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Hi,

New to this forum, and hopefully my question doesn't seem too daft!...

I'm decorating a downstairs toilet room, and have so far tilled the floor and dropped skirting board on top of that. My question is, can I just use the rope of the skirting as the baseline for the first row of tiles?

I know what you're thinking... And yes, it's flat. The floor wasn't level but I've spent a far bit of time scribing the bottoms of the skirting ( to leave no gaps underneath) to leave the top of the skirting all round the room level (.which I've checked with a spirit level).

So if it's level, could I juts start tiling from it? I can't think of a reason why not, and I only ask because every bit of advice I can find online tells you to start with a batten approx 1 tile height above the skirting. But don't think I need to, after ensuring the top of the skirting is flat...?

Also, if I can tile straight up from the top of the skirting, do I need to insert spacers under those tiles ( above the skirting) to grout in between? Or just drop the tile onto the skirting, and then silicone seal between those tiles and the skirting at the end (after grouting)?

Many thanks

You can tile from the skirting but leave 2mm between the bottom of the tile and skirting. Do not grout this line but finish with a silicone sealant joint. Instead of silicone, you could use a mastic sealant and paint in with the skirting.

Whether you start with a full or cut tile depends on how the tile sizes fit in with obstacles, such as windows, bath height, ceiling height etc etc.


Battens for tiling........I don't know anyone who uses them. Easy enough to tile direct from the floor, now that we have lasers. One of the only times to use a batten would be to support tiles over an opening whilst the adhesives grabs sufficiently enough for the tiles not to slip.

Thanks RoyalOak

Another question... I've stripped wallpaper from the walls, sanded the walls for a relatively smooth finish, and sealed some bare plaster with diluted emulsion mix. So the walls have a painted finish now, either original paint that was under the wallpaper, or diluted paint I've put over previously bare plaster.

Do I need to prime the walls before tiling, and if so how/ what with? For info, I'm using small, rectangular metro style ceramic tiles.

Cheers

So I went into Topps Tiles today, to get some advice, and buy some adhesive.

There advice - is I'm using small, light metro ceramic tiles and the painted wall is 'sound' and not flaking - was to score the wall loads with a chisel, then apply primer, then use some very high bonding adhesive.

They sold me some BAL Bond SBR, and some Bal Grip Plus adhesive. My questions are:

A) is there advice reliable for the painted wall?
B) why have they sold me SBR rather than BAL primer APD for instance?
C) do I need to prime the wall as per their advice with this?
D) if I do, how long do I need to leave the SBR for before I can start tiling?

I've scored the wall lots and brushed and wiped it down. I'm now keen to get started, so any advice much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

I have replied in bold, next to your questions.

Tjefferson24 wrote:So I went into Topps Tiles today, to get some advice, and buy some adhesive.

There advice - is I'm using small, light metro ceramic tiles and the painted wall is 'sound' and not flaking - was to score the wall loads with a chisel, then apply primer, then use some very high bonding adhesive.

They sold me some BAL Bond SBR, and some Bal Grip Plus adhesive. My questions are:

A) is there advice reliable for the painted wall? NO. If you score a wall then you are only adhering to a small percentage of the wall. Do a paint test by applying some gaffer tape to a few sections. Leave it on the wall for an hour and then rip it off. If the paint comes with it then you need to strip the whole lot off. If the paint stays intact then you can tile onto it.
B) why have they sold me SBR rather than BAL primer APD for instance? Not sure. They have sold you a tubbed adhesive which as far as I know is already polymer modified. There will probably be nothing on the adhesive instructions about priming first. Please note that I am not bang up with BAL tubbed adhesives due to using cement based ones.
C) do I need to prime the wall as per their advice with this? Only if the adhesive instructions say so.
D) if I do, how long do I need to leave the SBR for before I can start tiling?The instructions will tell you. It depends on how long it takes to dry. Possibly an hour or so.

I've scored the wall lots and brushed and wiped it down. I'm now keen to get started, so any advice much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.