tiling kitchen floor

[beatts]

Hi

I want to tile my kitchen floor. It has tiles down already which I am planning on removing, then scraping the adhesive off the concrete floor.

Do I need to do anything else with the floor before sticking the new ones down.

also which adhesive would be most suitable

thanks in advance for your help

 

[gcol]

Just make sure the floor is clean and not dusty. Use a powdered adhesive and you'll be ok. If your tiles are porcelain, ensure that the adhesive is suitable for porcelain tiles.

 

[beatts]

thanks gcol

 

[alternativetiles]

Just to add.......

Use a polymer modified - single part flexible adhesive.

Often just referred to as a single-part flex adhesive in the trade.

If your existing tiled floor is sound you can tile over the top. If so prepare a slurry mix of single-part flex mixed with SBR primer and water and paint on to cleaned existing tiles - allow to dry and tile over the top.

 

[beatts]

Thanks for the replies, however

just a question it may sound silly but,

1. why cant I use the tub type acrylic adhesive on the floor?

2. I know that floor tiles need a 10mm bed but why is this??

thanks

 

[alternativetiles]

needs to be a cement based adhesive (usually bagged)

Tubbed adhesive is made of pva and gypsum powder it has no real strength to it.

Tiles don't necesarily need a 10 mm bed. They just need to be solidly bed, if the floor is flat 3-5mm is enough.

 

[gcol]

There's no need to use the more expensive flexible adhesive on a non flexible concrete floor. Powdered adhesive is far and away better than premixed tub stuff.
A 10mm radius notched trowel will give you the correct sized bed.

 

[beatts]

thanks guys, much appreciated

 

[alternativetiles]

Just to clarify, I always use single part-flex adhesive. It is not much more than ordinary and as most tiles are porcelain that go on floors and people use underfloor heating as well as overlay onto wooden floors blah blah blah etc etc I don't really see where conventional rapid set has a use.

Bear in mind single part-flex is only slightly flexible it's not like it's rubber or anything. It just has some additional polymers mixed with it to allow some expansion and contraction and allow a better bond to non-porous tiles like porcelain tiles or glass.

It is only a few quid a bag cheaper to go ordinary - not worth it in the scheme of a tiling job.

 

[gcol]

It is only a few quid a bag cheaper to go ordinary - not worth it in the scheme of a tiling job.

Really??? I can get a 20kg bag of decent powdered adhesive suitable for porcelain for under a tenner - what price is your flexible stuff and what brand?

 

[alternativetiles]

£16.25 for my good brand single part-flex. I appreciate that is a lot more than a tenner but I suppose we could be comparing a top brand single part flex to a rock bottom rapid set ???

Good branded rapid set (BAL, ARDEX, PCI, NORCROS, MAPEI) is only about £4 a bag less than my single part-flex.

 

[gcol]

We're talking Feb fastset - which I consider to be excellent.
So you sell Bal rapidset for about £12? What price do you sell Bal single part flexible for then?
http://www.trades-direct.co.uk/modules/shop/view.asp?Prodcode=2032-108
http://www.trades-direct.co.uk/modules/shop/view.asp?Prodcode=2025-104
You get about 10% more in the rapidset bag so to compare the prices you should really reduce the price by 10% for the rapid set - I still make the difference about £7.30 a bag.
Now in my opinion I don't think that Bal rapidset is any better than feb fastset. Having said that, Bal single part flexible is superb and so I'd always use that for timber floors. So the difference between a good non-flexible adhesive and a very good flexible adhesive is £12+ per bag. Not to be sniffed at methinks.

 

[alternativetiles]

Yes Feb is a good brand. It all depends on what products you buy and in what quantities and from whom of course. If I buy a 10 ton load my prices are different to just a few bags of course. I use single part-flex all the time and rarely use rapid set so my prices favour single part-flex you see.

I don't sell BAL anything. But my excellent single part-flex to a tradesmen is less than BAL's rapidset is on that website you refer to.

In my shop the difference does not seem worth quibbling over. Bear in mind to the retail punter who has just ordered £1000 worth of floor tiles the adhesive price difference means nothing in the scheme of things.

Does my logic make sense?

 

[gcol]

I see what you're saying - you're saying that because you buy 500 bags at a time you get it cheap. Also, because you use a cheapo brand (e.g. Granfix) it's not worth bothering with non-flexible stuff.
What brand of adhesive do you sell then?

 

[alternativetiles]

Sort of

Don't doo a cheapo brand but economies of scale come into it.

I sell Norcros (H&R Johnsons, Norcros used to be / own BAL incidentally)