Drying out limestone tiles

[noonandchas]

Hi, first timer here with a bit of an ongoing problem:

Our tiler fixed moleanos white limestone to our wetroom walls using weber rapidset, but as the walls were not square he used dot & dab (which I now know is not ideal - have read a few threads on here and spoken to the tileshop): sure you won't be surprised to hear that they are not drying out. Well, some are, but those closest to the floor with least adhesive behind.

Those from waist height up have big damp patches (I'm trying not to use the word 'stain' as I don't want to...) and after about 3 weeks of dehumidifier action not much seems to have changed, although we're emptying out about 1.5 pints a day from it. Our plumber (who brought in the tiler) has dropped off a large heater to try and we're now going to give that a go.

Does anyone think this will dry given time (its not our only bathroom so can live without it for a while) or are we kidding ourselves?

All advice would be much appreciated - thanks in advance

 

[Time's Ran Out]

:welcome:to the Tilers Forum.

What colour Webber rapid set did he use?
With the dehumidifier have you got the windows shut.
Have the tiles been sealed and if so at what stage.

 

[noonandchas]

It's white, the window has stayed shut (but door is off and can't easily go back on yet, however, we have tacked a heavy curtain over it - should we have something better like a sheet of polythene?) and the tiles have not been sealed.

From looking at various flood damage sites it seems to be a case of either dehumidifier or heat: our plumber dropped off a heater for us to use as well (was hoping for a heavy duty fan as we've been using a domestic one) but I think even my long forgotten physics tells me that a hot air blower will cancel the dehumidifier out so not much point in running both of those together. Was thinking of ditching the dehumidifier for a few days, opening the window a so that warm air can escape and going for it with the heater.

 

[jay]

welcome as timeless asked what color adh was used and maybe a pic would help

 

[noonandchas]

Thanks for the interest so far guys. The adhesive is white, and have attached a pic of the tiles. We've had the dehumidifier going since about the 29th Oct now so just over 3 weeks. The pic shows the worst looking tiles, some are much lighter, but those are the one closest to the floor where less adhesive was used.

 

[White Room]

That obviously shows the dot and dab, how thick was the adhesive

 

[grumpygrouter]

I don't think you will get rid of the marks. I think it is shadowing from the adhesive and not that they are damp. After 3 weeks the Weber adhesive should have cured completely so moisture from the adhesive should have gone by now IMO. The tiles should have been fixed with a full coverage i.e the backs of the tiles skimmed with adhesive and the trowel should have been used to notch the adhesive on the wall for fixing. If the wall wasn't flat, it should have been made so before tiling. Dot and Dab is not an acceptable method of fixing at all and I think this is where your problem lies.

 

[Scott]

I am in agreement with Oli here, i think if the tiles had been backskimmed and fixed properly then the colour would have been uniform.


There was a similar case a few weeks ago, im afraid the marks arent going to go away
http://www.tilersforums.com/stone-t...ive-moisture-patches-not-going-limestone.html

This is from about a month ago, same thing im afraid

 

[Ceramica Tiling]

ill second that. A light stone needs skimming on the backs to prevent shading. There is no way of fixing this problem. They need to come up

 

[DHTiling]

Hi and welcome..

I'm afraid IMO the adhesive has darkened the tile.. on light stones you are supposed to back skim the tiles first to fully cover the back of the tile this then lets the tiles go an even shade if they are are effected by moisture.. then the tiler could have back buttered with more adhesive coverage than he has and then bed out the tiles to even up the substrate/tiled surface with an adhesive suitable for the bed thickness.

But what you have there as stated by our members above is not good and unlikely to get any better than what you have now.. the adhesive spots have dried as much as they will..

Hope this helps..