Kitchen floor

[chriselevate]

Hi guys,

Been getting lots of help from Richard C (who's a legend!) helping me through a kitchen project that I've been forced to take on in my own home due to the condition we found it in after we bought the property.

Could I have some advice on the kitchen tiled floor please? The room is 21.5 square meter and as there's no kitchen in the room atm the I'm looking to tile to the walls and leave a 4-5mm gap around each edge to be finished off with a tiled skirting board (probable 1/3 or a tile high).

I've got a SLC leveled floor that's pretty good but has a few minor lumps and bumps in it. I'm looking to lay a 50 x 50cm tile down and wanted some advice on this please?

Flexible adhesive is the best thing to use for the job I hear? I have already got 2 & 3 mm tile spacers and have a 10mm round notched trowel and also a diamond electric disc cutter.

With the size of the tiles I am wanting to lay, the fact that there are a few lumps and bumps in the floor (maybe 2-3mm max) will I be ok with the trowel I've got or would you go thicker? Will I need to back butter the tiles?

I've not bought the tiles, adhesives or grout yet but had a price of £20 per square meter for the tiles (ceramics) and £30 per bag of adhesive (palace brand). Which apparently I'll need 4-5 bags of?

Thanks for your help and advice

 

[chriselevate]

Hi guys,

Any advice on this? I went out and bought 21.5 sq/m of tiles today which are 33x33cm ceramic tiles. I've bought the adhesive and addertive to go into the adhesive to make it flexible.

Due to finishing plastering the walls yesterday that floor is slightly damp. I've swept and scrapped the floor clean and the a tiny amount if dust which I was thinking will be sorted with a light wash with 3:1 pva and water prior to tiling after its dried tomorrow?

What do you think?

Thanks for any help/advice you can give guys

 

[Richard C]

Chris what type of adhesive have you bought, I’ve never heard of Palace brand; at that price you can easily get BAL which is one of the best available but there are several others equally as good that come in less than that. 33cm tiles will probably be better suited to your floor & than 50cm. I’ve already covered all your other questions, lumps bumps & trowel size. I won’t comment further let’s see what others say; tictic if he’s around!

As I said in my PM’s you need to check your SLC spec for recommended primer or even if one is required. Don’t tile over a damp floor, if it’s just surface damp from plastering, it’ll dry out in a day or so; DO NOT use standard PVA on the floor, it’s not a suitable tile primer.

 

[chriselevate]

Thanks Richard,

I've bought Mapei ultra colour plus grout and Mapei Keraquick flexible s1 adhesive with bottles of Mapei latex plus additive.

I have 3mm tiles spacers but am thinking of heading out to buy 4mm ones - is this just preference or would you advise something on this?

So I guess sweeping the floor to get rid of dust and them a dry mop to take away any extra dust is the best option?

Thanks again

 

[Richard C]

The adhesive should be fine but its rapidset so don’t mix up more than you can use in 30-35 minutes or so & wash your tools & bucket thoroughly before mixing the next batch. Grout is OK as well but what colour have you bought? White & light colours should be avoided on floors, especially a kitchen as they look very grubby after a very short time.

I prefer the look of wide joint spacers (4-5mm) on floors but I would not advise you go less than 3mm. You certainly need to get rid of the dust but you need to check the SLC spec for priming; if in doubt use an acrylic primer.

 

[tictic]

Have you put a straight edge over areas off the floor?....checking for dips etc...if unsure then I would advise you use a ptb adhesive...(pourable thick bed)...

But as you have your addy,just take your time back butter the tiles...use rubber mallet and bead fix tiles...m2 at a time.

 

[chriselevate]

Thanks for your advice Richard,

Just finished laying the main parts of the floor. Will need some advice on finishing to some of the edges as I've got a few things that I'll need some help on but 17 sq/m of the 21.5 are now laid and looking good!

As I'm an amature and not used to tiliing I've got a bit of ahesive on the faces of some of the tile and inbetween a few of the grout lines. What would you suggest to take this off? I guess this is worth doing BEFORE trying to grout?

Ideally I'd like to mix up some grout and grout the work I've done so far so that no/little dust or bits fall into the joints when the kitchen unit are delivered onto it tomorrow.

Grouting this evening wont take long will it? Will this all be ok to walk on tomorrow and have the kitchen units delivered onto it?

Thanks again

**Updated to answer TicTic questions:
When I did the batten test it wasn't too bad and to be honest the floor now it's tiled doesn't look too bad. There are a few "kicks" where the tiles are out of alignment but tbh I don't think it's that noticable.

I didn't back butter the tiles but they seemed to bed down nicely.

 

[tictic]

Clean grout spacing with a small screwdriver slowly and carefully..
Wipe face off tiles with damp sponge and clean off,if to stubborn there are cleaners out there for adhesive ect...litho fin,ltp,fils,Aquamix...

As for grouting the addy is it fastest so after 3/4hrs or single set 16hrs check the bag...

 

[tictic]

As for walking on in the morning....
Yes this will be fine.