Wall and floor tiler

Aimee Brown

He may have been named NSW champion tiler in this year’s national TAFE Worldskills competition, but Ahmad Akl says he’d take his regular work over competition work any day.

His winning task was to create a scaled image of a Melbourne bridge (the competition was held in Melbourne) in tiles.

He says: “I had to cut all the small tiles into the right size and put them together. We don’t do much of that [artistic] tiling at my work, it’s mostly bathroom and kitchen tiling.”

The third-year apprentice works with Sydney-based company Posh Tiling. They work on new units, new houses and properties that are being renovated. Akl, 21, says he approaches each job as a new challenge, but prefers working on new houses because he has a clean slate to work from.

“We don’t pull the old bathrooms apart, other guys come in and do that but it’s just easier working on the new ones,” he says.

Of all the different rooms he works on, he finds kitchens are the most straightforward. “Kitchens are really easy because it’s just the splashback that you’ve got to do, which is the part above the bench,” Akl says.

A kitchen can be completed in a few hours, while a standard bathroom takes around two days from start to finish. Akl had his first taste of the tiling trade while he was in high school, working with a family friend’s tiling company.

He enjoyed the work and continued in the field after Year 12. After a year, he was certain he wanted to make a career in tiling, so enrolled in a Certificate III in Wall and Floor Tiling at TAFE, at SouthWestern Sydney Institute’s Macquarie Fields Campus.

It is Akl’s responsibility to interpret plans, mark the surfaces and then lay out the tiles. Before the tiles are put down, he fills all holes and cracks, making sure the surface is smooth. Individual tiles are then cut to shape if they are to be used for corners, edges or around drains or pipes. The next task is to mix up the cement used to stick the tiles to the surface. Akl confesses that this is his least favourite part of the job.

“The hardest part is mixing the cement because it’s really physical work. You have to get a good mix. If you don’t do it right it will go all weak and runny and then you have to do it all again,” he says.

Once the cement is properly mixed, the tiles can be laid. Using tools called squares, plumb lines and spirit levels, individual tiles are evenly spaced to make sure the finished product will be symmetrical. Once they are in the right position, Akl applies grout between the tiles and ensures there are no air bubbles or gaps. The final step is to clean off excess grout and polish the new tiles.

How to be a wall and floor tiler
You need to complete a a Certificate III in Wall and Floor Tiling while working at a tiling business as an apprentice.

Details: The Master Builders Association of NSW, 02 8586 3555 or http://www.mbansw.asn.au/

By Aimee Brown, The Daily Telegraph, June 10, 2006.