sister lives in Germany and was trying to get a company to redo her kitchen in porcelain tiles. Anyway, they told her that it is not a good idea to lay tiles in the winter time. Is that true? She's going to be travelling a lot, and the only time convenient for her is around December 15th. I told her I'd ask my 'buddies' on the mud forum, so she can go kick some butt if they're wrong :D

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[Davestone]

Trying to get a German to work two weeks before Christmas is like trying to.......well,the only problem is waiting longer for the modified thinset to set,but if the house is heated,and i'm sure it is, i see no problems,but hey, i live in Fl. :)

[Bri]

If that was the case, I'd be out of work 7 months a year. :)

[Derek & Jacqui]

What part of Germany?. we worked there for two years and they kept us going till fly out time usually on the 24th Dec.If they could get away with it. After Christmas was slow because the temperature could drop to 20% cel. below freezing. Ever tried using tiles that have been on a pallet in the back of a van over night and are all stuck together with ice. great fun

[John Bridge]

No one should be required to set tiles when the temp is lower than 70 degrees. ;)

[jay f]

JB, what precautions do you have to use in the dead of winter? Long sleeved shirt, maybe? :rolleyes:

[oma]

Winter? Hell, it was 95 degrees here yesterday. Had to run the AC toward the end of Oct (grin). On the upside, the heating bills are cheap. We're in the middle of doing a stained concrete floor right now, and we have had to do our staining early in the morning while the concrete was still cool.
I know it's not advisable to do concrete work in low temps. Does the same rule apply to tile?

[tileguytodd]

What a bunch a wimps!!! :D
I had the Felker set up outside wednsday.yemp was 42 water temp was 41.I will say it was nice that we only had 22 cuts ;)

[Westie]

Your not a real tile man until you scrape the ice off the tile saw between cuts. Tiling up here is easyier. We don't use thinset, just wet the back of the tile, put it in place and let it freeeze. For gout just pack snow in the joints. Just don't use the yellow snow. :yeah:

[LadyGodiva]

My sis lives in Mannheim. She said that service is nothing like it is here, and basically it's hard to get the Germans to do anything at that time of year. I guess it would be a great time for our tile guys to take a trip over :D

[John Bridge]

I lived in Mannheim for a year and a half way back in the good old days. Seems to me the Germans were pretty industrious back then. What's happened?

Tell your sis I lived on Tattersal Strasse, near the Wasser Turm. :)

We've been in the 90s all week and it looks like the same next week. Global warming, I guess. Yes, I do own two long sleeve shirts. Only wear one of them, though, and not very often. ;)

[Bri]

Has anybody tried using a dry cut blade on their water saw? I know it will chip the tile edges, but it doesn't matter much in most cases. I may put one on my little saw and try it out. At least it won't freeze up. :)

[tileguytodd]

I use a grinder and diamond blade in the winter alot Bri.
That and Buckets of Hot Water :D

[WilliamL]

Man,I'm getting bummed out here just thinking of winter.To think,I was all pissed off because I have to rake leaves today.

[Rd Tile]

http://www.contractorsdirect.com/cgi-bin/WebStore/indexNEW.cgi/mi=yes/srchcd=5992

[tileguytodd]

RD, A Quick Recovery hot water heater Element is about 12.00.Solder a Spring Clamp and an old Power cord end to it or get a 6' cord. 2 coat Epoxy the Soldered Connections.
Instead of 45.00(including the shipping) you can have a similar heater for around 15 bucks if you already have the old Cord ;)

Plug these into GFI's for safety reasons if you ever use one.

[Rd Tile]

Thanks, I'm lazy though. :D

[Bill Vincent]

What a bunch a wimps!!! :D
I had the Felker set up outside wednsday.yemp was 42 water temp was 41.I will say it was nice that we only had 22 cuts ;)

Same here-- had 30 5" "dots" to cut, along with clipping corners on 120 field tiles-- except I got smart-- I had my son doing the cutting!! (while Dad was using the DRY grinder to cut in the door jambs!! :D ) Poor kid was coming into the house every ten minutes for another bucket of hot water!! I felt so sorry for him. (can't ya tell?) :D :D :D

[jd77]

Thanks for the water heater tip, Todd. :idea: :D

JD

[John Bridge]

Seems y'all would get a clue when you have to put heaters in your water bucket and anti-freeze in your saw pan.

Move south. :D

[LadyGodiva]

I don't think I'd let anyone work on my house during the winter though. It's too bloody awful outside, and I'd end up feeling very guilty.

[Bill Vincent]

LG-- trust me-- there's all kinds of ways around the cold. :) Things like garages, or basements, etc. :) As for the cold tiles, you just wait to pick them up from the warehouse till it's time to go to the jobsite!

[tileguytodd]

I generally try to get the materials to the job site a couple days before i need them.Nature of the beast if you want a year round income .
And LG, If too many people felt that way every tileman would either starve in the winter or have to charge double in the warm months to survive the winter.Dont worry about it, if they didnt want the work they would say so :)

[muskymike]

Like Todd says, get the stuff out early. If I didn't do stuff in the winter the lakes would have lots of holes in them! :twitch:

[Bill Vincent]

Yeah, but for the fish YOU'RE looking for, you'd need one of them drills they use for settin TELEPHONE poles!! :D :D :D

[LadyGodiva]

I honestly thought that most of these construction, remodelling jobs slowed down in the winter. I'll have to pay some attention this coming winter. I guess they could do most of the work indoors.

