Has anyone ever seen wall tile installed in this fashion?

[dalahorse]

Hi all,

We're having our bathroom re-fitted and on inspecting the initial work I've noticed the wall tiles (standard size subway tiles) are being applied in what appears to an unusual way (at least to me). As can be seen in the photos attached, the tiles have been applied to the wall (plywood substrate in this example) with three large globs of adhesive per tile, with the adhesive being almost 1cm thick in some cases. Hence, the tiles are projecting quite far off the substrate (as seen in the photos) and there are hollow gaps behind the tiles (because there are just three large dabs of adhesive per tile).

My question is--Has anyone ever seen this method of applying wall tile? I've done some tiling as a novice in the past and I always assumed one covered the entire substrate with adhesive, spreading out with notched trowel, etc. I've never seen tiles projecting this far off the wall and I don't understand how they could ever adhere properly or be grouted either but perhaps I'm just unfamiliar with this technique. Anyone have any thoughts? Many thanks.

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[footprints]

Looks iffy to me, I know some people suggest dot and dab for very large tiles on uneven surfaces, but small ones should be on a bed as you say.

 

[JohnD]

I've seen it in old tiles in old houses. Perhaps they were done either a long time ago, or by an older person.

 

[EddieM]

I've seen it in old tiles in old houses. Perhaps they were done either a long time ago, or by an older person.

Very lazy if it was done a long time ago, they haven't even taken the spacers out!

 

[Newboy]

If you're paying a professional to tile your bathroom and that's the result stop now - that tiling has to be a joke!

 

[Nige F]

So those are called Subway Tiles I always called them Asylum Tiles ( cuz there was miles of them in an asylum near us that was demolished ) Was the tiler on a Care in the Community project from an asylum

 

[dalahorse]

Thanks all. I hadn't realised that this was an example of the infamous "dot and dab" tiling technique (the Tile Association even has a warning about this on their website). OK for plasterboard of course but never for wall or floor tiles. I insisted it was redone properly and fortunately the builder agreed that the technique shouldn't have been used in the first place. Has since been redone using properly bonded/notch troweled adhesive.

 

[footprints]

Result

 

[foxhole]

I was looking at a property for sale under renovation at the weekend , the builders [I use the term very loosely] were tiling the kitchen walls with this method, the walls were of mixed construction and of several levels, they just slapped on loads of adhesive , they also tiled bare brickwork using this method, must use gallons of grout to fill all the voids, I declined the estate agents offer of seeing the finished product which she insisted was of a good quality.