Wall and Floor Tiling

[dsuley]

Hi everyone,
I have recently stripped down a whole bathroom to redo. I've installed Aquapanel 120x90cm on all of the walls, and put down 18mm ply wood on the floor, as well as a shower tray. The wall tiles are 33x25cm, and the floor ones are 40x40cm, and I've got water Resistant powder Bal Rapidset Flexible Grey 20KG adhesive.
I had a few questions which I would appreciate if anybody could answer;
-Firstly, would you recommend that I start on the walls or the floor for tiling?
-Secondly, what size Trowel would be the best to use for spreading the adhesive on the walls and floor?
-Thirdly, what size of spacer would you recommend for the walls and floor?
-Finally, on the Aquapanels, is it necessary to use a PVA coat first, or can I go in straight with the tiling adhesive?
Thank you in advance guys.

 

[Richard C]

and put down 18mm ply wood on the floor

Hope it’s WBP & not ordinary ply? Did you seal the back & edges with SBR/acrylic primer before you laid it? At 18mm, I assume it’s not an overboard; 18mm is usually OK in most bathrooms but it depends on the size/pitch/span of the floor joists! How did you fix it down? Did you provide support noggins for unsupported edges?

-Firstly, would you recommend that I start on the walls or the floor for tiling?

You can do it either way around but most tilers will do the walls first unless there are other reasons not to.

-Secondly, what size Trowel would be the best to use for spreading the adhesive on the walls and floor?

For floor you must have a solid adhesive bed; a thick bed solid bed trowel 20mm wide round notches, 10mm deep at 28mm centres should be OK but for for tiles larger than 300 x 300mm, you should be using a large format trowel - 20mm round notches, 13mm deep at 28mm centres.

For nice flat walls, you can use a Thin Bed, Solid Bed Trowel - 10mm tapering notches, 5mm deep, at 12.5mm centres but I generally use the same thick bed solid bed trowel I use on floors.

-Thirdly, what size of spacer would you recommend for the walls and floor?

Personal choice really but 2mm is usual; IMO, wide grout joints don’t look quiet right on walls. Floors are usually wide joint grout, 4mm.

-Finally, on the Aquapanels, is it necessary to use a PVA coat first, or can I go in straight with the tiling adhesive?

No, no, no; don’t ever use standard PVA as a tile primer; it remains water soluble & will re-emulsify if it gets wet. If you need to prime, always use an SBR/acrylic primer but most addy manufacturers (including BAL) don’t recommend priming over backer boards (neither do Aquapanel); generally do not use a tile primer unless the addy/tile manufacturer recommends it.


Reinforce tape the board joints immediately before tiling, working adhesive into the mesh of the tape; avoid the grout lines coinciding with board joints wherever possible.

Don’t know how big your bathroom is but 1 x 20kg bag of Rapidset flexy doesn’t sound much for both the walls & floors! Only mix what you can use in 30 minutes (pot life is around 45 minutes) & wash your tools & bucket thoroughly between each mix. Use only flexible grout (wide joint for the floors) & avoid white/light colours for the floor.

 

[dsuley]

Many, many thanks for all your help