Adhesive

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stuart23

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Best adhesive for putting 600 x 600 tiles onto mr board in bathroom and how would you go about installing? Dabs on back and pressed into wall or combed onto wall fit. Asking for a friend
 
There's a few bits on you tube about this - apparently you comb and twist the tile a bit as you put it on to remove voids. I've watched the pro floor tilers and that's what they do.
 
Prime the boards first with a tiling primer (I use Bal APD), if it is in the shower area it is good practice to waterproof the area aswell. Use a flexible adhesive, I prefer powder. Your local tiling store will recommend a decent one. Comb it onto the wall and with large format tiles it is also recommend to back butter the tile aswell for greater adhesion.
 
The guy doing it isn’t experienced at tiling, he just going to plod along doing it, what would be best way for him to get them on?
 
Powdered bag is stronger imo
Butter entire back of tile, none on the wall = cleaner job
Don’t use tile spacers as tile is never perfect sizes - use carpet taks as they are wedge shape and give infinite adjustment (pull out before grouting as they might catch your arse when bending over in bathroom naked!)
 
Best adhesive for putting 600 x 600 tiles onto mr board in bathroom and how would you go about installing? Dabs on back and pressed into wall or combed onto wall fit. Asking for a friend
8mm notched trowel on the wall, tight coat on the back of the tile. Have you got the tiles already? Are they naturals or porcelain? If dark use grey flexy if light use white flexy. Use a levelling system, will make life abit easier.
 
It’s not me doing this btw it really is a mate, he contacted me earlier asking a few questions before he starts
 
It’s not me doing this btw it really is a mate, he contacted me earlier asking a few questions before he starts

walls too. Levelling system helps prevent lippage, but doesn’t perform miracles. You need to spend enough time working on layout and surveying the walls if you want it pin on and generally less room for error with larger tiles. Getting the bottom row set level is key. A pack of small tile wedges can help make subtle adjustments as you go.
 
Some aspects of large-format wall-tiling are covered here:



Sal DiBlasi has some informative vids:

www.youtube.com/c/SalDiBlasi/videos


As others have already said, use powdered adhesive (also note that ready-mixed adhesive is downright unsuitable for large-format tiles as there is a risk it may never cure fully). Be warned that many powdered adhesives go off quickly, so it's best not to mix huge batches, and it's best to clean your whisk immediately after mixing, just as you would with skim. BAL and Mapei are both good quality.

Although it's great for plastering, NEVER use PVA to prime surfaces for tiling purposes!

Spread a tight thin film of (bagged powder) tile adhesive on the back of the tile, and a combed coat applied to the wall. Note that it is good practice to comb the adhesive entirely in one direction (I mean for the final comb-stroke) which means the lines travel across the shortest dimension of the tile.
For example, if you were applying a 600 wide x 300 high tile to the wall, then all your tile adhesive would be applied to the wall so that the combed lines run down the wall. The reason for this is so that you minimise the risk of trapped air pockets in the adhesive when you squish the tile onto the wall, and also so that shorter lines of combed peaks offer less resistance as you squish the tile sideways, back&forth.
 
600 x 600 is far to big for a small bathroom, will look stupid
Tiles should be planned on the roomsize, anything less than a 100mm rip with big tiles looks wank. If you’ve got bath, shower, toilet frame and a window. It all needs planning off them before you buy the tiles.
 
Some aspects of large-format wall-tiling are covered here:



Sal DiBlasi has some informative vids:

www.youtube.com/c/SalDiBlasi/videos


As others have already said, use powdered adhesive (also note that ready-mixed adhesive is downright unsuitable for large-format tiles as there is a risk it may never cure fully). Be warned that many powdered adhesives go off quickly, so it's best not to mix huge batches, and it's best to clean your whisk immediately after mixing, just as you would with skim. BAL and Mapei are both good quality.

Although it's great for plastering, NEVER use PVA to prime surfaces for tiling purposes!

Spread a tight thin film of (bagged powder) tile adhesive on the back of the tile, and a combed coat applied to the wall. Note that it is good practice to comb the adhesive entirely in one direction (I mean for the final comb-stroke) which means the lines travel across the shortest dimension of the tile.
For example, if you were applying a 600 wide x 300 high tile to the wall, then all your tile adhesive would be applied to the wall so that the combed lines run down the wall. The reason for this is so that you minimise the risk of trapped air pockets in the adhesive when you squish the tile onto the wall, and also so that shorter lines of combed peaks offer less resistance as you squish the tile sideways, back&forth.

The bit about the air pockets is bollox.
The reason for combing horizontally is so that any water that gets behind the grout will be able to dry out rather than pooling at the bottom of tiling if combed vertically.
You will note tiles fail at bottom of walls/showers for this reason.
 
The bit about the air pockets is bollox.
The reason for combing horizontally is so that any water that gets behind the grout will be able to dry out rather than pooling at the bottom of tiling if combed vertically.
You will note tiles fail at bottom of walls/showers for this reason.

Just going by what I've been told, over the years.

A lot of people just comb on the adhesive in random arcs and swirls, and this CAN potentially trap air when the tile is squished onto the wall.

Makes consistency that much easier if each and every tile beds-down by the same amount, for a consistent amount of physical effort.
 
Just going by what I've been told, over the years.

A lot of people just comb on the adhesive in random arcs and swirls, and this CAN potentially trap air when the tile is squished onto the wall.

Makes consistency that much easier if each and every tile beds-down by the same amount, for a consistent amount of physical effort.
I am glad to have added to your knowledge mate.
 
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