Narrowboat Fire Surround - Tile Advice

[Boat Owner]

Hi Folks,
I am fitting out my narrowboat and have used porcelain tiles (100mm x 100mm) on 9mm masterboard around two solid fuel stoves (a little wood burner and a larger solid fuel cooking range). Due to the heat and movement/vibration I have used heatproof silicone (Ceresit HT) as adhesive, and this seems to have worked a treat. Unfortunately I have not had as much luck using this as grout as the joints between horizontal and vertical runs are very untidy.
Can anyone got any suggestions in tiling / grouting high temperature areas that are subject to shocks / vibration / twisting (changes in temperature of steel structure) etc? It seems that the usual rulebook goes out of the window, and so does the usual choice of products.
Thanks for your help

 

[Olz]

Not sure mate really, twisting, bending and vibration, shocks, expansion and contraction are things that we look to combat as much as possible before tiling, so depending on how much they are doing those things, will dictate if anything will last, you'd be better speaking to a boat fitting specialist i think, i'd hate to reccommend something for it to all go wrong.

 

[david campbell]

dont think it would be advisable mate,know of a distillery,who used to have there floor tiled every 2 years due to the tiles cracking(caused by machinary)

 

[bigandy]

i have tiled a few narrow boats before customers(friends) asked me to use silicone for adhesive. i used flexible (floor)grout with some extra added admix to make it almost like rubber!
this worked fine for all those boats and keep getting referals for other boats, and they are all still there!

 

[medlar]

seen but never used myself,grout mixed with Bal fastflex latex liquid,dont know if it would help you or not mate,this was actually done in a gypsys caravan,and we all know how much movement caravans have

 

[david campbell]

i think the pc term for that should be traveller lol

 

[medlar]

Cheers David,unfortunately i am not PC,only polite lol :8:

 

[DHTiling]

seen but never used myself,grout mixed with Bal fastflex latex liquid,dont know if it would help you or not mate,this was actually done in a gypsys caravan,and we all know how much movement caravans have

That is something that we do not recommend.....Ad1 for adhesive and Gt1 for grout....if using BAL....

 

[medlar]

That is something that we do not recommend.....Ad1 for adhesive and Gt1 for grout....if using BAL....

not saying its recommended Dave,i said i have seen it done and to good effect but have never done it myself ,then again just because something is not recommended,dont mean it dont work,probably means it aint been used/tested for that criteria

 

[TilingLogistics]

Grout and Adhesive Polymer additives have vastly different properties this is because grout and adhesive powder has different properties. I would suggest that they should not be mixed or used with the wrong things. Likewise already modified adhesives and grouts should not be further modified.

Kev

 

[Boat Owner]

Thanks for all your comments folks. Very much appreciated!

Producing or obtaining a "rubberised" compound is definitely the key. The silicone has worked a treat, and had to remove a couple of cut tiles earlier tonight (long story - bad planning). The adhesion and elasticity were very good, so I will be sticking (pardon the pun) to that method, but increasing the flexibility of standard grouts sounds like an excellent solution.

One further question though! I did mention that one of these surrounds is on the solid fuel cooking range (full height, floor to ceiling x 4ft wide) - would option this be "food safe" as well as heat resistant - or indeed would it need to be?

 

[Alberta Stone]

Since the areas are small you could tape the tiles off with painters tape leaving the grout lines exposed and using a top grade, colored, rtv or other heat resistant silicone, you could use that in place of grout as it is food safe and will take the abuse.
In the right side bar there is a link to a product called corner tape, you could use that product, or you could just take a look and see in their video what you are needing to do.
Otherwise, the flexible grout mentioned above is also an option.