Priming slurry required on porcelain tiles?

[zuber ali]

Hi all
Getting my front garden tiles with porcelain slab, as far as I was aware a priming slurry is required to adhere to the tiles

The builder is adamant a mortar bed alone is enough....the guys been a **** the whole way through so want to check if I'm wrong, can you get away with just a mortar bed?

Thanks

 

[matlob]

Need a slurry as porcelain won't absorb much from just a mortar bed and won't bond

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

This sort of thing is the reason I end up doing most jobs myself... get a better job done, save money and stress and it only takes a bit more time by the time you've found someone, got quotes, supervised, made tea, and fallen out with them.

 

[zuber ali]

This sort of thing is the reason I end up doing most jobs myself... get a better job done, save money and stress and it only takes a bit more time by the time you've found someone, got quotes, supervised, made tea, and fallen out with them.

Exactly what I'm kicking myself about now, not with the hassle with all these cowboys

 

[noseall]

Hi all
Getting my front garden tiles with porcelain slab, as far as I was aware a priming slurry is required to adhere to the tiles

Correct.

Sack your builder.

We (SBR slurry) prime ALL our non-concrete slabs....

spot.jpg

• noseall
• 20 Dec 2023

spot2.jpg

• noseall
• 20 Dec 2023

 

[noseall]

This sort of thing is the reason I end up doing most jobs myself... get a better job done

Such as? Any photos?

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I'm certain you and many others do a great job. But sadly many tradesmen are just winging it and are basically DIYers who bought a used van. The problem is that there are no standards and accreditation for most trades, so you take pot luck when you get someone in.

I do most jobs myself but know my limits. I got a digger with driver rather than self-drive, and he was brilliant. I don't think I could learn plastering instantly, and got someone in, and it was a pretty rough job. I've done most other things myself, it takes me a while but generally turns out OK.

I've done a bathroom, paving, bricklaying, soffits and fascias and lots more over the years.

You just have to weigh it up, but getting someone in isn't labour-free. It takes a lot of time and effort to organise, sometimes around the time it would take to DIY, plus it gives more scope for issues. And it obviously costs a lot more.

 

[zuber ali]

I'm certain you and many others do a great job. But sadly many tradesmen are just winging it and are basically DIYers who bought a used van. The problem is that there are no standards and accreditation for most trades, so you take pot luck when you get someone in.

I do most jobs myself but know my limits. I got a digger with driver rather than self-drive, and he was brilliant. I don't think I could learn plastering instantly, and got someone in, and it was a pretty rough job. I've done most other things myself, it takes me a while but generally turns out OK.

I've done a bathroom, paving, bricklaying, soffits and fascias and lots more over the years.

You just have to weigh it up, but getting someone in isn't labour-free. It takes a lot of time and effort to organise, sometimes around the time it would take to DIY, plus it gives more scope for issues. And it obviously costs a lot more.

100 percent agree, exactly how I see it

 

[VDubDan]

Likewise, have to agree with @Ivor Windybottom here. I'm not anti trade and do of course use them. Good trades people will blow me out of the water at everything, absolutely no doubt. But finding them, and have everything work out, and in the way that I want......that's another question. In reality, I'm rarely blown away by the work I see in real life - either people I've engaged, or jobs done by others.

Let's face it, most of the time good enough is good enough - while we all dream artisan level perfection, few of us can truly afford it and I can't be spending £1000's to get a job that is just marginally better to the untrained eye.

And that's if you can even get them - I've got some second fix carpentry I was hoping to outsource but apparently nobody is interested enough to come and look or do it.