Adhesive for 600x300 ceramic tile.

[Sean Kelly]

What is the correct adhesive for a 600x300 ceramic tile. It's for a bathroom wall. I would have thought that a tub of White star would be good enough, but I just got told by a Topps lad that it has to be powdered adhesive. I asked why and he said that a customer tiled a kitchen in the 600x300 tile and he used tubbed adhesive. some of he tiles fell off the wall a week later, they had wet addy in the middle of them. The Topps store asked head office and head office said that powdered addy should have been used. Head office added that any tile over 300x300 should not be applied with tubbed adhesive. Surely this is not correct? Cheers Sean

 

[penno]

Yup it is correct, go for bagged adhesive mate.

 

[grumpygrouter]

Yes Sean they are absolutely correct. Tubbed adhesive dries by evaporation. With such large tiles (anything over 300 x 300 really) the moisture has no where to escape to so the adhesive doesn't "set".

Powdered stuff on the other hand sets by chemical reaction so evaporation doesn't really come into it.

 

[Fred]

powder gear every time when tile is over 300 x 300.................:yes:

 

[GazTech]

In a nut shell...

 

[White Room]

I use powdered for 200 x 200 if the walls are not all that bright

 

[Fekin]

Ditto again

 

[Droopy]

It's 100% correct Sean.

Cement based adhesive will also give you a deeper bed, which is often needed when fixing larger format tiles too.

 

[Perry]

i use powder for mosaics to in fact i dont use bucket at all the only thing i find bucket adhesive good for is the buckets lol :lol:

 

[grumpygrouter]

i use powder for mosaics to in fact i dont use bucket at all the only thing i find bucket adhesive good for is the buckets lol :lol:

That is me now as well PJ. Used my last tub of white star a couple of jobs a go. Powder stuff for me from now on.

 

[Alberta Stone]

Been a long time since I used mastic.
Mix it yourself.
It you are putting up porcelain over an impervious surface though you can't use a modified mortar, only unmodified.
Otherwise the latex/acrylic admix will not dry unless it is mosaics less than 2X2 inchs.

 

[graham31]

so to be on the safe side are you not best using powder stuff for everything??

 

[monty]

Whats the working time on the powdered stuff you guys use? The last travertine job i was on the adhesive was going of in 10-15 mins. (BAL adhesive)

 

[Eddie]

You should get about half hour tub life from rapid set. not sure about normal cement based addy, never used it. only rapid set. but after reading this thread think i will try it on next wall job.

 

[Alberta Stone]

I would think so.
I don't see any use for mastic other than convenience or if you have light ceramic (not porcelain) in an area that will never get wet.
Also It should not be used for floors, just walls. (If you must use it at all.)
Powder is cheaper as well.

 

[Perry]

yes Graham almost. Grums mate you are getting there lol

 

[grumpygrouter]

yes Graham almost. Grums mate you are getting there lol

Cheers pete, glad you think so.:lol:

 

[grumpygrouter]

Whats the working time on the powdered stuff you guys use? The last travertine job i was on the adhesive was going of in 10-15 mins. (BAL adhesive)

Monty SPF and mosaic-fix will give about 5hrs in the bucket.

 

[monty]

Cheers mate...

 

[graham31]

yes Graham almost. Grums mate you are getting there lol

mmmm you think?

 

[grumpygrouter]

mmmm you think?

:huh2:

 

[MICK the Tiler]

I use alot of Mastic down here. I think it has alot of really good points. No mess no waste easy clean up no slump very easy to apply and you get a bucket as well. 300x300 format would be stretching the friendship though and I'd always opt for bagged addy in that case. Our mastic might be slightly different although the drying principle is the same. I think climate might play a bigger part in its sucess or failure than we think. In summer it is hot and humid down here so evapouration rates are still ok and in winter if you could call it that the air is even more dry so it tends to dry at about the same time rate, lower temp but dryer air.

 

[Alberta Stone]

I just pulled a backsplash down in a kitchen which was 6x6x5/16 (us here in Canada are still stuck in the Imperial system, metric is slowly taking over though, go figure, eh?!) white wall tile and it was bonded with mastic.
It was stuck really good and was a real sweat to pull off without damaging the drywall too badly.
I have been a bit of a purist concerning powdered thinset and have not used mastic in many years, but for some applications I can see its usefulness.
Still can't see it being used in wet applications though.

 

[grumpygrouter]

The reason I have moved pretty much over to powdered stuff all the time is that my favourite tubbed Stuff, BAL White Star, great adhesive though it is, can be a real pain to clean off if left for any amount of time. This includes tools and hands as well. Powdered stuff, on the other hand seems to be much easier to clean off, even a day later if you have missed a bit the night before.

The time saving of not having to mix adhesive is off set to a greater extent by the "cleanability" of powdered stuff in my opinion, even taking into account bucket cleaning and mixing time.

 

[GazTech]

The reason I have moved pretty much over to powdered stuff all the time is that my favourite tubbed Stuff, BAL White Star, great adhesive though it is, can be a real pain to clean off if left for any amount of time. This includes tools and hands as well. Powdered stuff, on the other hand seems to be much easier to clean off, even a day later if you have missed a bit the night before.

The time saving of not having to mix adhesive is off set to a greater extent by the "cleanability" of powdered stuff in my opinion, even taking into account bucket cleaning and mixing time.

I'll add that word to the tiling terms glossary...lol

 

[grumpygrouter]

lol, glad you like it Gary mate.

 

[GazTech]

lol, glad you like it Gary mate.

I do Russ...and I agree powdered stuff is much easier on the ' cleanability scale'...

 

[andy-p]

i still use tubbed gear where ever the conditions permit ,where else are you gonna get tubs to mix the powders ??

 

[grumpygrouter]

i still use tubbed gear where ever the conditions permit ,where else are you gonna get tubs to mix the powders ??

B&Q? couple of quid each?

 

[andy-p]

sod that grumpz !!! :lol:

 

[Perry]

mmmm you think?

Yes..........:yes: