This review has been written for two main reasons, primarily to find out how good the course is and would I recommend people pay for the course and secondly as a CPD (Continued Professional Development) course for myself. *This is NOT a paid review* You can leave feedback about this course here PITT Floor Tiling Course Feedback

Easter Monday morning and I've just travelled to P-ITT for their 5 day floor tiling course. I've managed to misjudge the traffic and the amount of time required to get from my home to P-ITT; I'm an hour early. Initially I was a little hesitant entering the premises at first with being so early, but those feelings were soon pushed to one side when Angela the site director welcomed me and showed me the signing in book and pointed me in the right direction for a coffee; vital fluids after a long journey.

We start the course and all the students are seated in the tiling workshop ready for the lessons to begin. The workshop has seven tiling bays, a store room with all the required tools and demonstration items, plus a central area at the front of the seats where the projector screen and main teaching area is. Each bay has plenty of space in which to work as a pair or singly, obstacles such as windows are built into the bay walls.

Jason the course instructor takes us through the health and safety aspects of the course, the fire escapes, meeting points and ensures that we read and understand the supplied health and safety notices included in the student packs.

Then it's down to the meat and veg of being a tiler; adhesives and grouts. Jason clearly explains the different types of adhesives, their flexibility levels and where and when they should be used. Everything from pre-mixed tubs through 2 part flexible to 2 part rubber and latex are covered. Noise reducing adhesives and their application systems are covered and which brands are required to meet quality control guidelines. The instructor also details what part of the building regulations call for their requirement and in what scenarios you will most likely need to use these acoustic dampening systems.

Grouts are then covered in the same high level of detail as the adhesives, their physical makeup, flexibility levels, water resistance and again when and where you would use the appropriate grout. Epoxy grouts are also covered in their various viscosities and details on the benefits for choosing such a product are carefully discussed.

Great emphasis is placed on understanding and working in accordance with the relevant British Standards and their associated EN numbers. It has been apparent from the start of the course that 'best practices' are greatly encouraged. The class covers scenarios where overboarding with ply are required and at what thickness and at what centers the fixings must be placed and naturally what adhesive and grout you would use with which tiles.

It's important to note that this element of the course has not been rushed, nor have we been made to feel that we're on a timescale. Knowing and understanding what we are being taught seems to be the order of the day here.

Next we're onto the basics of setting out a room. The importance of things being square and how to work out if the room is square. Admittedly the technique taught by P-ITT is very subtly different from the method I've always used, but I can honestly say their method is easier to grasp and as it transpires far more versatile. And before anyone asks neither P-ITT or myself do the 'find the centre of the room' method of laying out of a floor; I've proved that method doesn't work at the best of times.

So as a class we are quite happily marking out our chalk lines and ensuring everything is square. Not only this, we know where our raking cuts and furthest points are, the size of our standard cuts and we've also determined which of our walls produces the best overall floor layout from it's relationship to square. That's not to say that we achieved those results first time around. Because the staff have thoughtfully made the some of the walls un-square and to different degrees in certain bays, hence why we are rotated through the bays a number of times to perfect the lessons. From my experience as a tiler, this was lesson very well taught and learnt.

During the final lesson we spent quite a deal of time staffing out to find out our cuts in both directions, to transfer points and to determine out setting out lines. This was done not only for standard square tiling but also for diamond and the necessary calculations used for determining the ideal cut sizes. Again the emphasis on this lesson, as it has been throughout the day was on understanding what we where doing, and knowing that Jason was on hand to explain further if needed.

So to conclude the review of the first day, I'd have to say excellent. I'm notoriously picky and opinionated on subjects I care about and tiling is one of them, not for a second did I have to question my reasons for being on the course. Even after day one, I've got to say it's money very well spent; you can teach an old dog new tricks and I'm happy to learn them.

Seriously looking forward to day two; multiple room floor layouts!!

Day one | Day two | Day three | Day four | Day five | Conclusion

Each day of the course will be reviewed so please continue to read, for more details of the floor tiling course click here

Review by Dave M. Carr
[e] dave@davemcarr.co.uk
[w] www.tiling.davemcarr.co.uk
Professional Floor Wall Tiler Nottingham

Tags: reviews, training courses, pitt, floor tiling