Installation advice

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Before the cladding or flooring of a surface, a careful planning must be drawn by the builder, by the tiles or installation supplier or, less frequently, by the layer in charge.
For a careful planning, some basic and really important requirements must be taken into account for a "satisfactory" installation.

The laying is done to a fine art when it is:

• regular and harmonious: which means when it is flat, with no bumps or dimples, with straight and regular joints, with no steps, etc...
• integral: with no disjunctions among the elements and with no cracks
• durable, which means able to last in time and preserve its technical and aesthetic performances, without wearing away
• safe, enough to avoid accidents, which may cause damage to people (for example slipping)

Starting point for an effective planning, is the evaluation of a few data, such as:

• * features of surface to be tiled
• * area of destination
• * tiles chosen along with their specific technical features

Such data defines:

• the laying technique. In particular, type, composition, thickness and fixing method of the tile bed (which provides for the tiles fixing to the body). This layer can be made either with concrete mortar (traditional method) or with different kinds of adhesives
• any treatments to be carried out or auxiliary layers to be applied on the support surface
• width, course and direction of the joints between the tiles. Thus the planner has to specify if he intends to carry out either a jointless fixing or a buttered joint fixing, with sliding or staggered, broken or unbroken joints
• placement and dimension of any movement joint. Such joints are tiles bed discontinuities, even visible, sometimes considered as an "aesthetic nuisance" by the user. However, they are of great importance as for reliability and duration of the installation

At this stage it is possible to proceed with the fixing, that is to say the real carrying out of the project, whose success much depends on the layer care and expertise.

Once studied the room, the tiles and project to be carried out, he must then:

• organize the fixing yard
• check and prepare the surfaces to be tiled
• check the measurements, the squarings, the verticality of the walls and any floor inclinations
• check materials and report any visible defects
• optimise bed, in order to make the surface to be tiled as harmonious as possible
• prepare the mortar or the adhesives, proceed with the installation of the tiles
• let enough time elapse after the installation of the tiles (from a few hours to a few days), proceed with the filling of the joints and with the cleaning of the surface

The fixing work is now finished.