Adhesive & Grout Recommendations for Bathroom - Tile Advice

[Martin_Tiler]

Hi Everyone, I’m a new DIY tiler looking to do my bathroom and downstairs toilet. The amount of adhesives and grouts out there is a little overwhelming and confusing for us newbies so was hoping for someone to shed some light on which ones would be best for me…

Substrates:
The bathroom has new plasterboard walls and the floors are old wooden boards which I will overlay with backer boards before tiling.

The downstairs toilet is concrete floor, good quality and flat with plasterboard walls but these have white emulsion on them which I was planning on sanding back... (?)

I’ll be tiling the walls and floors in both rooms, I would guess that flexible variants would be the best options?? I was looking at Bal single part flexible adhesive and superflex grout?? These are pretty pricey though!

Any alternatives would be appreciated

Also I was planning on tanking the shower area which is over the bath using Mapei Shower Waterpoofing Kit (from B&Q) is this any good??

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hobnob]

Do you have any tile shops close to you?
I prefer to avoid diy shops as they don’t regularly monitor adhesive / grout expiry dates and they certainly don’t control tile batch codes.
If the walls are painted plasterboard it is probably easier to diagonally score the boards with a blade to make a series of diamonds pattern and then prime with an acrylic primer.
Any single part flexible adhesive should be fine but why not discuss the options with your preferred supplier?

 

[Martin_Tiler]

Do you have any tile shops close to you?
I prefer to avoid diy shops as they don’t regularly monitor adhesive / grout expiry dates and they certainly don’t control tile batch codes.
If the walls are painted plasterboard it is probably easier to diagonally score the boards with a blade to make a series of diamonds pattern and then prime with an acrylic primer.
Any single part flexible adhesive should be fine but why not discuss the options with your preferred supplier?

Yeah there’s a Topps Tiles nearby but I wasn’t sure if they would be biased towards certain brands or if they’d just try and sell me their own stuff. Thought I’d get a better representation from people who actually use the stuff as opposed to those who sell it…

I’m leaning towards Ultra Tilefix ProSS Flex Adhesive and their ProGrout Flexible products.

Wouldn’t scoring the plasterboards damage the integrity of them though? I was of the belief that the strength of the board was in the paper and if that’s broken then it’s not as strong…

 

[Hobnob]

Admittedly, I was assuming a skimmed plasterboard so I guess some of the prep is dependent on whether the walls are dry lined and painted or skimmed plasterboard 🤷🏼‍♂️

I have used the Topps own stuff many times and actually find it all right. I also like to use the Ultra SPES adhesive too, so I would say that you are on the right track 👍🏼

 

[Martin_Tiler]

Admittedly, I was assuming a skimmed plasterboard so I guess some of the prep is dependent on whether the walls are dry lined and painted or skimmed plasterboard 🤷🏼‍♂️

I have used the Topps own stuff many times and actually find it all right. I also like to use the Ultra SPES adhesive too, so I would say that you are on the right track 👍🏼

Yeah dry line and painted, so im hoping sanding back a bit and sealing it will do the trick.
Cool Thankyou, good to know Topps own brand isn’t too bad either!

 

[Lou]

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