I did a living room floor by snapping layout lines every 3 tiles, then setting up the laser on a stand to shine a red light line onto the chalk lines. To use it pointing down, it had to be in the non-leveling mode. It wasn’t easy to bump the stand into just the right place, but once it was there it was the neatest thing to be able to spread thinset over the lines and still see them.
I used part of a floor lamp as a stand, about 5 ft. high. I repositioned it several times on a cut-up 15 x 30 ft room, sometimes aligning to exsiting tiles rather than the layout lines. Casting shadows was a very minor problem, sometimes I had to lean a little to one side to see the laser light. And there was one funny thing that happened where I was seeing a line way out in the wrong place. It turned out that there was a mirror on the wall reflecting the laser.
— J.S.
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Hello John:
I also use a laser to line up the first couple rows of tile. Used to use a cheap single line and now use a cheap cross hair. Saves me a bit of time as there is no need to run the first application of thinset along a chalk line. A while back, though, an "old timer" swore by doing it by eye and I've taken up his way. No room ever built is truely square and most tile has minor imperfections both of which can be "cheated" by adjusting the grout lines in subtle, imperceptable, ways. Trust your eye, pay attention to what you are doing and you can skip all those extra layout lines.
Post pics. of your job. Sounds like it must have come out really nice.
I have a much better time of eyeing the tiles after I've layed the first row to a snapped line.
I'd like to try the laser trick just to see if it was better.
blue
hmm.....laser would be cool, but the chalkline is cheaper! and after i run a couple rows i usually eyeball em. Plus knowin me i'd somehow set the laser up slightly off and not notice till after i had layed half the tile.
so i stick with the old stanley chalk line! But on a big commercial job i bet it'd be nice!
Try the laser crosshair and you'll never go back. Make a mark on each end of the wall (mark at source/mark at target) you can tell at a glance if it has moved.
The crosshair I use has a little hole at the intersection. Place it at the center of the layout, aim on line at wall ref mark, set tiles so the laser just barely "highlights" the edges of every tile to start the first "quadrant" of the floor. From there I pick up the laser and go by eye as mentioned. Lines every three tiles will get a perfect job, but I've never done a room that was perfectly square (I'd venture to guess I've never set foot in a room that was perfectly square).Seeking perfection in an imperfect world is a fool's errand. Making something look perfect is a whole 'nother story . . . .
I'm not married to any one method.
I do like the PLS 2 cross hairs for mid sized jobs.
smaller jobs ... just eyeball it and use spacers as a guide.
bigger jobs ... a combo of the PLS plus a cheap Laser Chalkline ... Straightline, I think? That one is easier to pick up and set ... just site it down a running grout line.
For big multiroom jobs ... can't beat measuring and snapping chalklines ...
Then tack in some nails at each end ... I use this when I'm going a long distance ... and especially when the tile runs from one room to another ... and I gotta turn a corner and 90 off the long run. Just a nail at the "intersection" ... and another string line runs off the first line and out the next room.
the trick for that is ... keep the nails up a bit ... so U can tie the line above the tiles ...
then set the times and string/ restring as needed.
In occupied houses ... the strings keep them from stepping on fresh work ... and can be taken down over nite so no one trips and reset on the same nails the next morning. Works great for week long tile setting projects.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
I agrre with not having to CHALK lines! Especially that @%$* red! The pigments will telegraph thru your mortar or grout and ruin an otherwise nice job. STAY AWAY FROM RED CHALK FOR FLOORING JOBS!!!!
I wanted to put up a wall between the 2 garage doors today to divide my garage into 2 bays with a stud wall. Measured one end- went to the other end , measured and placed the level on the mark. Lined up the vertical mark on the first wall with the laser- BINGO. Got a line on the ceiling, floor and opposite wall. Worked great so I didn't have to measure over across the ceiling, floor, use a level etc. Great tool...... Even took my DW out to see.... it comes in handy to see my purchases in "action".. (she's not so reluctant the next time.......maybe..hehe )First we get good- then we get fast !
important enought to say it twice ...
red can bleed thru!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa