When to remove tile battens?

[shedi123]

I'm in the process of tiling around my bath. I've put a level batten along the wall to take the wait of the tiles until the adisive goes off. I need to fit a half tile to where my batten is but obviously cant do this until the tiles are fully stuck in place. On my bag of adisive it doesn't mention how long it takes to go off.
How long should i leave the batten in place before removing it? Ideally maybe 24 hours but i could do with finishing the rest of the tiles today..
Thanks.

 

[Symptoms]

shed - poke a globule of the setting adhesive with a probe, ie. the end of your finger, a screwdriver, knife. When it's firm then whip off the supports. I hope you used screws to attach the battens and not nails. When you've removed the screws GENTLY ease the support away (with a downwards, twisting action); a scraper will deal with any adhesive overspill to establish a flat surface to continue with the tiling.

 

[shedi123]

Thanks that great. I used nails, but i did drill and plug the holes as the walls were so hard. I havent put the nails right in so will come out easierly. I'l remember to use screws next time!
Oh and how long do u need to leave before grouting? Thanks again

 

[gcol]

Nothing wrong with using nails so long as you don't bang em all the way in.

 

[noseall]

.......yeah, lets hear it for nails...hip-hip...

 

[Max1ne]

I've just finished tiling the bathroom and used panel pins to fix the battens. It seemed to be ideal & worked well but should I have not done that? Was I lucky?
Maxine

 

[Symptoms]

max - the nail/screw conundrum! I suppose it boils down to what the wall's made of. IMOs Concrete block = plug & screw, hard brick + plug & screw, soft brick = nail, light block = nail. Often hard plaster finishes will 'blow' off when a nail is driven in, lime plaster doesn't. Often masonry nails can be useful. As these battens are temporary they only need to be firm(ish) so use whatever method is appropriate. I think you may have been lucky with your panel pins not bending ... but maybe you've got 'soft' walls. I find it easier (and often less disruptive to the wall) to plug & screw.

 

[Max1ne]

Thanks Symptoms. I think our plaster is very soft, the breeze blocks are rock hard but I think thepanel pins weren't long enough to go into the breeze block. I'll bear screws in mind for the future for more tiling projects.