Repairing Your Bathroom Vents
An exhaust vent in the bathroom is a great way to keep mold and mildew away. If it isn’t working like it should, then you may end up with both mold and mildew in your home. There are a few things that you can check and do to make sure it will work again.
Items Needed:
- Ladder
- New Motor
- Voltage Tester
- Screwdriver
First: Power
It you are having troubles with it not coming on, then you could have a problem getting the electricity to where it needs to go. If there is a light with it, then you should try turning on the light. If they are on the same switch and it doesn’t turn on, then the electrical supply is the likely problem. However, if they are on the same switch and the light comes on, then there is a possibility of a motor problem.
If you do not have a light that is on the same switch, then you will turn off the fan and take the cover off. Make sure that the power inside is all connected properly. If it is still not working, then you will want to unplug the power and check it with the voltage meter. If it reads that there is power, then the likely problem is the motor. If there is not power, then the electrical is the problem.
Second: Motor Removal
Before going to get a new motor, take the old one out to take with you. Turn all power off from the breaker box first. Unplug all connections and remove the plate. This can be held with either some screws or clipped in. Make sure that you unhook the motor from the blower. This may take some force. First check to see that there are no screws holding it together. Write the make and model of the fan and take that and the old motor with when you get the new one.
Third: New Motor
You will install the new motor using the exact reverse process that you used to take out the old one. Attach the motor to the blower, put the motor plate back, plug in the motor to the power, etc. Ensure that you take the time to put all the screws you take out back in when you install the new motor. Now, go to the breaker and power it up.
Fourth: Clean
Rather than just putting the dirty cover back on it, take the time to make sure that it is all cleaned up first. This will make the fan work better. Use soapy water and make sure that it is dried completely.
Fifth: Exhaust
If you are still having problems with moisture in the bathroom, then you should check where the vent runs. It may not be connected to the blower at the bathroom, or the vent at the outside wall. You will also make sure that there are no holes in it or kinks at this time. This will help your fan to run better too.
Tiling Guide, Assembling The Tools And Materials You Need
Line up all these tools before you begin:
¦ Buckets
¦ Chalk line
¦ Clean rags
¦ Diamond-blade electric wet saw (for bigger jobs)
¦ Framing square
¦ Level
¦ Nipper
¦ Rubber gloves
¦ Rubber mallet
¦ Safety glasses
¦ Snap cutter
¦ Sponges
¦ Straight edge
¦ Tape measure
¦ Notched trowel (for adhesive)
¦ Rubber-faced trowel (for grout)
¦ Utility knife
Be sure to buy all the pieces of tile you may need beforehand. It will save many trips back and forth to the store. If you buy extra, most stores will let you return what you don’t use.
To lay the tiles, you’ll need a good adhesive. The generic name for tile adhesive is “thinset.” Premixed adhesive (which is not really thinset at all) is called mastic. It is the easiest type of adhesive to apply, but forms the weakest bond with the tile. Mastic shouldn’t be used for floor tiles, since it has no give when dry and any movement of the floor could cause it to come loose.
True thinset is cement with a wide variety of additives to make it more flexible and last longer when wet. Usually it’s mixed with water— the more water, the weaker the ultimate bond. Epoxy in the form of resins and hardeners can also be mixed in to strengthen the bond, but they are difficult to work with because of their short drying time.
You will also need to decide on the color and texture of grout for your tile. Grout can be either rough (with lots of sand in it) or smooth (with mostly cement). Grout isn’t added until the tile has been laid and set.
If the grout is the same color as the tile (or close to it), it will give a more formal look. If the grout is a con¬trasting color, the appearance will be more dramatic and casual.
Posted in Tiling Guides | 
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Leave a commentKitchen Tiling Guide
As with any kind of tiling the key is preparation to your kitchen tiling area. If you rush into your kitchen tiling job you will cause all sorts of problems for yourself. Your kitchen tiling job should be pretty simple if you take you time and make sure all the ground work is done properly.
The Right Kitchen Tiles
Before you even start to get your kitchen tiling area ready to tile you will need to decide what kitchen tiles you want for your chosen tiling area. To help with this you can get kitchen tile samples from any of our tile stores which you will find under our Tile Store Finder, the reason for tile samples is so you can hold a number of different tiles on your kitchen wall to see which you like the most.
Once you know what tile you want to get an its sizes you will need to work out how many tiles you need for your kitchen tiling project. For thie how to tile a kitchen we will say the kitchen wall has around 14 metres to cover, and the tiles need to be 0.5m high. So we round that up 1 – 2 metres to be safe as most times you will not do a tiling area without some broken tiles.
What Kitchen Tiling Equipment
You will need to buy some kitchen tiling tools to do your tiling job including Tile adhesive, Tile grout, Tile edging strip, Tile adhesive spatula, A tiling chisel, Putty spatula, Spirit level and Tile spacers.
