How even does my tiling surface need to be?

[rts.empire]

Hi all,

Just wondering, I've found lots of information saying it's quite important the surface I tile is level and even. But how perfect does this need to be?

I'm tiling a kitchen splash back with 300x300 tiles and the surface is mortar on brick. From the removal of the old tiles there was some large holes in the render so I applied patching mortar to this.

The surface is fairly even, not paint over it and be happy even but with a couple of mm uneveness all over.

My thoughts originally were to plaster over this to even the surface to pretty much perfectly level or will I be okay to tile over this?


The Australian tiling council recommend 12mm notched trowel for 300mm wall tiles so I'm thinking surely if I'm careful I could level the tile out over the few mm differences?

Any input would be great. I'll try post a picture if I figure out how

Thanks

[wine~o]

A couple of mm difference should be do-able, if you take it carefully. A suitable length of batten (Known straight edge) can be used as a guide to get the tiling level..

12 mm notched trowel sounds OTT though, I'd be looking at 5 or 6 mm notch as a maximum..

[steviejoiner74]

The op is in Australia wine-o,materials and methods may differ from here in the uk??

[rts.empire]

Hey guys :)

Thanks for the help.

I've been given conflicting information depending on who I ask as to which size trowel to use.

The 12mm came from the tiling council of Australia based on the large size of tile. Though other places I've been suggest 6-8mm for wall tiles.

Looks like after buying the 300x300 tiles the Mrs wants to change to a 300x100 tile so this is all likely to change.

To keep the splash back level and even should I consider back buttering the tiles at all over any uneven patches?

Also am I safe to assume that if the tiles are level and even when the adhesive is wet that they will dry this way?

Thanks again for your help! Doing a full house Reno and this help is invaluable :)

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[wine~o]

I wouldn't call 300mm sq. tiles large format, 6mm notch should be more than adequate.

If you follow the advice given about using a known straight batten to level the face of the tiles you should be OK, as to back buttering, you may need to do this on a few. if the tile is short of the batten then remove, add a little addy to the back of the tile then re=apply.

Back buttering is only normally necessary for larger format tiles though..

[rts.empire]

Thanks wine~o

I'll try the 6mm notch then, since we've now decided to change to a 300x100 tile they won't be large at all.

Fortunately the ones we'd purchased are porcelain so I'll be using them for the outdoor kitchen instead.

Thanks again for the help. Here's hoping it turns out looking good!


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