Tiles all complete and then back to the start again!

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Jupiter01

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It seems funny looking back at it but want to make sure I learn the appropriate lessons from yesterday’s “disaster”.

After spending approximately 7 hours, my brothers and I tiled up the shower area in the en-suite. I’ve attached a picture from earlier in the day but at this point it was all complete up to the battens screwed at the bottom.

Some 19 hours after the bottom tiles were done, I unscrewed the batten asked my brother to tidy up and I headed to fetch lunch. Calamity struck!

My world came crushing down on me when my brother called to say that all the tiles were dropping off the walls. I was in disbelief as I’ve never experienced anything like it. Even my first ever tiling job using the cheapest tiles and adhesive are stuck on the wall 7 years on. Admittedly the don’t look pretty!

When I got back, the situation had moved on...
Almost all the tiles were off. The adhesive was almost entirely wet.

I took my frustration out at Wickes (wanted me to contact Bostik and arrange site visit...) and then plucked up the courage to dust my self off and go again! I naively put it down to the brand of adhesive I used for the first time (Bostik). Pic attached. You can also see how easy it was to clear off the boards.

I used Mapie adhesive the second time around and am now complete above the batten. I now need to remove the batten at some point and finish off below that.

The proverb if kicking a man while he is down comes to mind! Please give me you thoughts, advice, comments please.
 

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Hellish bad luck that, but I prefer to use adhesive mixed from powder....being chemically setting rather than air drying its much more reliable - in my opinion!
Did you apply the adhesive to the wall or the tile - and did you press really hard to exclude the air?
John :)
 
Which bagged stuff do you recommend John? I applied adhesive to the boards and speed it out using a notched trowel. I did press the tiles home
 
The tiles are not bonded to the adhesive enough, you can see notched lines on wall where tile has not been in contact with adhesive.
It will be better to butter back of tile as you go.
 
Burnerman said:
Hellish bad luck that, but I prefer to use adhesive mixed from powder....being chemically setting rather than air drying its much more reliable - in my opinion!
Did you apply the adhesive to the wall or the tile - and did you press really hard to exclude the air?
John :)
Click to expand...
I used a standard powder adhesive from BAL, as recommended by Ceramic Tile Distributors......excellent product!
John :)
 
No pro would use ready mix.

Im sorry to hear -you mustve felt gutted seeing all your work literally fall off the walls.

Swearing was invented for times like that:

 
Not good!. I used premixed bucket adhesive for some small format tiles and it was ok (took 2 days to go off).

The hand mixed powder adhesives are far superior, takes a bit longer to mix but that's the only drawback.

I've used powdered on all our tiles since, same size as yours in picture.

All a learning experience as you say!.
 
Thanks guys. Usually, this stuff is like magnet (appreciate the powdered stuff is even better) even when the tiles haven’t been fully pressed in my experience.

Has the heat/humidity played a factor here? I don’t understand why the tile adhesive was still very wet. I need to understand this as it will determine when I should pull the battens off the current tiles - which have also used premixed adhesive...

On butter backing tiles, that feels like the way to go with wall tiles as it should make the positioning and contact much easier? I would appreciate further advice on this technique and whether it’s a case of a few dabs on the tiles.

Thanks again
 
Is your backer board waterproof, water resistant?. If so the water has no where to go if you use premixed buckets, will take an age to dry out.

The power mix cures as someone's already said so far better for that application.

I back butter my wall tiles vertical comb on the tile and horizontal comb on the wall, much better "grab" that way.
 
My back board is moisture resistant (green plasterboard). Give your point, how long should I wait before removing the battens? I’m not in a rush to do this (after the devastation I’ve already experienced).

On adhesive applied to the tile, is there a school of thought that suggests you just dab the back of the tile in various places and push this on to the wall? Without any adhesive on the wall.
 
Jupiter01 said:
My back board is moisture resistant (green plasterboard). Give your point, how long should I wait before removing the battens? I’m not in a rush to do this (after the devastation I’ve already experienced).

On adhesive applied to the tile, is there a school of thought that suggests you just dab the back of the tile in various places and push this on to the wall? Without any adhesive on the wall.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert but the dot and dab approach to tiles is not advised anymore. If your think about it it makes sense. With the dabs you only get a small amount of surface with adhesive on it, which means it's going to have a lot less 'stick'. You want as much stick as possible for the least amount of effort.

If you're dabbing the back of the tile then you're getting the worst of both worlds. Limited surface area and probably much too thick adhesive.

I believe, and am open to corrections, that the best way to do it is to use a comb to get nice straight lines on the surface you are sticking the tile to, place the tile on it and then wiggle the tile across the lines. That squishes out the air gaps and gets a nice reliable depth so your tiles aren't all over the place.

I'm a DIYer and the powdered stuff is easy enough to make work. Given the advice above I'd pop out and buy a bag from B&Q

I can't say it's spot on but this video was quite convincing for me
 
Thanks guys. That advice is very helpful. The video was particularly useful.

I will look to use powdered adhesive in the future.

Notwithstanding the above, I assume I am okay to remove the battens this weekend? Almost 7 days after putting these in place.
 
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