# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  DTA Lippage System

## OBBob

Hi All 
I don't like tiling  :Annoyed: .  
Now that that's off my chest, I recently had to tile a small bathroom (floor and walls). Because I was using 400mm x 400mm porcelain tiles with a very square edge, I began to get a little concerned about how difficult it may be to get them nice and flat and even. Somewhat by accident I stumbled upon a rather expensive lippage system from a tile store and then subsequently found that DTA make a similar but vastly cheaper version that is available at the normal hardware stores. 
Upon searching I couldn't find much feedback on the system, so I thought I'd post up my thoughts in case anyone is looking in the future.  
The system is basically two components (spacers and caps) and a tool that work together to assist in aligning the edges of the tiles with the ones surrounding it to reduce lippage (i.e. one tile being higher than the other). The tool clamps the spacer and the cap together and they are help by the sort of one way teeth than you see on cable ties.     
The tool was about $35 and I found it to be quite a bit more robust than I expected. It's firm to squeeze but not tiring. The pivot, metal arms and the spring do not feel at all cheap or flexible. It has no trouble applying more force than the rest of the system can handle.      
The spacers were around $20 for 100, which sounds ok ... but you get through them if you put two on each side of a tile. These are a good tough plastic and the thickness of just over 1.5mm suited the spacing I wanted. They double as the tile spacers and they only come in this thickness, which I presume is because the lippage challenges are probably most evident when trying to achieve minimal grout lines.      
The caps are about $24 for 100 but as opposed to the spacers, these can be reused.   
When the adhesive has set you just kick the caps off and the spacer breaks at it's base.   
So in the end did it work? Well, for me it did. It certainly doesn't relieve you of the requirement to get the tiles basically right but it does help with pulling the edges that last little bit to align quite closely together. You do need to get used to how much force you can apply because with too much the spacer will break prematurely during the clamping process. Where I really think it assisted was that it clamps the two tiles together at the edge ... so when you move to the next tile and fiddle around aligning it you can remain confident you don't have to come back and readjust the previous edge.  
So in conclusion I suspect this wouldn't be necessary (or cost effective) for those who do regular tiling ... but to give that extra bit of confidence to the DIY'er on small areas with square edged tiles I found it helped.

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## phild01

Funny you found these as this was it's the exact system I used for the bathroom floor.  I didn't use it for the walls though (300x600).  The floor tiles were 300x300 rectified and the system really helped achieve a proper shower bowl shape without resorting to those ugly diagonal cuts to the waste. You do need to be careful that you don't over-tighten with the tool as this will destroy the friction catch on the red clamp. 
edit: just noticed your pic shows a redesign of the red clamp with a metal blade.

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## OBBob

> Funny you found these as this was it's the exact system I used for the bathroom floor.  I didn't use it for the walls though (300x600).  The floor tiles were 300x300 rectified and the system really helped achieve a proper shower bowl shape without resorting to those ugly diagonal cuts to the waste. You do need to be careful that you don't over-tighten with the tool as this will destroy the friction catch on the red clamp. 
> edit: just noticed your pic shows a redesign of the red clamp with a metal blade.

  
Yes, they definitely have a metal blade and I used some of the caps a few times successfully. I found you could tighten to the point it would snap the spacer if you get a little enthusiastic.

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## METRIX

I have used the L.A.S.H system a few times with very good results, it kept 600x600 lippage to almost nothing (limitations of the tiles were evident), the only downside it you need to use your thumb to push the wedge, and your tumb wears out quickly after pushing a lot of the wedges in. 
Your system looks like a copy of the Tuscan Levelling System, there is another one using similar principals to the L.A.S.H system, but it combines a tool and not your thumb. 
I also found I could get larger quantities from the US, than buying it here, No suprises there, looks like Bunnnigs now sell it. 
There seems to be another levelling system every week, below are just a few.

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## OBBob

Wow, quite a collection! Some of those look a bit more robust than what I used but also rather expensive. Others just look weird  :Biggrin: . As I'm only a weekend / nocturnal warrior I do prefer to know I can duck down the road and get more items if necessary. If it was a large area it may be a different story.

