TileJax Tile Spacers
Anyone that’s installed ceramic tile before knows that spacing the tile is a crucial element in a beautiful finished project. Traditionally most people either set the tiles by eye (left for the pros) or you buy these little rubber “X” shaped spacers (see photo below). Today I came across this new type of tile spacer from TileJax (pictured at right).
The problem with traditional rubber “X” type spacers is getting them out once the tile is installed. I’ve always hated trying to pick the spacers out of the grout lines after the thin set has cured and prior to grouting. If you don’t get them out before you grout then they typically show in the grout lines.
The TileJax spacers stick up above the tile surface so you can grab them easily to remove them. The manufacturer even says you can sweep them up after (I’m a bit skeptical about that seeing that most spacers are pretty tight between the tiles.) The TileJax has seven legs, 4 legs face down in an “X” configuration and 3 legs face up to be used for “T” configurations.
I definitely plan on using these tile spacers on the next tile job I do.
Have any of you tried them? Any comments or feedback?
Whoever did our kitchen floor tiles left some of those little foam spacers in the corners and yes – they do show.
The thing is, I thought they made a mistake in laying them down flat like that in the first place.
Whenever I’ve used those little foam crosses for tile spacing I’ve not laid them down flat but inserted them upright so that one “arm” spaces the tiles, two horizontal arms lay flat on the tile, and the top “arm” pokes up so that I can remove it later.
None that I’ve ever purchased came with instructions so I guess it’s left to the user to interpret their orientation. I went with vertical…
Vertical makes them a lot easier to remove, but when tiling walls, a little harder to line up 4 adjacent tiles. It’s still worth doing them vertically, though, just for the ease in removing them. Otherwise you have to resort to a dental pick or the like to get some of them out.
Sounds like a good idea. My friend lays tile. I’ll mention it to him.
SteamboatEcobroker
I’ve tried these out on my subway backsplash. Now I’m not a pro and have done limited tiling before but TileJax seemed much easier and more elegant than X spacers. They take a little getting used to but once you’ve figured it out, no problem. From my previous experience it seems the X spacers moved around too much when postioning the tile. The TileJax, being larger and more robust stayed in place. Doing corners was simple. Also, they are easy to remove and did not clog up so I can use them again.