Preparation For Kitchen Tiling
You may want to remove any old kitchen tiles but if you do not mind the extra tile space its ok to tile on kitchen tiles.
Now that you have removed your old kitchen floor tiles its tempting to jump straight into putting up your new kitchen tiles, but you need to finish your wall before you can tile it!
You need to clean the kitchen tiling area first, remove any dust and durt etc thats in the kitchen area, and once clean you will have to fill in any holes and gouges in your kitchen wall.
How To Set Out Kitchen Tiles
Yet again you could just jump in and slap your kitchen tiles down, but first of all you should think about where your kitchen tiles are going, how many will fit on the tiling area and where you will need to cut the kitchen floor tiles.
One thing to remember above all when you come to do this is that its almost impossible to cut a tile smaller the 1cm, this is why its a good idea to check how many kitchen tiles will fit your tiling area, as you dont want to get to the end and have a small gap you cant tile.
As long as you measure up correctly to start with you should spot if you will have a gap at the end, and adjust your starting point for tiling. If you notice that you will have a gap at one end the easiest and best way to get around this would be to start your kitchen tiling with half a tile or similar.
How To Lay Kitchen Tiles
You will now need to get your adhesive and spatuala and start laying your tile adhesive down on the walls nicely. It is highly worth you getting good quality or at least half descent tools for tiling as for that little extra cash you could save a lot of time and money in the long run as your kitchen tiles will look much better done correctlly.
The easiest way to apply kitchen tiles is to apply the adhesive to each tile one at a time and stick it in to place in the kitchen. Put the tile adhesive onto the back of the tile and evenly spread it about 1/2cm thick across the whole tile. Its also best to roughen the tile adhesive rather then make it smooth as it will allow for a little more movement once your tile is placed in position. You will find this gets easier as you get on and your technique will improve.
Posted in Tiling Guides | 5m, All Sorts, Broken Tiles, Chisel, Gouges, Guide, Holes, Kitchen, Kitchen Area, Kitchen Floor Tiles, Kitchen Tile, Kitchen Tiles, Kitchen Wall, Putty, Spirit Level, Store Finder, Tile Adhesive, Tile Grout, Tile Samples, Tile Spacers, Tile Store, Tile Stores, Tiling | Leave a commentCeramic Wall Tile Guide
A project like ceramic tiling your kitchen backsplash is amazingly simple and shouldn’t cost you to much, and it make a big difference to your kitchens look a feel. Along with making your sink area look beautiful, you will also be adding extra protection to the wall area behind your sink at the same time. To add ceramic wall tiles to your kitchen should only take you around 2 days and is much easier then you would think.
Ceramic Wall Tiling Tools:
Tape measure
Level
Tile cutter
Tile nippers/tile saw
Goggles
Notched trowel
Rubber grout float
Ceramic Wall Tiling Materials:
Waterproof mastic tile adhesive
Waterproof grout
Glazed wall tiles
Latex gloves
Plastic washers
Screws (1-1/4″ to 1-5/8″)
Wall Preparation:
You will need to check the soundness of your wall’s’ before you start wall tiling:
Make sure your ceramic wall tiling area is dry, clean and firm/strong enough to hold the weight of your ceramic wall tiles. If you have signs of damp or condensation you will need to wait for the wall to dry. This can be speed up using a dehumidifier. Not waiting for a damp wall to dry will cause you major problems such as the wood in the wall rotting due to the moisture being sealed in. Also if you have a drywall with any damage you will want to repair this now.
Once the wall tiling area is dry you will need to prepare the walls for tiling before you choose your backsplash layout.
Backsplash Planning:
Your first choice to make is how far up the wall you will want your backsplash (there is no standard height for this it is 100% down to personal preference). A standard sort of height for a backsplash used by most is 4″ from the counter surface.
Amount of Wall Tiles Needed (estimation):
Measure your backsplash area in both length and width. Multiply the length by the width to workout the wall tiling area in square foot. We stock wall tiles in the sizes of 15cm x 15cm to 1200cm x 600cm. An average 4′ x 1′ backsplash tiling project would need around twenty 6″ tiles. You can use the tile calculator by each tile in the Ceramic Wall Tiles category to help you work this out.
Posted in Tiling Guides | Ceramic, Ceramic Tile, Ceramic Tiles, Ceramic Wall Tile, Ceramic Wall Tiles, Condensation, Dehumidifier, Drywall, Goggles, Guide, Kitchen Backsplash, Latex Gloves, Measure Level, Personal Preference, Plastic Washers, Soundness, Tape Measure, Tile, Tile Adhesive, Tile Cutter, Tile Nippers, Tile Saw, Trowel, Wall | Leave a comment