Tiles falling off

[Ookysoft]

Tiling me sister's bathroom - like an idiot!

She has a wall freshly plasterboarded and skimmed [ though I'd have preferred he hadn't skimmed as it's all over the place thickness wise! ].

I've primed it with the Bal acrylic stuff 1:1 with water [ as it says on the bottle ] & let it dry!

I'm using Bal Grip premixed in a bucket stuff.

I'm troweling that on the wall a 6mm toothed trowel and pressing the tiles on with a bit of a twist.

The adhesive sticks to the wall but the tiles fall off without even a track where the adhesive should have stuck!

9 out of 3 rows of 10 came away - not the last 9 so the adhesive drying on the wall can't be blamed....

I buttered the tiles before replacing to make sure the stuff's stuck.

A new bucket of Grip seems to be a bit wetter & have more air whipped into it....

Is it the Grip in the first bucket, the tiles, my technique, the sealed wall still drawing too much moisture before I get the tiles on.....

Thoughts please!

 

[gcol]

Bal Grip is meant for porous tiles only - are your tiles porcelain? If so Bal Grip is not suitable.
If you left the adhesive on the wall too long before applying the tiles, the adhesive could have skinned over.
Could have been a dodgy batch of adhesive or your technique.
I suggest you give Bal's technical department a call and ask them what they think. The number is 01782 591120

 

[Ookysoft]

Yeah! I think I'll give them a ring.

The tiles are cheap white bumpy 200 x 250mm jobbies from B&Q - I don't think it's them - especially as most have stuck.

I was concerned that along with the 'dryer' mix of the first 2 tubs [ 3rd tub was a different batch & wetter ], that leaving it long enough to have skinned might be the problem, however the bulk of the drop-offs are at the centre of the 3 rows I was doing - I started in the centre & worked out - then cut and fixed ends... they have stuck fine!

Weird!

I'm kinda assuming that wetting the tile before application will wreck the chemistry of the adhesion?

As to technique, I'm never sure just how hard to press them - I usually press until the 'give' stops. - Those which fell left squashed lines of adhesive such that some touched in places so assume it's hard enough?

D'oh!