WO2009013546A1

WO2009013546A1 - Tiling guide

Info

Publication number: WO2009013546A1
Application number: PCT/GB2008/050618
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard Pledge
Original assignee: Richard Pledge
Priority date: 2007-07-26
Filing date: 2008-07-23
Publication date: 2009-01-29
Also published as: GB0714538D0; GB2451272A

Abstract

A tiling guide comprises a longitudinal member having on a rear face (2) at least one strip (3) of one component part of a hook-and-loop fastening and adapted to be temporarily attached to oneor more lengths of a complementary part (4) of said hook-and-loop fastening attached to a surface to be tiled, thereby enabling the guide to be accurately positioned and re-positioned. The member may have one or more spirit level bubbles, one of which could be adjustable to any angle relative to the horizontal for use in non-horizontal tiling patterns. One or more end pieces may be attached to retain the tiles when tiling at an angle.

Description

TILING GUIDE Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to guides for tiling. More particularly, the invention relates to adjustable guides for supporting a row of tiling (and subse- quent rows above) whilst the adhesive is setting to the point where support is no longer needed. Background to the Invention

Various aids for tiling are well known, ranging from tile cutters, spacers and combs for applying adhesive, and so on. The crucial requirement for achieving a satisfactory result is setting out the tiling pattern in the first place, then ensuring that levels are accurately set and maintained throughout the tiling process.

It is usual, when beginning to tile a vertical (or substantially vertical) surface, such as a wall, to fix a batten to the surface temporarily. This usually means nailing or screwing the batten to the surface in such a way that it can be removed later. In conventional tiling patterns, the batten is aligned horizontally, using a spirit level, laser level, or the like. Obtaining an accurate horizontal alignment can be tricky, depending on obstructions in, on or around the surface in question. Accessibility is a common problem, especially in bathroom tiling, for example.

Once the batten is in place, tiling commences by fixing the first row to the surface using the batten as a guideline. Further rows are added subsequently until the surface is completed. However, another problem that arises is how safely to remove the batten once the tiling is completed. Prising a batten away from a surface to which it has been nailed, when there are tiles aligned with its upper edge, but without disturbing the still-setting adhesive and the row of tiles adjacent the batten, can be problematic at best.

The present invention aims to overcome all of these problems in a neat and simple manner. Summary of the Invention

The invention provides a tiling guide comprising a longitudinal member having on a rear face at least one strip of a self-adhesive material whereby the member may be attached to a surface to be tiled to provide a guide against which tiles may be positioned.

When the tile adhesive has hardened, the longitudinal member may be removed from the surface by pulling it off the surface either to leave the adhesive on the surface, or to break the self-adhesive bond with the surface, but in a preferred embodiment, the or each strip of self-adhesive material may be pro- vided on one component of a hook-and-loop fastening adapted to be temporarily attached to a complementary part of said hook-and-loop fastening attached to said rear face.

The invention also comprises a kit of parts including the guide and at least one length of the complementary hook-and-loop fastening. Preferred features of the invention are set out in the claims. The invention further provides a method of tiling using the tiling guide. Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which: Figure 1 shows the rear face of a basic guide;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the rear face;

Figure 3 shows a guide provided with a spirit level;

Figure 4 shows a guide with additional corner guide attachments; and

Figure 5 shows a joining piece for connecting a vertical guide to a hori- zontal guide.

Detailed Description of the Illustrated Embodiment

In Figures 1 and 2, the "basic" guide consists of an elongate batten of metal, such as aluminium, or a plastics material, or a combination of both. The batten may be in the shape of a bar or a channel section (illustrated in Figure 2). The batten is of a convenient length and may be available in a number of lengths to improve ease and convenience of use. The batten has a front face 1 and a rear face 2. The front face or the upper side may be provided with graduations (not shown) to assist in setting out a tiling pattern.

One or more strips of one component part of a hook-and-loop fastening 3 are permanently secured to the rear face 2 of the batten. Since, in use, the bat- ten will be removably and temporarily attached to a complementary strip or strips of hook-and-loop fastening, it is important that the adhesive bond between the strip(s) 3 permanently bonded to the rear face 2 of the batten is stronger, preferably considerably stronger, than the pull-off force necessary to separate the two parts of the hook-and-loop fastening. The guide is used as follows. The surface to be tiled is marked roughly to indicate the general position where tiling is to commence. One or more strips of hook-and-loop fastening 4, Figure 2, complementary to that permanently bonded to the batten are then stuck to the surface. Hook-and-loop fastening strip is usually available with an adhesive backing covered by a release back- ing. Suitable length strips are therefore simply stuck to the surface by removing the backing and pressing the strip(s) against the surface. The guide can then be positioned, as represented by the dotted lines, 5 accurately on the surface by placing it against the strip(s) 4 stuck to the surface. Re-positioning is easily achieved until the guide is located precisely where required. Tiling can then commence.

The strips on the wall may extend vertically by a distance greater than the width of the strip on the batten to allow for vertical adjustment.