Bill, my garage is COLD! I'd feel so sorry for the tile setter having to set up his stuff out there :cry:

[Bill Vincent]

That's what they make saw tray heaters and kerosene heaters for!! :D Where there's a will, there's a way. :D (I refer you to my signature line. :) )

[Chris the Rep]

20# propane tanks, weed burners, and metal buckets. That'll keep everything warm.

In my opinion, the worst up here, (and I'm not nearly as far north as Todd) is early spring and dealing with the mud.

But I gotta say Todd, nothing quite like the site of watching the ice go out in the spring somewhere like Mille Lacs or Leech Lake. (2 big lakes in Minnesota)

Chris

[JTG]

Heaters in the water tray are a good thing until the helper plugs it in without putting any water in the tray. :bang:

There are a lot of parts that melt on the big Pearl saw. But they were replacable and it keeps on cutting.

[Bill Vincent]

Heaters in the water tray are a good thing until the helper plugs it in without putting any water in the tray. :bang:
There are a lot of parts that melt on the big Pearl saw.

Not in a TARGET!! :D :D :D

But I gotta say Todd, nothing quite like the site of watching the ice go out in the spring somewhere like Mille Lacs or Leech Lake. (2 big lakes in Minnesota)

Chris-- You got that right. I had the chance to see the ice go out on a lake one time about 5 years ago, and it was the wildest thing ever. I was part of a 3 man crew doing renovations to a grocery store in Ellsworth, Maine which is about 3 hours from where I live, so we were staying at a hotel. It was also an open store, so we were doing the work at night, and this was just after the start of fishing season (april 1st), and the ice wasn't quite out on the lakes yet. Well, what we were doing was at 6 am, when we got out of work, going to a river where it ran out of a place called Green Lake and doing a little trout fishing. This one morning while we were there, you could see across the road where the ice was getting real black, and there was a good 20-30 mile an hour wind blowing. Well, the guy I was fishing with reeled in his line and just started watching. So I asked him what was up, and he told me just to watch, and within about 10 minutes, all of the sudden the ice that had just covered the entire lake simply disappeared!! That was the first time I'd ever seen that. My coworker was saying that what happens is the wind actually drives it underwater, and then the lake does the rest. But it was wild as hell-- one second the lake is iced in, and the next, there's 3 foot waves!!

[John Bridge]

I repeat. Move south. ;)

[WilliamL]

Come on John,you aint worked till you had to thaw out the water lines on your wetsaw.

[muskymike]

John if we move south we might put you out of work! :sick:

[tileguytodd]

That only happens on a wimpy lake.When the ice breaks up on mille lacs in a 30 mph wind,you can bet the side of the lake recieving all that wind is going to look like a D8 cat was there and in about 1 hour.
On Blackduck it pushed our Shore up 8' and toppled 80 year old Cottonwoods like saplings.The power of wind and Ice is incredible.
Lake Superior,April 1974 The wind drove the ice in and piled it up 30' high.it then proceeded to push and pack that ice moving it slowly like a glacier until it reached the Holiday Inn 125 yards up the beach.Next Morning,1 wing of the holiday inn was 1/2 way in the parking lot and an Ice mountain was on top of the old foundation :)

[Bill Vincent]

WOW! That, I've never even HEARD of happening. Green Lake is no wimpy lake. I don't know how big Mille Lacs is but I know Green is no Lake Superior. However, it IS about 6-7000 acres. What normally happens up here is the ice melts to the point where it's only an inch or so thick, and then the wind and water beneath do the rest.

[tileguytodd]

I believe Mill lacs is about 130,000 acres but it may be larger.I would have to double check.
Its smaller than Red lake for sure and a bit larger than Leech Lake.
Small ponds compared to superior though :)

Its 132,000 acres!! ;)

Upper Red lake is 108,000 acres,
Lower Red lake is around 200,000

So 308,000 acres total aproximatly

[LadyGodiva]

Move to Oklahoma. It does get quite cold, and we do get ice and snow, but it doesn't last like it does up North.

Besides, you'd get to meet me and I've got lots of work for you! :D

[tileguytodd]

Oklahoma!!! Ya'll get way too many tornados if ya ask me.
If you have to live with getting snow, you may as well have fun with it and get enough to go skiing,snowmobiling etc etc......:)

[Davestone]

Todd,i was just wunderin,how big is lake Okeechobee,and Rend Lake and Lake Shasta,just wonderin :D

[tileguytodd]

Check with your local DNR, thats what i did ;)

A guy was ice fishing on rd lake in his new Cadillac escalante.It was dark and he couldnt find his way of the lake.He used onstar and asked for directions.The lady said"sir i am going to have to get back to you,it seems my equipment is broken.It says you are on a lake"

She was from Florida and didnt know about ice fishing.He explained how he was in fact on a lake and she gave him directions ....Love that story :)

[Bill Vincent]

Ya know-- everyone I know has sleds and sheds. The heck with that-- give me a fireplace and some hot spiked apple cider, and I'm happy!!

[Derek & Jacqui]

:crazy: The last place we lived in England the cider was known as scrumpy, and was spiked by the locals with rum. :sick:

[Bill Vincent]

Around these parts it's called a hot toddy. For obvious reasons I was reluctant to give the name of them. :D