Tiling a wall with 600x600 tiles

[Godfry]

I am about to tile my new bathroom wall to floor with 600mm x 600mm x 10mm tiles porcelain floor tiles. As I realise that this is quite a mission, I wondered if anyone could give me some tips.

Around half the bathroom walls consist of aqua-boarded stud work, which houses the bath, toilet and sink. My plan here is to tile directly onto the aquaboard.

The other half of the bathroom consists of an uneven painted plastered wall

Questions are as follows…

1. Do I need to remove the paint from the plastered wall first to remove the risk of the large tiles falling off?

2. I obviously need to skim the uneven plastered wall – should I do this with bonding or finishing plaster?

3. Should I PVA the newly skimmed wall to provide better adhesion?

4. Which brand of adhesive should I use?

Any response to these questions, and other tips you have would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Godfry

 

[Spr0cket]

Wow, that wall will need to be very smooth when skimmed if you're to keep the edges of the tiles even and no corners projecting furhther away than those adjoining it.

As for adhesive, I'd suggest a single part flex, given the boarded walls in use. Needs to be cement based as any premix will never have a chance to fully cure with tiles that size preventing the moisture from evaporating.

The plaster used to finish to wall is not as important as that of a suitable primer - check with your adhesive manufacturer as to what they recommend.

Good luck with it.

 

[gcol]

Good advice Spr0cket.
Godfry, don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to ask advice about fitting tiles of this size, I'd really think you'd be safer getting a decent bloke to fit them for you. Your walls need to be seriously flat over a large area for tiles of this size. Again, please don't think I'm being rude, but as Clint Eastwood said " A man's gotta know his limitations."

 

[Godfry]

Thanks guys - much appreciated.

I realise that this is a vey ambitious project, and that I should probably get someone professional in. I have tile a couple of bathrooms before with good results, but obviously never undertaken anything this challenging

I do have time on my side however, so am happy to spend some time skimming the walls, and making sure they are absolutely flat...


Thanks once again for both your advice.

Godfry

 

[impish]

I am about to tile my new bathroom wall to floor with 600mm x 600mm x 10mm tiles porcelain floor tiles. As I realise that this is quite a mission, I wondered if anyone could give me some tips.

Around half the bathroom walls consist of aqua-boarded stud work, which houses the bath, toilet and sink. My plan here is to tile directly onto the aquaboard.

The other half of the bathroom consists of an uneven painted plastered wall

Questions are as follows…

1. Do I need to remove the paint from the plastered wall first to remove the risk of the large tiles falling off?

--with the weight of those tiles I would really rough up the paint work as best you can and prime with BAL BOND - not PVA.

2. I obviously need to skim the uneven plastered wall – should I do this with bonding or finishing plaster?

--If there is not too much skimming required, use the SPF (BAL adhesive, it goes on really nicely and can be tiled straight onto next day. Expensive for large areas though!

3. Should I PVA the newly skimmed wall to provide better adhesion?

--NEVER EVER use PVA before tiling. Plasterers use it, Pro Tilers use proper primers. remember that PVA forms a barrier between adhesive and substrate, proper primers impregnate the substrate and aid adhesion. Also, a cement-based adhesive will contain water which will simply re-wet the PVA.

4. Which brand of adhesive should I use?

--I've used BAL Single Part Flexible (SPF) happily on large format wall tiles.
If Porcelain, make sure your adhesive is suitable.
Also I'd recommend using a floor trowel on this size of tile. You'll likely need to back butter them too. You'll want to get a good coverage of adhesive with that weight on your walls!

Any response to these questions, and other tips you have would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Godfry

 

[Godfry]

Thanks impish - more great advice.

I haved all the plaster off the wall this weekend and boarded it with aqua board better safe than sorry!

Have brought some cement based adhesive and proper primer to.

Godfry