Tile leveling and laying system (SVP, DLS. 3D-crosses. 3D-crosses)

SVP is an innovative pattern of leveling tiles when laying on walls and floors. She came to us from the west, where she has been successfully used for a long time. It is suitable for laying ceramic tiles and porcelain tiles with a thickness of 3 to 20 mm (depending on the manufacturer).

Quick article navigation

• Benefits of using
• Comparison of domestic and foreign analogues
  • Rubi
  • SVP
• Instructions for use
• Consumption
• Cost of
• Homemade option
• 3-d crosses
• Comparison of SVP and DLS
• findings

Benefits of using

• The main advantage of using the system is the automatic alignment of two adjacent elements on the same level, so there will be no height differences between them. The horizontal plane is perfectly flat.
• At shrinkage of tile glue when drying the lining will not lead.
• Clearances are uniform. In some cases, additional need to use plastic crosses.
• The laying speed is greatly simplified and even an inexperienced tiler gets a professional result. But you still need to have straight arms.

The use of SVP is not recommended at temperatures below +10 degrees.

In the photo you can see what happens with the adhesive when using SVP. Cuddling does not form voids. For clarity, using transparent glass tiles.

Comparison of domestic and foreign analogues

The domestic leveling system consists of two elements: a wedge and a clamp. The wedges can be used repeatedly, and the clips are a consumable, since after laying, some of them will remain inside the seam.

Foreign options are more difficult - for their installation and removal requires special tongs. The clamps are made in a different way, sometimes they are the same wedges, sometimes flexible petals.

In my experience, I tried out the Spanish system of leveling tiles Rubi Tile Level and domestic SVP. Each of them has its pros and cons, which are below.

Also similar devices are available at Raimondi (called levelling system).

Rubi

Pros:

• High-quality plastic, well done. Position the system as a separate installation technology;
• The thought-over design of the support platform, flexible petals allow to fix reliably a tile from 3 to 20 mm thick;
• According to the instructions, nylon screeds should be soaked in water for 30 minutes before use. This increases their tensile strength. After drying, they are easily removed with pliers;
• Comfortable design for loosening a tie, almost always tearing at the right place;
• The thickness of the tie is 0.8 mm, this allows you to make thin seams and adjust them with crosses.

Minuses:

• Clamps fasten unreliably, if glue gets - they cease to hold;
• Weak clamping force. If you try to make it bigger, it is easy to break the ties;
• It is difficult to continue working after a night break. If you immediately insert the screeds, they dry out overnight and break off easily. It is also difficult to insert them into the dried glue, since the ground is large. It will be necessary for a long time to tap with a spatula or a screwdriver;
• Reusable caps will last only 5-7 times;
• High price.

SVP

Pros:

• Durable and simple construction. Wedges are more reliable than caps, and are also useful in tiled work by themselves;
• Good fixation, screeds are not torn;
• Screeds do not need to soak, support sites are small. Therefore, it is easy to continue work after a night break: you can put them right away or it is easy to make a small depression under the cap.

Minuses:

• Medium quality;
• To remove the screeds, they must be hit with a mallet or just kicked. But if the blow goes at an angle to the seam, or the glue is clogged there, it will break in the wrong place.

Instructions for use

Mounting clamps

• Stir and apply the tile adhesive according to the instructions on the packaging (the consistency should not be too thick or liquid).
• Lay the tile on the glue and level it.
• On each side of the tile, install 2 clips, with a distance of 5 cm from the corner. Save and set 1 clamp to 4 corners will not work. But sometimes you can put 1 clamp on 2 adjacent tiles.
• Place the plastic crosses in the corners to maintain a uniform gap.
• Lay the adjacent tile against the clamp foot.
• Insert the wedge into the clamp so that it fits snugly against the surface of both tiles. Due to this, the difference between the edges is leveled.
• When the glue is completely dry, remove the wedges and the upper part of the clamp. This is done with a light blow with a rubber mallet. The bottom of the clamp will remain inside.

Rubi has a slightly different instruction (see photo):

Rubi Tile Level instruction

Consumption

The table shows the approximate consumption of the tile leveling system depending on the size (number of clips per square meter):

Sizes, mm	1200	1000	900	800	600	500	450	400	330	300	250	200	150	100
1200	6
1000	7	eight
900	6	eight	7
800	7	9	eight	9
600	eight	ten	9	ten	eleven
500	ten	12	eleven	12	13	sixteen
450	eleven	13	12	14	15	18	20
400	13	15	14	sixteen	17	20	22	25
330	15	18	17	nineteen	20	24	27	thirty	37
300	17	20	nineteen	21	22	27	thirty	33	40	44
250	17	20	18	20	20	24	27	thirty	36	40
200	21	22	22	25	25	thirty	33	37	45	50
150	28	33	thirty	33	33	40	44	50	61	67
100	42	50	44	50	50	60	67	75	91	100

Examples of using

Cost of

It is difficult to find SVPs in ordinary building stores, but it can be purchased online. A set of 250 wedges and 250 clips costs about 1000 rubles.

As a result, the cost of using the leveling system goes from 24 to 400 rubles per square meter. If you buy them in batches of 500 pieces, you can reduce the price to 20-334 rubles.

A complete set of Rubi (forceps, 100 disposable clamps and 100 reusable hubcaps) costs more than 3,800 rubles.

Homemade option

For those who are sorry to give more than 1000 rubles, you can try to easily implement a similar tile leveling system yourself. In 30 minutes you can easily make 170 homemade clamps.

In order not to accidentally break the wire with wire cutters, DVP is used as a limiter.

