Floor Tiles on Floor tiles

[pnburdon]

Ok - so the porch in my new house has blue ceramic floor tiles. The missus wants beige ceramic floor tiles and I dont really want to lift the existing ones.

No one seems to be able to give me a straight answer about whether it is possible/sensible to tile on top of the existing tiles (nice and level) and if so what preperation/adhesive should be used to prevent it going pear shaped?

I have heard about PVA/scoring/special adhesive..can anyone clear this up? I asked a kid in B&Q last night and he looked at me like I was an idiot.

Any advice? I have a million things on at the mo so whatever is least work (so long as it is cheap!) is what I will go for!

 

[Richard C]

Tiling over tiles is generally frowned upon but you can do it as long as the existing tiles are firmly fixed, level & you use a quality trade adhesive & grout; steer well clear of the DIY outlet offerings, they are generally cheap & nasty. Don’t use PVA, as long as the tiles are free of grease & dust, this will work;
http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/products/rapidset
http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/products/wide-joint-grout but don’t use white!

I have a million things on at the mo so whatever is least work (so long as it is cheap!) is what I will go for!

As far as adhesive & grout goes cheap generally = big mistake ---- don't be tempted.

 

[tictic]

if any doors open into your porch make sure you have clearance with new tiles.
clean tiles with sugar soap then when dry apply sbr then adhesive/tiles keeping old an new grout lines separate.

 

[pnburdon]

There is plenty of clearance for the door. Thanks.

BTW, what is sbr?

Were do I get this trade stuff then - a builders yard? I have Jewsons and Keyline close by.....

 

[Richard C]

BTW, what is sbr?

http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/products/bond-sbr
Not really necessary IMO providing everything is cleaned down but it certainly won’t do any harm.

Were do I get this trade stuff then - a builders yard? I have Jewsons and Keyline close by

Don’t know Keyline but Jewson’s won’t have it &, generally, none of the national BM’s will be of much use; Topps probably do it (but I've never bought it fom them) but be warned that they retail very expensive unless you bully them into discount; look up your local tile specialist suppliers or Google for your BAL local stockists.

 

[tictic]

sbr will help with bonding the adhesive to the exsisting tiles.

http://www.tradetiler.com/acatalog/siliconing_tiles.html

fill yer boots mate. . aint that bloody exspensive as has been prevoiusly stated.

 

[tictic]

richard c

BAL aint the only bloody stuff out there.
lots of people have budgets, so they ALL cant afford to pay retail price for it.
ok if your in the trade yes. but this guy aint so you can only advise on best materials he can use within a budget!

 

[Richard C]

richard c
BAL aint the only bloody stuff out there.
lots of people have budgets, so they ALL cant afford to pay retail price for it.
ok if your in the trade yes. but this guy aint so you can only advise on best materials he can use within a budget!

I didn’t mean to infer that it was . I admit to using mainly BAL &, in may haste, it was an easily link for me to use; probably much in te same way your link came to hand. I should have said (& usually do) that any SBR will work just as well but, thankfully, you’ve done that for me.

TO Pnburdon; SBR IS GENERIC MUCH LIKE IBUPROPHEN. YOU CAN GET IT (almost) ANYWHERE.

I’ll now go away & give myself 50 lashes & do bread & water for 24 hours, will that be enough penance for you

 

[pnburdon]

Thanks - so what you are saying is dont use the PVA I have left over from the plastering and the unibond adhesive and grout left over from tiling my bathroom floor - get some proper stuff instead?

I've a feeling these products are going to cost more than the tiles and I will use 10% of the bag/bottle and the rest will go to waste but i will look into it!

I have a CTD close to me that stocks BAL etc so will go have a chat with them....

 

[Richard C]

PVA is termed “the plasterer’s friend”; it is an invaluable & essential part of that process. Standard PVA is water soluble so it becomes fluid again when it gets wet, this will slow down the adhesive setting time &, in certain circumstances, lead to problems with tile adhesion; it should never be used in wet areas, if you need to use a primer use SBR.

Personally I wouldn’t touch Uni & not many pro tillers will; it’s cheap & aimed mainly at the DIY market but, unfortunately, it doesn’t even seem to be very good at that. Visit any of the tillers forums & ask the question, my bet is you will get the same reply from all of them.

For some reason many see adhesive & grout as unnecessarily expensive & skimp on quality but they are the most important components to a quality tiling job that will last any length of time. As is probably clear, I favor & trust BAL products but, as has just been pointed out to me, there are other quality trade products that are almost certainly as good; Weber, Howtex, Granfix, which I personally havn’e used & Mapei (which is now apparently in B&Q now) & Biscem which I have.

 

[pnburdon]

Ok, thanks for the advice.