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I embarked on tiling our ensuite over Xmas period. Ive done some tiling before last 2 bathrooms have been ceramic, those tiles are a right **** to cut!
This time i was working with porcelenosa porcelein tiles 900x30, pretty easy i thought, get em up in no time.
So plasterboarded the ensuite and set out my markings and level battens etc.
Started putting them up on my old tile trowel which i think is grooved about 5mm deep using Bnq Fix n grout. I ran out fairly quickly as i must of been wearing half of it after the first few hours, much to my dads amusement.
He went off to get some more, came back with some Unibond Tile adhesive.. saying "dont use that BnQ sh't use this stuff, i prefer it" Now it seemed a bit stiffer to me but hey it went up ok, although it wasn't white like the other stuff. I put the tiles straight on as the muck went up.
Set the rest of the tiles in and went to bed. Got up the next morning to check my work, pulled out one of my 1.7mm tile spacers halfway up the wall and FCK the tiles flexed out at the join like they handn't bonded, i quickly pushed it back in, and backed against the wall wondering if the fking lot would fall off!
Lifted off a few, none with the unibond adhesive had stuck. The stuff had stuck to the walls ok, but not the tiles. Oh cock!
Speaking to the old man he asked "did you unibond the walls?" Err no. So he reckoned i do that and maybe add a bit of water to the mix.
Well in the end i added more water to the mix and wiped the back of the tiles with a wet rag before putting them up, which worked. "yeeehaaaa!"
WHy didn't i get a tiler in you may ask. Well the last one recommended from out local decent tiler shop did our kitchen and he royally ****ed it up. Still curse the fcker every time the sun comes up in the morning, as they cast shadows theyre so uneven, each one leans a different way.
Figured i may take twice as long but at least my tiles are flush to maybe a few tenths of a mm (even if they do fall down in a few weeks time)
Lesson learnt:
Read the informative Sticky at the top of this forum topic!!!!
Remember how pourous porcelein and dry lined walls are!
Check if you need to Unibond walls.
Dont just use any old mix make sure you have the right adhesive for your tiles.
Have a decent fine tipped permanent marker to hand, those peel of crayons are ****.
Dont cut the end tiles too fine to the wall or floor you may need that extra few mm gap to align your tiles properly.
This time i was working with porcelenosa porcelein tiles 900x30, pretty easy i thought, get em up in no time.
So plasterboarded the ensuite and set out my markings and level battens etc.
Started putting them up on my old tile trowel which i think is grooved about 5mm deep using Bnq Fix n grout. I ran out fairly quickly as i must of been wearing half of it after the first few hours, much to my dads amusement.
He went off to get some more, came back with some Unibond Tile adhesive.. saying "dont use that BnQ sh't use this stuff, i prefer it" Now it seemed a bit stiffer to me but hey it went up ok, although it wasn't white like the other stuff. I put the tiles straight on as the muck went up.
Set the rest of the tiles in and went to bed. Got up the next morning to check my work, pulled out one of my 1.7mm tile spacers halfway up the wall and FCK the tiles flexed out at the join like they handn't bonded, i quickly pushed it back in, and backed against the wall wondering if the fking lot would fall off!
Lifted off a few, none with the unibond adhesive had stuck. The stuff had stuck to the walls ok, but not the tiles. Oh cock!
Speaking to the old man he asked "did you unibond the walls?" Err no. So he reckoned i do that and maybe add a bit of water to the mix.
Well in the end i added more water to the mix and wiped the back of the tiles with a wet rag before putting them up, which worked. "yeeehaaaa!"
WHy didn't i get a tiler in you may ask. Well the last one recommended from out local decent tiler shop did our kitchen and he royally ****ed it up. Still curse the fcker every time the sun comes up in the morning, as they cast shadows theyre so uneven, each one leans a different way.
Figured i may take twice as long but at least my tiles are flush to maybe a few tenths of a mm (even if they do fall down in a few weeks time)
Lesson learnt:
Read the informative Sticky at the top of this forum topic!!!!
Remember how pourous porcelein and dry lined walls are!
Check if you need to Unibond walls.
Dont just use any old mix make sure you have the right adhesive for your tiles.
Have a decent fine tipped permanent marker to hand, those peel of crayons are ****.
Dont cut the end tiles too fine to the wall or floor you may need that extra few mm gap to align your tiles properly.