Bottom view

View from above

• The most convenient way to make such a device of aluminum wire 1.7 mm. It twists easily and quickly, and also comes off easily.
• To simplify breaking, lightly bite the wire with nippers at the right points.
• The bottom stop is made from trimming a metal plate / profile / mounting tape or other improvised material.
• From above the wire is twisted and the usual plastic wedge from a tile is inserted. To keep it tight and walk back and forth, a pad of fiberboard cutting is added on top.

SVP and DLS (or 3D crosses, as they are also called) are an innovative technology for us that has been successfully used in the West for quite a long time. Technology is rapidly gaining popularity among both professional craftsmen and those who are trying to lay tiles for the first time.

Unlike conventional crosses, which only set the distance between the tiles, the tile alignment system also levels the plane of the entire installation.

The two main components of this system are the wedge and the clamp.

The system allows you to work with tiles with a thickness of 5-12mm. The clamp width is 1.5 mm - it is also the minimum width of the seam. For wider seams, you will need to use crosses for tiles.

The principle of operation of 3D-crosses, SVP, DLS (DLS)

The principle of the technology is based on the fact that the two adjacent tiles are aligned relative to each other with a clamp and wedge spacer.

The clamp has a flat base by which it is inserted under the tile. The wedge is inserted into special slots protruding above the tile. It is the wedge that presses the outer plane and aligns the tile.

After the glue hardens, these wedges with clips simply beat off with a rubber hammer or foot (on the floor).

The wedges are reusable, the clips are disposable - they will have to be re-purchased all the time.

Instructions for working with 3D-crosses (SVP, DLS)

Advantages of technology - real and claimed

The main advantage of this system is the rigid fixation of the tile and the lack of the possibility of uneven shrinkage of the adhesive under it when it hardens.

Manufacturers also indicate a number of advantages, about which one can argue:

• ideal plane
• straight seams exactly 1.5mm wide
• laying speed 2-4 times higher

Reality

As I said above - with some of the stated advantages can be argued.

So, let's begin.

Ideal plane

To obtain an ideal plane, you must have an ideal base. This is an axiom. If on the basis of a hump a couple of centimeters high, then no revolutionary technology can align it and make the laying plane perfect.

Even smaller drops will be problematic. If the base is not even, then the system will only make it worse.

If one tile lies on the dais, and the other, figuratively speaking, in a pit, then because the wedges will attract the tiles to each other, the second tile will detach from the base and there will be a void under it, which is not good.

Smooth seams 1.5mm wide

This is also a very controversial point, because most tiles are trapezoidal at the ends. That is, the width of the tile from the glaze to the base increases (Fig. 1)

Therefore, using a clamp with a width of 1.5 mm, we get a seam width of 1.5 mm at the base of the tile and about 2.5-3 mm at the top, at its outer surface.

In order to avoid this, it will be necessary to cut the recesses in the ends of the tile in the ends of the clamps. There is always a risk of damaging the outer icing.

An exception. This statement is valid only for calibrated / rectified tile - it has sharp straight ends without any extensions or restrictions (Fig. 2)

Laying speed 2-4 times faster

Another controversial thesis.

Perhaps this will be true for beginners.

Professional technology will accelerate a maximum of 1.5 times.

Firstly, it is because the master does not need much time to set the plane of the tile relative to each other. And secondly, inserting (and then taking out) the usual crosses of time takes even less time than when using all these clamps and wedges.

Comparison of SVP and DLS

SVP (tile leveling system)

SVP is the simplest and cheapest of tile leveling systems. Consists of a clamp and a wedge.

For ease of insertion of the wedge in some models of clamps there is a special eyelet for the finger, which allows you to more reliably hold it.

The manufacturer claims that it can be used without any additional tools and accessories.

DLS (Daz Leveling System)

The principle of technology is the same - the clip is inserted under the tile, and the wedge is inserted into the clip.

The first difference from the SVP in the design of the clip.

Due to the particular structure, these clips can be inserted into the intersection of four tiles, which, compared to the previous system, reduces their number by four times.

According to the manufacturers of this product - this is their undoubted advantage. But how to control (and, if necessary, adjust) the beautiful and precise intersection of these four tiles, they do not explain.

Very interesting moment, if you think about it. If he doesn’t cross it out, he definitely casts doubt on the advantage of this system.

The wedges of these systems are also different - in DLS they are bigger and stronger than in SVP.

Also, unlike the SVP, this system requires the use of an additional tool for clamping wedges.

At cost, the DLS system is much more expensive than the SVP.

Video review and comparison of SVP and DLS systems:

More tile alignment options

Several more variants of 3D crosses work on the same principle. They all differ in appearance, but the principle is the same - leveling the plane of two adjacent tiles.

Rubi, DTA, Tile Leveling System

Here, instead of a wedge, a cap is used, which is also pressed against the tile along the serrated tongue (the principle of plastic clamps / puffs).

With this set you can stack thicker tiles, up to 22mm.

And other systems.

These are all western variations and in our case they are not common, therefore we will limit ourselves to photo examples.

findings

Obviously, the use of SVP is beneficial in price and time only with large-format tiles.

Should I bother to look for and overpay for tile leveling system? For professional tilers - no, but for people without experience, SVPs can greatly simplify the laying process and improve the result. But is it worth it to spend such money for the laying of 5-20 squares, everyone decides for himself.

Disadvantages - additional costs. as well as when laying tiles with spreading only on the base there is a probability after aligning the lifting of the tile with the formation of voids (checked by tapping). therefore, it is recommended that glue be applied both to the base and to the tile. holding a precisely-toothed spatula (so that the glue on the applied surfaces forms the same height), for example, on a surface of 10 mm and on a tile of 5 mm. highly recommended for tiles with lengths considerably exceeding the width or with large sizes of 600, 1000, 1200

Share your opinions and results in the comments.