replacing bathroom floor with ply plus other queries

[warmadmax]

fed up of sanding! got all the emulsion off,
it's probably 60% old silk that doesn't budge and 40% bare plaster now.

started tiling, attacking the window wall first
took one tile back off after letting it set a day to test the bond,
it pulled off some finish plaster via the silk paint so should be ok.

will get some pictures up once i'm happy with progress

[warmadmax]

making steady progress

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was really proud of the last one, did the cuts, snapped off the little tab in the middle,
then snapped it while bedding into the adhesive
lined it up best i can so not too noticable.

[royaloakcarpentry]

Snapped tile needs to be changed. Will only take you 5 minutes as opposed to 5 years of knowing you have a snapped tile on the wall and you couldn't be bothered to change it!

Hopefully you have not started with full tiles coming away from the internal corner. If so then both walls need to be virtually bang on for plumb or you will need to fix the tiles up plumb by varying the thickness of adhesive bed.

I saw ditra mentioned in earlier posts.....are you planning on using this to cope with deflection in the floor?

[warmadmax]

hi, i've started about 4 mm off the wall for the back tile then wall adj. i've gone 2mm off this.
i've had to vary the adhesive bed going across on the window wall as it's not flat, been levelling across them all with a spirit level using it as a straight edge.

aye i suppose i'd best get that snapped one off, can make the thin bit up to the bath a tighter fit.
need to order a couple more black tiles as it looks like i'm going to be one or two short

No not using a decoupling membrane, i've screwed the ply down every 300 mm into joists and 4x2" noggings,
been jumping on the floor with the missues watching no visible bounce and i've tried a glass of water in the middle of the floor and walked round it, nothing spilled.

using 7001x flexible adhesive for wood on the floors after i've primed it with the required primer.

[royaloakcarpentry]

that is good about the internal corners. Didn't want you getting so far up and finding out they ran out and left a big gap. nothing wrong in full tiles if plumb or they run in. You will be well chuffed that the time was given to change the snapped tile. Grout always shows up cracks and as it is at the end of the bath sooner or later water will breach it.

setting out plays a big part too. Just finished a tiling job which I took on after it was already started and the end product is going into the rogues gallery. Looks absolutely 5hite.

Glad you haven't used ditra. It is a decoupler for expansion/contraction and not for deflection. More of an apt application when there is 2 tonnes of floor tiles going down.

[warmadmax]

Cheer royal oak

Just double checked with the level and the corners plumb both ways so shouldn't have much trouble there

I'll probably have to buy a few more black tiles, glad I'm using tubbed for the walls so far,
First go ever at tiling and the mistakes are easier to correct when it takes a while to set, I can soak the tiles, scrape off then reuse the tile

I've set out the window wall on sketch up, going to be a bit of an inch or two slither up right edge of window but rest is full tile.

[warmadmax]

looks like it'll be a bit wider than 60 mm as the verticles in the windows aren't plumb, they narrow at the top, so gotta build out at the bottom to make square.

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[Colour Republic]

Hi Warmadmax,

What tubbed adhesive are you using? and when you say you are oacking out the tiles, how are you doing this and at what depth?

[royaloakcarpentry]

I wouldn't use a tubbed adhesive for those tiles. they need to be on cement based.

The job I took over and finished (putting in rogues gallery)...........first 4 or 5 courses were applied onto a tubbed adhesive, Bal, a few of the tiles were way out of line and had been up for 10 days. Despite this, I just levered them off extremely easily and then wiped the still damp adhesive from the tile and wall with my bolster.

Tubbed adhesive cures through contact with air. Larger format tiles do not allow this to fully take place. Thicker adhesive bed will make the problem worse.

[Colour Republic]

Worse still is that many tubbed addys state a mamimum thickness as even if it does dry it still doesn't set correctly and just crumbles

[warmadmax]

Using ardex d15, building it out with the adhesive, thickest bits have been on the windowsill, the window wall is probably at most 4 or 5 mm of adhesive

[warmadmax]

so have i've been sold the wrong stuff for these tiles?

[Colour Republic]

so have i've been sold the wrong stuff for these tiles?

I would say so. I'm sure the seller will disagree but I prefer to go with what the manufacturers state as it is them who would be called if it failed.

Here is the data sheet

http://www.ardex.co.uk/pdfs/ARDEX%20D15.pdf

The most important bit to you are

APPLICATION
ARDEX D 15 adhesive is applied to the
wall with a trowel, pressing the adhesive
into the surface and trowelling out to give
a uniform coating on the area being tiled.
The applied adhesive should then combed
through with a notched trowel to give a
straight ribbed adhesive bed into which
the ceramic tiles are bedded. For fixing
porcelain tiles larger than 150mm x
150mm or porous bodied tiles greater
than 300mm x 300mm use the appropriate
ARDEX cement based adhesive.

One or both of the surfaces being adhered
together must be porous and absorbent.

When fixing non-porous tiles such as
porcelain or vitrified tiles onto non
absorbent backgrounds use the appropriate
ARDEX cement based adhesive.

and

TECHNICAL DATA
Paste colour: Off white
Adhesive bed
thickness: Maximum 3mm
Drying time: 24 hours

The maximum 3mm bed is after the tile has benn pushed home rather than trowel size.

Make your own mind up.

[warmadmax]

bugger, right looks like i'll have to start again and try and get this tubbed stuff swapped for powered

[royaloakcarpentry]

you have to watch suppliers because if they knew what they were talking about they wouldn't be earning £60 a day mumbling around in a shop. They would be on the tools earning more money.

The above isn't strictly true of all the sales people, but the majority of them.

www.tiles.org.uk/help/questform.shtml If the supplier tries to fob you off, these will be able to answer correctly. You could also see if the supplier is a member or not.