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cm1375

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Hello, DIY help needed.

Very large 6mm thick tiles.

Some years ago, I salvaged some large 6mm tiles which were next to a skip. Can see https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ lines on back of them but no actual https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/? Assume somebody tried to stick them using non cement based https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/? Anyway got go ahead to take them. All shapes and sizes but cut some to a consistent 1200 x 600 x 6 which I plan to create a row with. Lain long edge next to long edge.

I now realize that the tiles are not completely flat. The worst one appears to bow in the middle (long length) by 1.8mm. My first thought was the tiles were a dud bunch and were thrown out for this reason.

But then I recently read somewhere that manufactured tiles (porcelain) cannot be manufactured totally flat (which surprised me), unlike natural stone which can be cut totally flat.

They all bow the same way, the good side which is concave. So maybe when they manufacture these thin tiles they do so somehow ensuring the bow is on the good side so they can be "rolled out" when laying? So is 2mm bow in 1.2m normal?

It only takes a little pressure to push the tiles into flat against the bow.

Subfloor is 9mm Hardi backer board, ontop of 18mm ply. Plan to rule off of some https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ to a specific height and as flat as I can get it.

Previous large floor tiles I have lain were 600 x 600 x 10 Porcelains, been down a couple of years now.

This will allow an https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ depth of 3mm to lie flush with existing flooring.

Possible plan.

1. Put "dots" of https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ at center line of each tile where each tiles edge will rest, and each bow will be. The height of these dots, two per tile, such that with the back of a tile resting on it, the face of the tile will be at desired height to be flush.

2. Then after laying down tiles, and pushing them flat into https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/, add weights on top and bottom edges of tile so the tile "should" lie flat as https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ dries.

3. Lots of leveling clips along edges.

3. Leave overnight to bond each tile before doing adjacent pairs, I use slow https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ because it takes me ages to position tiles, and check for flatness and level.

For reasons I wont bore you with, only the first three tiles could be lain in one go. And anyway prefer to lay one at a time, even if I can see benefit of clipping them once everything aligns, because it still takes me a long time to get things right. This means the edges of at least some of the tiles must dry un-clipped to its neighbor, so worried that these edges will end up not lying totally flat I could I suppose add more dots at the correct height where the edges will be.

Any chance of this actually working if tiles are properly bonded. Or will the tiles spring up in 2 weeks, 1 year, 20 years time?
As said above only a little force needed to flatten tiles. Will the built in tensions/compression's cause long term problems. Or will the tiles just gently relax into desired position over time.

Maybe if these 6mm tiles are normally bowed as described above, they just go down and are pulled flat by the https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ with a little maneuvering, in which case the dots are a waste of time and no need to worry about the edges, and "all" I need to worry about is getting the bed depth correct (Plan on laying a small test tile first, just to try to get good coverage with the tile top at required height).

Any help welcome.

Thanks.
 

bsc ceramics

TF
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Are you having them brick bond? if so leveling clips are your best bet.
4 to each long side should be fine.
bowed tiles are worse than ever these days šŸ˜”
 
C

Cdooods

Not brick pattern. Just simple row of Tiles long edge (1200mm) against long edge as in [][][][][][][][].

First three I can lay in one go, so can clip together when positioned. But these must then be allowed to harden to take weight. Subsequent tiles will need to be done individually and each one again allowed to harden to take weight before the next. Won't bore you with reason but no choice in this matter.

So outside edge will not be clipped between stages. Hence the reason for the dots of https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ set at appropriate height at low bow position under outside edge, and weights top and bottom to "roll" each edge flat and level with existing floor.

Using slow https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ because of my skill level. So each stage either 24 or 48 hours. Time taken not a problem as long as job ends bonded, flat and level with adjacent floor.

To make subfloor flat and level with existing floor and to accommodate ply/hardi subfloor, will end up with 3mm of final https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/. So not a lot of room for error here.

Using https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ "ruled" to reference levels to set level of subfloor ready for final bonding https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ bed. Find ruled https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ easier than SLC when needing to set accurate height of subfloor. Just lack of skill/experience on my part using the stuff.
 
C

Cdooods

Are you having them brick bond? if so leveling clips are your best bet.
4 to each long side should be fine.
bowed tiles are worse than ever these days šŸ˜”
Not brick pattern. Just simple row of Tiles long edge (1200mm) against long edge as in [][][][][][][][].

First three I can lay in one go, so can clip together when positioned. But these must then be allowed to harden to take weight. Subsequent tiles will need to be done individually and each one again allowed to harden to take weight before the next. Won't bore you with reason but no choice in this matter.

So outside edge will not be clipped between stages. Hence the reason for the dots of https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ set at appropriate height at low bow position under outside edge, and weights top and bottom to "roll" each edge flat and level with existing floor.

Using slow https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ because of my skill level. So each stage either 24 or 48 hours. Time taken not a problem as long as job ends bonded, flat and level with adjacent floor.

To make subfloor flat and level with existing floor and to accommodate ply/hardi subfloor, will end up with 3mm of final https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/. So not a lot of room for error here.

Using https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ "ruled" to reference levels to set level of subfloor ready for final bonding https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ bed. Find ruled https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tile-adhesive/ easier than SLC when needing to set accurate height of subfloor. Just lack of skill/experience on my part using the stuff.
 

hk940

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Those large tiles all seem to have some bow to them. I was doing a job where the field tiles were 24"x24" and the border tiles were 6"x48".
The 6x48's were bowed almost 1/8". I had to push one side down to be flush with the field then screw a block of wood to the wall. go to the other end and repeat. At the same job the kitchen (400 sq.ft.) was 6"x48" diagonal set herringbone. when you looked at the floor from a low angle you could see a slight bend about 6" from the ends
 

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