Basic Adhesive Thickness Question!

[newreno]

I'm about to start a DIY tiling project next week with 600x600mm porcelain tiles. 10mm thick. Doing walls and floor.

I haven't worked with anything this size before so I have a basic adhesive question. I'm looking to use a 10-12mm notched trowel for the walls. Once the tiles are pressed down into this, how much adhesive will still be visible if you look straight on? I.e. how much will the 10-12mm compress?

I'm considering stopping halfway along a wall to save some time and using trim to block off the tiling. The rest of the wall will just be painted. The problem is that the 'stop' will be quite visible when you walk into the bathroom. 12mm trim seems like the solution, but will the adhesive really compress down to only 2mm (10mm of trim for the tile thickness, 2mm spare for the adhesive)? Or will I end up with a space behind the trim? I could fill this with grey silicone I suppose (the same colour as the grout).

Sorry that this is such a basic question. I've had a search but can't see anything immediately similar...

Cheers lads.

 

[White Room]

It considers what quality your walls are, are they gypsum or a gypsum finish with a render base coat, dry lined etc and depending how flat they are....and depending if they can take the weight of your tiles.

 

[newreno]

They're newly plaster-boarded, so I think I should be okay based on the 32kg/m² rule...

 

[m3fitter]

12mm is adequate and anymore looks unsightly, if there is a gap behind this, then caulk it, 12mm is the max for aesthetic reasons ;-)

 

[newreno]

Ah, you mean 12mm is the max trim size? I agree on that; I'd ideally use 10mm if I can as I think the smaller size looks better.

What I'm unsure of is how much space there's likely to be behind the 12mm trim that needs caulking. If I'm using 12mm trim then the adhesive should be no more than 2mm thick after compression, right? This allows the edge of the trim to be flush to the wall with no caulking behind the trim required. But that doesn't seem like enough adhesive to hold these whacking great tiles on the wall.

How much adhesive should I be looking to see (and then caulk) behind the edge of the 12mm trim? In other words: how thick should the adhesive layer be once it's compressed by the tile on the wall?

 

[m3fitter]

So that's 12mm on the notched trowel? How much adhesive will you see when the tile is pressed in?

Or is it 12mm after it's been pressed in? i.e. you have the wall, then 14mm of compressed adhesive, then 10mm of tile and a 12mm trim on the edge, thereby showing 12mm of adhesive behind the trim's edge (that gets caulked)?

The second solution seems like it would hold these heavy tiles in place much more robustly, but then again the first option could be right and the adhesive might be stronger than I'm giving it credit for...

It's all dependent on the state of your walls, new or not, you could double butter your walls, 6mm ties, 6mm tiles ? or 6mm wall 10mm tiles, or vice versa, get 12mm trim, and trust me, it'll work, you don't have to apply rocket science to it... 10mm tile + adhesive, trim at 12mm, caulk behind if need be.. job done ;-) building work / tiling is not an exact science, i'm afraid that experience tells you what you need, don't need..
so if you get 12mm trim metal, you won't be far wrong.. honestly

 

[newreno]

Hi m3fitter, thanks for your reply. I re-read your post and changed my own.

I guess my uncertainty comes because I want to stop the tiling halfway round the room. The 'stop' will be quite prominent. 12mm trim = 10mm tile and 2mm compressed adhesive. That doesn't seem like much adhesive for such big tiles, but I have no real idea. I'm happy to caulk as well if needed, but given the amount of adhesive I think looks 'safe', I have visions of everyone seeing 12mm trim plus 10mm of caulk when they walk into the room.

The walls are newly plaster-boarded. They do bend out away from the floor as they go up so I'm obviously factoring in a bit of caulking for this, but my big uncertainty is how much adhesive is needed in the 'general' situation.

Sorry I can't explain this better....

 

[m3fitter]

get a straight edge and see ? or get a 6ft level and see ? or if particularly bad studwork / tacking then bend the trim to suit... job done................. or dare I say it... if you're not confident... get a tiler ;-)

 

[newreno]

Argh, the Internets!! I'm not explaining myself well, haha. :lol:

Lets assume the walls are perfect.

So I have my wall. How much adhesive do I need to stick a 600x600x10mm tile to the wall? And how thick will this adhesive be when it's compressed by the tile? 12mm trim suggests that in the standard situation the adhesive should be compressed to 2mm. Is this right? It doesn't seem like a lot of adhesive for such big tiles.

I'll have to caulk behind the trim if the compressed adhesive should be more than 2mm. I don't mind doing this, but I want to know how thick the standard caulk line is likely going to be (if any is required). Am I looking at 1mm or 10mm?

I'm probably being super thick here, sorry. I don't mind the actual tiling work and this question seems so simple in my head, but I need an answer before I continue. I'll draw a diagram if it helps....

 

[m3fitter]

ok 600 x600 porc tile, does it comply with the loadbearing weight of plasterboard ? if its perfectly straight / square, then 10mm will suffice, if so, 12mm trim is fine.. or why not try and fit some on slow set and see... more than 12mm trim is rare

 

[newreno]

Great. Yes, I think that it all matches up with the plasterboard's limits. At least from the calculations I've done here, and there seems to be a fair amount of play in the limit as well.

So basically: apply 10mm adhesive with a notched trowel, then this should compress to around 2mm when the tile is on the wall? If so, that's exactly what I needed to know.

 

[m3fitter]

Thank the lord ! woohooo:hurray:

 

[newreno]

Yeah, at last! ha Thanks for your help!!