Help - Tile adhesive not set

[gcol]

Though to be honest, good grout, applied properly to a room which has adequete ventilation in daily use and does not get pounded by a power shower will most likely be water resistant enough.

Most likely? I like your get out clause.
Joking aside though, be careful giving this sort of advice out. Whilst I agree that it might well be fine, a lot depends on the size and type of tile used. The smaller the tile - the more grout area you have and therefore more issue with moisture penetration.

 

[scubapete]

Grout + liquid epoxy sealer seems like a good diy compromise.

So when water vapour gets through the grout it will be absorbed by the wall?

If I had tanked the wall, the water vapour would not soak into the wall. After the shower, it would then pass back through the grout and evaporate? Is this right? I assume it doesn't just run down the wall and all over the floor.

 

[scubapete]

I guess also it's a slow accumulation of water. I noticed a post where a chap was saying four years after a tiler had fitted tiles, they were all dropping off revealing a mouldy old wall.

 

[scubapete]

ps. Thanks a lot for all your posts and replies. In my ignorance I never thought there was so much to tiling.

 

[mountford]

Grout + liquid epoxy sealer seems like a good diy compromise.

So when water vapour gets through the grout it will be absorbed by the wall?

yes when the water pases through it goes straight to your wall behind runs down your wall picks up all the dirt/plaster particles and then you get tea staining on your ceiling below

 

[russellbridge]

Thank you very much scubapete for posting, unfortunately I've just read this after experiencing much the same as you, just wish I'd read it before...

I bought 140No 400mm sq honed limestone tiles, 6 big tubs of Unibond tile on walls and started tiling on a mixture of plasterboard and new marine ply. Got about 40 tiles done, stopped for the night at about 8pm, came back to fix a sink to them in the morning, started drilling a 10mm mounting hole and the tile fell off! Rang unibond to be given the advice to weak-mix-pva the walls first and wait a week for the adhesive to cure properly! Had a thoroughly demoralising day prising tiles off the wall, scraping adhesive off the back face, PVA'ing the wall and then re-tiling. Am now two days into a week of waiting....the limestone tiles now appear damp in places which hopefully is the moisture leaving the adhesive and curing properly!?!

Having read a few posts on this forum now am wishing I'd used a mix-yourself adhesive from the outset, but all I can do now is hope they stay on...I'll use the best grout I can get and then slap a couple of coats of Lithofin MN over the top to seal it all.

Ah well, you live and learn - I now know a lot more than I did two weeks ago. If only all trade places were open 7am 'till 9pm like B&Q - I only ever pick stuff up after work in the evenings or at weekends.

Russ

 

[Spr0cket]

Russ, did the folks at Unibond confirm the adhesive as suitable for the Limestone tiles, based upon the material and also the tile size?

400mm tiles are also pretty large meaning any pre mixed adhesive will require longer to fully cure as the moisture behind them has less chance to escape and evaporate from behind the tile surface than say a smaller tile where the centre of tile may only be 40 to 50 mm from tile edge, not 200mm as in this case.


I'd not personally use a pre mix for the tiles you describe. I would instead use a cementitous based self mix product. If you have not yet started refixing - do it right, it will likely not cost any more as I find I get better coverage from self mix and it will ensure saved time and money down the line by removing any potential issues.

You could also likely add a small amount of cost with a fast set and still have the tiles up and be ready to grout quicker than with the pre mix you already have.

 

[russellbridge]

They didn't say it was unsuitable...

I'm about 100 tiles in (40 to go) re-tiling so can't see much point changing now (pretty much only tiled skirting to go) but I appreciate your advice, which seems to go with the rest of the advice on here. I'll just leave it ungrouted for as long as possible to ensure it's fully dry.

What's a little frustrating is that a number of people have posted on the forums with this problem but there's no follow up a month or so later saying whether the tiles are still on the wall or have fallen off - unless of course they're the ones asking where to get BAL stuff cheap...

On the plus side a 4m x 3m glazed sliding rooflight went in first time this morning, 7 storeys high using a 25 tonne crane and a road closure, was expecting all sorts of problems but went in like a dream! Swings and roundabouts...

Russ

 

[scubapete]

Apologies for not posting back with results sooner but my bathroom renovation project has been taking a bit longer than I expected..

Just as you are doing Russ I left the adhesive to dry for a week and then grouted. I let this dry for about 5 days although I had to apply a touch up coat as I hadn't filled all the gaps properly first time round.

I then applied the epoxy based colourant to the grout and j*sus was that a complete ball-ache of a job. "Just wipe off the excess" said the instructions - I wish.

A couple of days after the colourant I installed the shower and bath screen so lots of drilling through the tiles - none of them fell off thankfully.

My wife and I have been using the shower for the past week and there's been no rivers of water flowing down the walls under the bath. So far.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Next time I shall be hiring a pro...

 

[russellbridge]

No need to hire a pro - you know what to do now!

Like you, I left the adhesive to go off for about 5 days, then used BAL grout for the joints, left it for two days, did all the drilling for shower screens etc and all is fine.

I also applied a couple of coats of Lithofin MN Stain Stop to the tiles (with a mini gloss roller) and this seems to be working very well - water seems to be beading up on the tiles rather than soaking in (it's a similar stone to Kirkstone Moca Creme Honed Limestone)

First shower in it this morning and it's fantastic! Very pleased, extremely relieved that they've all stuck OK....only one small leak where I've not siliconed the shower screen properly.

Would agree that excess grout on the tiles is a ball ache to remove - removing it straight away with a soaked sponge seemed to work well towards the end of the job.

Next time will definitely used mix-it-yourself adhesive...

Russ

 

[m.t.s.ltd]

Mosaics are not as absorbant as ceramics so the adhesive will take longer to set, most readymixed will be damp but firm after the amount of time you say. Next time use a powdered adhesive like BAL mosaic fix.

If you have had to put the adhesive on thickly where the mosaics are thinner, thats not a good idea with readymix as it will never set correctly if too thick.

Jason

don't worry about it bein wet thats ok but you mat have probs in future cus you haven't pva the tiled erea