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I am having a go at my first major tiling project and I seem to be having a few problems with basic technique of applying the adhesive and trying to maintain level tiles.
I am tiling a kitchen concrete floor which is reasonably flat, it has a couple of high spots of about 2mm over a distance of about 80cm. So I was hoping to eliminate these by applying sufficient adhesive and levelling the tiles as I go, and I am having a few problems.
I am using a large trowel with round notches of 7-8mm deep and UltraProRapid PB rapid adhesive as given to me by a trade tile shop.
1) When I apply the adhesive it seems to be quite liquid such that after applying the notched trowel across the adhesive the ridges begin to lose shape quite quickly, is this normal?
2) The instructions on the adhesive say
"Apply the adhesive in thickness of 3-6mm up to 1m^2 in one pass. On interior walls use a notched trowel leaving solid ribs i.e. 3mmx3mm at 6mm centres, 5mmx5mm at 10mm centres for wall tiles, and 8mmx8mm at 16mm centres for floor tiles. On floors and external areas use the solid bed trowel method"
Does this mean for floor tiles I apply a layer of adhesive in a 6mm depth and then use a pass of the notched trowel to raise the height to 8mm and the "centres" is referring to the distance between the mid-points of the ribs?
And my trowel has 7-8mm rounded notches, if I want the rib to be 8mm high as per the instructions presumably I must create the ridges with the trowel held at 90 degrees to the floor and not at 45 degrees as much advice offers.
3) Having placed the tile on the adhesive and twisted and pressed it a bit, what depth of adhesive would one expect to then have? If I want to compensate for 2mm differences in the floor I would have thought at least 4mm would be required in the low sposts so that where the floor is higher I would have at least 2mm thickness of adhesive, which seems like a reasonable minimum.
4) Presumably I should do a quick check on the level of each tile as I put it in. I have a small and a large spirit level. So with the small one I can check that a single tile is level and with the larger level I can check across multiple tiles. What do I do if a tile I have just laid is too low? If I am at the start of the laying and only have a couple of tiles I can press down on any tile to adjust them, but presumably with tiles laid later in the process I can only add more adhesive to build up the tile I have just laid. How is that done? Do I lift the whole tile up, apply more adhesive, and then attempt to create ridges of greater than 8mm, but how can I do that with a 8mm notched tile? Do I sweep the trowel across the area and avoid touching the floor with the bottom of the notches?
5) How level should the tiles be? Should a 90 cm spirit level across the tiles in all angles, show no deflection? Should the level be completely unable to rock up and down as one presses down on each end?
I had never realised what a skilled job this was!
I am tiling a kitchen concrete floor which is reasonably flat, it has a couple of high spots of about 2mm over a distance of about 80cm. So I was hoping to eliminate these by applying sufficient adhesive and levelling the tiles as I go, and I am having a few problems.
I am using a large trowel with round notches of 7-8mm deep and UltraProRapid PB rapid adhesive as given to me by a trade tile shop.
1) When I apply the adhesive it seems to be quite liquid such that after applying the notched trowel across the adhesive the ridges begin to lose shape quite quickly, is this normal?
2) The instructions on the adhesive say
"Apply the adhesive in thickness of 3-6mm up to 1m^2 in one pass. On interior walls use a notched trowel leaving solid ribs i.e. 3mmx3mm at 6mm centres, 5mmx5mm at 10mm centres for wall tiles, and 8mmx8mm at 16mm centres for floor tiles. On floors and external areas use the solid bed trowel method"
Does this mean for floor tiles I apply a layer of adhesive in a 6mm depth and then use a pass of the notched trowel to raise the height to 8mm and the "centres" is referring to the distance between the mid-points of the ribs?
And my trowel has 7-8mm rounded notches, if I want the rib to be 8mm high as per the instructions presumably I must create the ridges with the trowel held at 90 degrees to the floor and not at 45 degrees as much advice offers.
3) Having placed the tile on the adhesive and twisted and pressed it a bit, what depth of adhesive would one expect to then have? If I want to compensate for 2mm differences in the floor I would have thought at least 4mm would be required in the low sposts so that where the floor is higher I would have at least 2mm thickness of adhesive, which seems like a reasonable minimum.
4) Presumably I should do a quick check on the level of each tile as I put it in. I have a small and a large spirit level. So with the small one I can check that a single tile is level and with the larger level I can check across multiple tiles. What do I do if a tile I have just laid is too low? If I am at the start of the laying and only have a couple of tiles I can press down on any tile to adjust them, but presumably with tiles laid later in the process I can only add more adhesive to build up the tile I have just laid. How is that done? Do I lift the whole tile up, apply more adhesive, and then attempt to create ridges of greater than 8mm, but how can I do that with a 8mm notched tile? Do I sweep the trowel across the area and avoid touching the floor with the bottom of the notches?
5) How level should the tiles be? Should a 90 cm spirit level across the tiles in all angles, show no deflection? Should the level be completely unable to rock up and down as one presses down on each end?
I had never realised what a skilled job this was!
