Heavy/Large Tiles

[WaveyDave]

I'm hoping to tile my bathroom shortly (floor and walls). Never done it before, but after reading Gcol's sticky and some other bits, I reckon its within my capabilities. One question though. My wife likes Jerusalem Stone polished tiles, the ones we are interested in are 600x400x13mm.

We've had smaller samples, and these seem quite heavy, so the full tile is going to really heavy. Is there a special kind of adhesive I'll need to use to put these on the walls? Tile supplier mentioned one but I can't remember the name, supplier didn't seem to think it was too much of a problem regarding the weight.

Dave

 

[gcol]

The size of the tile is irrelevant - it's the thickness and density that adds weight.
It shouldn't be a problem to use these tiles but be careful not to exceed these weights per square metre:
Skimmed walls - 20kg/m2
Plasterboard - 32kg/m2
Aquapanel - 50kg/m2

You'll not have any problems if you use Bal adhesives - they're expensive though. This will do http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/bal/bal_products/single_part_flexible.asp
Or if you're fast http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/bal/bal_products/rapidset_flexible.asp

Bare in mind that large tiles need VERY flat walls.

 

[WaveyDave]

Thanks gcol. Undecided yet whether it will be skim or plasterboard. Tiler wants to see what's behind the current tiles, which have been laid over another set of tiles!!

 

[alternativetiles]

For large tiles always use a cement based adhesive, suggest a polymer modified White cement based adhesive. Don't skim the plaster board, as said plasterboard on it's own holds more weight than skimmed. I always recommend a tanking kit prior to tiling onto plasterboard (or plaster) in wet areas - easy to do and makes the walls waterproof.