Is V Notch Nessesary for Showers??

[stevek]

First I should say hello, Im not a professional tiler but have a little DIY tiling experiance, Im just going to start tiling our shower and I wonder if I might ask a questain? I understand that the recomended method of fixing tiles in Shower Areas is on a Thin Solid Bed of adhesive, which I belive is best achieved by useing a V notched Trowel or Applicater(?) the trouble is that Wicks/B&Q and one very large Tiling Shop & Installers dont carry these, they all have various sizes of Square and Large Round Floor Trowels, but not a single V Notch!. I did think about trying to apply a solid bed of adhesive and then lightly combe it, but to be honest I feel that trying to obtain a consistent thickness might be beyond me and will only give me additional problems. My ideal is to be able to "Butter" the Tiles with a small applicator, which I know is slow but works for me. What do you professionals use, Square or V and how big, and can I buy a Small (preferably Plastic) V Notch Applicater if "V" is whats required??
Steve (Nr Bournemouth)

 

[UKTT Darren]

A v shaped trowel will give 100% coverage, as a 6mm square notch will give you 70% coverage, a solid bed should be used with an AA adhesive.
You can get them from North East Tiling Training web site at the top of the forums page, click on the tools icon, Price £15 plus p /p
You should get about 6 square metres of coverage out of a 15kg tub

 

[bespoketilinguk]

iv always used a square notched trowel and never had any problems

 

[Traxman]

A v notch trowel or shower trowel gives a 100% thin bed cover. If using tanking in the complete shower area I guess 100% is not required? Am I correct?

 

[trevortine]

I too have always used square notch supplied by rubi of spain, guess being one of the worlds most recognised tiling equipment companies they should know their stuff.

 

[tanner2906]

i would use a square notched 6mm trowel but allways tank first

 

[Dan]

You really do need 100% coverage in that area. A V-notch can give you that but you'll find if the walls are not perfectly flat, you'll not get 100% coverage due to the small amount of adhesive the V-notch gives. Use a 'thin-bed solid-bed' trowel or similar.

Tanking is advised too. 🙂

100% is still required even if tanking is in play.