When that section is complete, or when the tile adhesive has set sufficiently that the batten is no longer required to support the tiling rows above, it can simply be pulled away from the strip(s) 4 stuck to the surface. Those strip(s) 4 could then be peeled off the surface, leaving a clean area for tiling to be continued below the original guideline, but since this operation might be difficult to achieve without damaging the wall surface if a strong adhesive is present on the strips, it would be acceptable to leave the strips in place on the wall and simply tile over them. - A -

In the tiling guide illustrated in Figure 3, a spirit level attachment 6 is fitted into the channel to ensure that the guide is placed accurately in a horizontal position. A row of spaced tiles is represented at 7.

In the guide illustrated in Figure 4, end pieces 8 are provided. They may simply be clipped onto the batten or slid onto one or more of the ends. The end pieces may take a variety of forms for a variety of uses. For example, tiling patterns do not necessarily entail horizontal rows and vertical columns of tiles. More aesthetically pleasing results can be obtained using tiles set at an angle to the horizontal. A representative diagonal row of tiles is shown at 7 in Figure 4. It may be necessary then to make sure that the rows of tiles do not slip whilst the adhesive has not yet set. The end pieces 8 can prevent this happening. In addition, a spirit level 6 set in a rotary holder 9, which is in turn pushed into the batten, is used to ensure that the guide, and hence the tiling pattern, can be set time and again to the same angle relative to the horizontal when the guide is moved to another surface or to another area of the same surface. A protractor 10 is attached to the holder 9 to enable the correct angle to be set relative to the horizontal.

When the guide is to be used for non-horizontal, e.g. diagonal, tiling patterns, it may be useful to provide markings setting out certain preferred angles. This can help maintain the pattern when the batten has to be moved to another surface or another part of the same surface to be tiled.

Figure 5 shows a connector for mounting a vertical batten to a horizontal batten. The connector 11 has two arms 11a and 11 b set at right-angles to each other, and with transverse grooves 12 adjacent to the intersection between the two arms to enable the connector to be pushed into the channel of one batten, with the channel of the second batten receiving the other arm to provide the upright guide. The connector can be slid along the first batten to the desired position, and the batten can be fixed in position temporarily according to the method of the invention. While the arms are set at right-angles to each other, it would be possible for other angles to be provided for diagonal pattern tiling, for example. Simple right-angle bar connectors may be used to link the battens at internal or external corners, and straight connectors may be used to join adjacent lengths of the batten.

To assist in setting levels when the battens are not adjacent, a water tube level may be provided with mounting parts adapted to fit into the channels in the battens.

While the use of heavy duty Velcro® tape will ensure that the batten does not move when the tiles are being positioned, additional temporary support could be provided by a block fitting into the channel and having a screw- threaded arm passing through the block and extending to the floor, the arm being rotated to permit it to take up the load at the correct level.

It would also be possible to accommodate tiling on non-planar surfaces, for example surfaces which curve around corners, by making the battens capable of being curved to follow the surface. In the case of the channel member, this could be achieved by providing slots or cuts across the channel member and part way through the depth of the member on the face of the member which will have a convex curve. Slots at 10mm intervals and extending approximately half-way through the channel have been found to be effective for aluminium extruded channel. It will be appreciated that, as an alternative to the hook-and-loop fastening, a layer of a self-adhesive material may be used which readily peels off the batten when the batten is pulled outwardly off the surface, but which can hold the batten stably on the surface under the weight of tiles resting thereon.

Claims

1 . A tiling guide comprising a longitudinal member having on a rear face at least one strip of a self-adhesive material whereby the member may be attached to a surface to be tiled to provide a guide against which tiles may be positioned.

2. A tiling guide as claimed in Claim 1 , wherein the or each strip of self-adhesive material may be provided on one component of a hook-and-loop fastening adapted to be temporarily attached to a complementary part of said hook-and-loop fastening attached to said rear face.

3. A tiling guide as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the longitudinal member is bar shaped

4. A tiling guide as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the longitudinal member is of U-shaped cross-section.

5. A tiling guide as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the longi- tudinal member is made of metal.

6. A tiling guide as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the metal is aluminium.

7. A tiling guide as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the longitudinal member is made of plastics.

8. A tiling guide as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the longitudinal member is made of a combination of metal and plastics.

9. A tiling guide as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one spirit level set into the longitudinal member:

10. A tiling guide as claimed in Claim 9, wherein one spirit level is mounted for rotary adjustment.

1 1 . A tiling guide as claimed in any of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one end piece attachable to the longitudinal member.

12. A kit of parts comprising a tiling guide as claimed in any of the preceding claims and at least one length of the complementary hook-and-loop fastening.

13. A method of tiling, comprising attaching to a surface to be tiled a tiling guide according to any of Claims 1 to 1 1 , attaching tiles to the surface by means of adhesive while positioning the tiles against the guide, and detaching the tiling guide from the surface when the adhesive has hardened.