Tiling a Bathroom with Shower Cubicle

[Teahead]

Hello to everyone on this forumn.

I've been reading a lot of the previous posts and have found them to all be very useful and sometimes quite funny.

To get down to buisness.

I'm about to tile a bathroom with a stand alone shower cubicle and am planning on going down the following route.

Around shower cubicle walls have been lined with Aquaboard on studs at max 450 ctrs. This was done to waterproof the walls, but mainly to allow power shower valve to be hidden in wall. rest of the walls beyond the shower cubicle have been/will be drylined with plasterboard on studs/ dot and dab. One wall is masonry wih cement backing plaster and gypsum skim coat all walls were previously tiled which have been removed and old adhesive scraped to remove any loose material.

Flooring has been replaced with 18mm thick exterior grade plywoood.

Bal shower tanking kit has been ordered to go round the power shower cubicle and what ever is left will be applied around the bath tub.

The shower cubicle is going to be tiled in either 50mm or 100mm square tumbled unfilled travertine tiles and the rest of the room using 200 or 300mm square tumbled travertine tiles. A 100mm high band of small mosiacs will be fitted around the room

I wish to use Bal adhesives and grouts (after listening to all the pro tilers recommending it on this site) and have looked at their literature but am unsure as to which adhesives would be best suited for the tile sizes and substrates that are being tiled over.

I was think that i should be using Bal single part flexible for the 100mm and upwards sized tiles and Bal mosiac fix for the mosiac band. with either Bal superflex wall grout or Bal microflex wall grout.

Does anybody have any recommendations on the products that have suggested or a more appropriate adhesive/grout combination.

I am also wishing to tile the floor in some larger travertine tiles with under tile heating at a latter date over the 18mm plywood. Which bal products should i be using.

I know the question has been very long winded but i thought i had better give you the full make-up of the room.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jasonb]

Sounds about right, just a few points

Make sure you use white single part flexi as the grey can stain natural stone.

If your joints are over 3mm wide which is wuite likely with tumbled stone then try a mix of 50/50 superflex wall and superflex wide joint grouts as trying to use wide joint on walls is not so easy.

Your stone will need sealing, something like Lithofin stainstop.

For the floor white rapidset flexi will do to set the heating matt in and then lay the tiles with.

Jason

 

[Teahead]

Jason.

Thanks for your response, much appreciated.

Couple of small questions..

Quickset under the floor tiles because they're larger and won't dry properly with normal flexible adhesive or to allow the floor to be walked on earlier. or both?

You say 50/50 mix of wide joint and flexible grout, i take it this is something a pro like yourself has found out from experience, as i would have just used one product or the other and then sworn about it when it didn't work properly. Any advice on the mixing, i was planning on buying a whisk to fit my drill as the wife didn't like me using her electric kitchen whisk last time

This is my second bathroom tiling project, i fully tiled the bathroom in my last house and used tub adhesive and grout from the warehouses and found it to be expensive and didn't work great as i found the grout kept shrinking back. I later tiled the kitchen and used bag adhesive and grout from the tile supplier and it was 10 times better.

 

[Teahead]

Jason

I'm going to order some bags of Bal single part flexible from trades-direct.co.uk

Any idea on the approximate coverage per 20kg bag. i've got approx 21sq.m to tile on the walls and 2.5sq.m on the floor.

The rapid set flexible mentioned for use on the floor tiles only comes in Grey. will the fact that its rapid set mean that the grey won't bleed through the tiles. (I have seen many pro tilers on this forumn recommending white adhesive for Travertine tiles as grey can bleed through.)

 

[Jasonb]

Reason for Rapidset flexible is that its what I use and is also what BAl suggest for UFH on ply, you could also use the standard single part if not worried about time.

Rapidset flexi does come in white and Bal specifically say it is suitable for translucent marble and travatine, see here maybe your supplier just does not stock it.

1 bag will do approx 3m2 of flooring so two should just do the UFH and floor tiles.

Wall coverage will depend a lot on the size of notch trowel you use, you will need a solid bed in the wet areas but a thin bed will do for the rest, BALs rates are a bit optimistic so allow 5m2 per 20kg bag.

The reason for mixing the two grouts is that widejoint tends to fall off the grout float when used on walls and being grittier is harder to push into 3-5mm gaps. Mix it dry in a tub with the whisk (slow speed!!) then add water again mixing with the whisk.

Jason

 

[Teahead]

Hi jason

Many thanks for all your advise. I'll let you know how i get on with the job when its completed.

one last question before i order materials.

Is the 50/50 mix of grouts suitable for use on the floor or would i just use a straight mix of the Superflex wide joint grout.

 

[Jasonb]

Just WJ on the floor.

Edit thats Superflex wide joint not standard wide joint.

J