silicone to secure tiles

iaith · 7 Jul 2006

I was chatting to a plumber who always uses clear silicone on the back of tiles instead of tile adhesive when tiling onto plasterboards, he said it's quicker, cleaner, and once the silicone is set the tiles are almost impossible to remove. the only downside is the cost of silicone.
I just wanted to know if this is commonplace with tilers and if there are any disadvantages that may have been overlooked.

Thanks.

gcol · 7 Jul 2006

Seems like a lot a ****ing about when it'd be quicker and cheaper to use adhesive. He doesn't seem too confident in his tiling but I'm sure they won't come off though.
Having said that, when replacing just a couple of tiles, I've use gripfill before now without any reported problems.

Zampa · 8 Jul 2006

I wonder if he does what most plumbers do and smears it all over the wall after as well

iaith · 8 Jul 2006

Zampa
sounds like you've had some bad experiences with plumbers. always carry a rag . thats what I say.
Gcol . He reckons it's a lot quicker cleaner and more accurate.

Zampa · 8 Jul 2006

iaith said:
Zampa
sounds like you've had some bad experiences with plumbers. always carry a rag . thats what I say.
Gcol . He reckons it's a lot quicker cleaner and more accurate.

No much good once the stuff has set and your trying to paint over it..

You would think in this day and age there would be a decent water based alternative

olly_k · 8 Jul 2006

iaith said:
and once the silicone is set the tiles are almost impossible to remove.
Thanks.

surely that is not a good thing itself? I would tell him to f*ck off he probably gets silicon off the back off a lorry also you can buy cheap silicon £1 a tube if that.
Also how would he keep the tiles the same distance from the wall? that is generally why tilers use a notched trowl!

gcol · 8 Jul 2006

When you stick the tiles up with adhesive, the use of a 6mm square notched trowel should ideally give you pretty much a solid bed of 3mm of adhesive. What happens if your grout fails and cracks is that water will creep past the grout and (in your case) run down the back of the tiles for fun and probably ruin the ceiling below. With an almost solid bed of adhesive, there's not really anywhere for the water to go.
I'd really advise proper tile adhesive applied horizontally.

popey · 8 Jul 2006

iaith said:
I was chatting to a plumber who always uses clear silicone on the back of tiles instead of tile adhesive when tiling onto plasterboards

Lol, if he came on any of our sites he'd be politely told to f**k off.

iaith · 10 Jul 2006

gcol said:
What happens if your grout fails and cracks is that water will creep past the grout and (in your case) run down the back of the tiles for fun and probably ruin the ceiling below. .

That's a fair point Gcol , I suppose it would be ok away from the shower tho.
I should point out that the plumber hasn't done this in my house. but I do respect what he says because he's an excellent plumber. I've since tried it out for myself and it did seem quick, clean, and accurate, but only time will tell if it's any good.

olly_k · 11 Jul 2006

I am sure he is a good plumber but he is obviously a **** tiler

iaith · 11 Jul 2006

olly_k said:
I am sure he is a good plumber but he is obviously a s**t tiler

Lol--maybe

philipcooper · 27 Jul 2006

i used something the other day to seal the back of my pan connecection it was called mega grip and it had on the back you could put tiles down and breeze block it was in the pound shop and it sets like steel believe me

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silicone to secure tiles

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