Unibond flexible floor tile adhesive FOR WALLS???

[ragged13]

Hi there

I did tiling a few times, always using appopriate adhesive to walls and floors.

My question is:

After tiling 1.2m2 floor I have about 70% Unibond Flex Floor Tile Adhesive left.

Can I use it on walls?

Has anybody had similar experiance?

Regards

 

[Karis]

You can use a cement powder floor adhesive for wall tiling in fact it’s essential for tiles over a certain size/weight. Unibomb has a poor reputation in the trade & you won’t find many if any experienced tilers using the stuff, you should always use quality trade products, cheap DIY products are mostly crap. As far as I can see, “Flex” also appears to be an evaporative cure tub ready mix, I hope it’s not one of those "all-in-one" adhesive/grout products! I would never recommended ready mix for floors & it may take a lifetime to cure if used on large format tiles, if at all!

 

[tpt]

Just to add to karis info, you should usually prime the wall with acrylic bonding agent to stop the cement based adhesive reacting with the gypsum based surface

 

[ragged13]

Karis, tpt

Thank you for your tips.

I didn't know that Unibond doesn't have good reputation.

I paid 25quid for a bucket (ready mix stuff, but not all in one, would never buy anything like that), I thought it's a good quality adhesive.

So maybe I will just get another bag of wall adhesive then.

Usually I use Nicobond adhesive.


Thanks!

 

[Karis]

What type & size of tile are you putting on the wall & what is the wall made of?

 

[ragged13]

What type & size of tile are you putting on the wall & what is the wall made of?

Ceramic

450mm x 315mm

 

[Karis]

You will need a powder cement adhesive for tiles that size & should acrylic prime plaster/plasteroard as TPT. You need to check the tile weight as finish plaster has a weight limit of 20 kg/sqm including adhesive & grout & if your tiles are thicker than 8mm they will most likely exceed that.

 

[ragged13]

That's very interesting Karis.

I never thought that someone has tested finish plaster in this way.

Excellent tip for me as you know that I have quite big tiles.


Weight on 1m2 is 22kg, you were right again.

Thanks again. Now I know more than I wanted to

Good man Karis!

 

[ragged13]

Btw Im using Nickelbond flexibond, and have done half wall already yesterday (Im doing only 1,2m high x 4 walls).

Tiles look well, my adhesive has done a good job even though I havent used PVA.

But I will do it properly from now, no point to take a risk.

Thanks again.

 

[Karis]

I never thought that someone has tested finish plaster in this way.

Nothing to do with me you can thank the Tile Association, tile adhesive manufacturers, British Gypsum & others for that. Incidentally, unplastered plasterboard has a higher weight limit of 32 kg/sqm, render & tile backer boards go even higher.

Weight on 1m2 is 22kg, you were right again.

I have a rough idea of what each type & thickness of tile will weigh. Adhesive & grout adds 2-4 kg sqm.

Btw Im using Nickelbond flexibond

Not used it, is that a powder or tub mix? If powder you should have acrylic primed to avoid any reaction between the gypsum in the plaster & cement in the adhesive. If its tub mix, I hope for your sake that the tiles stay up there.

my adhesive has done a good job even though I havent used PVA.

Never, ever use standard PVA on any tile base, especially in a wet area. It remains water soluble & will reactivate if it gets damp, your tiles will then fall off. If you need to prime (it’s not always necessary), use a decent acrylic primer but always follow the adhesive manufacturers instructions.

But I will do it properly from now, no point to take a risk.

Might pay you to read the Tiling Sticky & Tiling Forum archive posts before starting your next tiling project, it might prevent you making disastrous & potentially expensive mistakes.

 

[ragged13]

Ive just found your another worthy reply in my spam box somehow :/

So

I use only powder adhesive, in the past I used tube stuff when I tiled on floorboard.

At the moment I use Mapei Rapid Set.

It does the job again.


I've almost finished!


Which primer do you normally use?

Regards

Lucas

 

[Karis]

Which primer do you normally use?

Tile primers are generally SBR/acrylic based but some have added “extras” to suit certain tiling conditions. There are several quality trade primers around but I tend to use products from the same manufacturer (mainly BAL) on any particular job. If you mix & match, you may invalidate the manufacturer’s product warranty.

You won’t have any problems with Mapei as long as you chose the right ones for your particular job but stick to their genuine “trade” products.