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## METRIX

For sure, they all do the same job, even though one will tell you why there one is better than everyone else's
Doesen't matter which one you use, they will all improve your tiling results.

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## atregent

I used the LASH system when I did my bathroom floor. It did the job, but I would pick something without wedges for the next tiling job. The ATR tile levelling system looks pretty good to me, and I'll probably give that a try when I come to do the kitchen. 
Problems I found with the LASH system (and keep in mind that I'm by no stretch of the imagination a skilled professional!): 
1. Although I was using a 300x600x9mm porcelain floor tile, I found that I had to really push the wedge in very hard and right to the end to get them to pull tight. It seems that 9mm is the minimum tile thickness that these will work on. When I was doing the wall tiling, there was a spot where I needed to pull a tile level and had to use all sorts of additional spacers to get it to work. 
2. Because the base of them is curved, to give some sort of spring effect when you wedge them tight, it made it difficult to leave them in place on the edge of the days work (if that makes sense). I had to wait for the adhesive to start to set and pull them out, then hope I would be able to get them back in the following day when I continued. 
3. As noted by Metrix, after a while of having to push the wedges in quite hard, the old thumbs to get a bit sore. 
Sneaky edit, here's a pic of how it turned out

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## Gaza

Any new throughts on leveling system about to lay traventine floor for my kitchen and splash back tiles just in time for Xmas, 
1/2 thinking just go the wedge type but thinking DTA gun style ex the hardware might do the job    lk

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## OBBob

It'd cost you about $60 to set yourself up to try the DTA system (half of that being the tool). I haven't tried the wedge system but it seems a little more fiddly? I'm not a fan of tiling so I'm drawn to whatever seems easiest!  :Biggrin:  
Shame you're not in Melbourne I'd happily loan you mine and a few clampy thingies to try.

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## Gaza

> It'd cost you about $60 to set yourself up to try the DTA system (half of that being the tool). I haven't tried the wedge system but it seems a little more fiddly? I'm not a fan of tiling so I'm drawn to whatever seems easiest!  
> Shame you're not in Melbourne I'd happily loan you mine and a few clampy thingies to try.

  Cheers for that, 
It's only going to be temporary until we rip back of house off and extend  
But my man hood is online and I need to do good job  
So guess it's another $60 bucks to spend   
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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## METRIX

> Any new throughts on leveling system about to lay traventine floor for my kitchen and splash back tiles just in time for Xmas, 
> 1/2 thinking just go the wedge type but thinking DTA gun style ex the hardware might do the job   
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  Bunnings are now stocking the DTA system, I have used the LASH a few times, and it works well, but I will use the DTA system next time as it's tool based not thumb based, and it pulls straight up, not across, with the wedge it can knock the tile off a liittle when sliding the wedge in,, easily fixed,  but the pull up is better. 
I bought the DTA system and it's definitely easier 
Bunnings price is not bad 
$20 for the caps $23 up to $49 at tile shops, $24 at Masters.
$20 for the spacers about the same everywhere, 
$34 for the tool, Masters $40, tile outlet $29 
If your passing Masters or bunnings, get them to 10% match the parts which are more expensive.  DTA Australia Red Lippage Caps - 100 Pack I/N 6650253 | Bunnings Warehouse  DTA Australia Red Lippage Caps - 100 Pack I/N 6650253 | Bunnings Warehouse  DTA Australia Red Curved Lippage Spacer - 100 Pack I/N 6650254 | Bunnings Warehouse  DTA Lippage Levelling Gun - tileSTONEpaver - Buy Online

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## OBBob

Not sure what you thought Metrix but I found the DTA tool is actually a bit sturdier than I expected for the price. It really will last longer than just the one job.

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## METRIX

Yeah definitely good value, there is a plastic version of the gun, but I got the metal one, there no reason for it to not last many years, as there is nothing to really break on it.

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## phild01

:Arrow Up: Mine is the metal one as well, wouldn't like a plastic one.

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## Gaza

So used dta back before Xmas on my kitchen floor with traventine 
Turned out nice no lipping even with the 600x400s 
Also used for back splash 
Might try another system next time   
Would posts pics but can't get them to work using tap talk app  
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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