View the thread, titled "Tile adhesive just not setting" which is posted in British & UK Tiling Forum on Tilers Forums.

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superfuel

Hi all,

New to this forum and an amateur DIY'r.

Got a problem I'm hoping that someone can help me with as I'm pulling my hair out.

Moved into a new build house last April with a small bathroom (with no window and an extractor fan) and dodgy lino.

Decided to remove the lino and tile the floor instead. Pulled up the lino to find MDF (?) panels stapeled to the floor which had developed black mould from water leakig under (the seal was split around the bottom of the bath).

Ripped up the panels to expose a smooth green plasterboard below.

Anyway....bought some 33x33cm ceramic tiles from Homebase and cut to size to fill the whole area.

Then bought Evo-stik Tile-a-Floor Flexible Adhesive & Grout for Wooden Floors, amd Evo-stik Waterproof PVA as directed on the back of the Adhesive tub.

Brushed on the PVA as directed at 1PVA:4water and waited till dry. Then used a floor spreader to put the adhesive/grout down and twisted the tiles into place (I've read since that a lot of people don't recommended PVA)

That was on Saturday - trouble is it's just not setting. just lifted up a tile and although a cm of the grout around the edge of the tile had set, beneath the tile, it's exactly the same as when I put it down 4 days ago. I can't work out where I've gone wrong. :mad2:

Sorry for rambling but desperate for help as I've spent a fortune on everything so far and not sure what to do now.

Any help would be much appreciated!
 
Oh dear Superfuel.. that's a bit of a pickle you're in there...

PVA is an absolute no-no as you have now since read. Some of the experienced and professional members on here will no doubt have some more technical expertise to share with you about PVA, the adhesive used and your floor/substrate, but you probably won't see much response on here until after 5.

My initial reaction is to pull the tiles up now, whilst the adhesive is still soft, and seeing if you can scrape the adhesive off so that you can save them and not have to bin them.

So take a :chillpill: or have a well earned :beer_yum: and don't panic... you've come to the right place :hurray:

Oh and :welcome: to the best tiling forum in the world :smilewinkgrin:
 
Thanks for the response!

I have indeed pulled up the tiles and cleaned all the adhesive of in the bath this afternoon and scraped the floor clean.

The jobs on hold now though as I haven't got a clue where to go from here, although I want to get it sorted as we still have to use the bathroom in it's current state (with the old lino back down with no seal and towels on the floor below the bath for a quick shower)

The girlfriends getting pretty annoyed now too as I've been over a week doing this as I'm no nearer to finishing.

Fingers crossed someone can help me! :smilewinkgrin:
 
Welcome Superfuel.

My first thoughts...........

I'm slightly confused as to your floor substrate. Plasterboard is not a stable or strong enough product for flooring, are you sure it's not "green" chipboard?
How is the floor substrate fixed, screwed or nailed?
Is this a ground floor or first / second?

Personally, I refuse to go anywhere near a ready mixed floor adhesive, no matter what the DIY sheds say, and will always use a flexible cement based product.

Let's identify what your floor is first, then identify the correct adhesive and fixing process.
 
my mistake - it's green chipboard, and the bathrooms on the 2nd floor.

Is that where i've gone wrong? 😳
 
:welcome:Superfuel to the forum, I am relatively new here myself.
As to the problems you are having.
I haven't used evo-stic adhesive before, but is it possible that it was out of date this could be the reason it hasn't set? I never use PVA I always use an acrylic primer, However you did follow the manufacturers reccomendation.
Also you say you removed MDF which was on the floor and exposed plasterboard! The plasterboard is probably there for fire reasons and or sound proofing, Im sure someone else will be able to give the exact answer. Did you put anything down on the floor or did you just tile on top of the plasterboard?
What I would have done is put a good quality tile backer board down on the floor on top of the plasterboard, such as hardi backer board, and then i would have tiled on top of that with a good brand of flexible tile adhesive like a Bal make. I never used the ready tubbed stuff for floors, I always use the bagged stuff you mix your self.
I hope this may help you but i am sure yoou will get loads of more questions and answers shortly.
 
Okay, is the chipboard screwed or nailed? If it's nailed then it needs to be screwed securely. Once you've ensured that it is screwed properly have a little jump up and down to identify if there is any "bounce" in the floor. If no bounce, then I would recommend fixing 6mm cement boards over the chipboard, this will provide you a much better and adhesive friendly tile substrate. If there is bounce, then screw 12/18mm ply to take out the flex and give a better substrate.

You glue and screw cement boards and just screw the ply, there are plenty of posts on here regarding the fixing process for each, but don't hesitate to ask if you need more info.

So, substrate sorted! :thumbsup:

I need to know whether cement boards or ply as the fixing process and adhesive will vary a little? Let me know which way you want to go.

If you want to tile directly onto the chipboard, this can be done, but it is not recommended and you will need a highly flexible (more expensive) adhesive such as Mapei Keraquick with latex, BAL Fastflex or Ardex 7001.
 
Thanks - The chipboard seems to be nailed down but is solid with no bounce. It's the same flooring that run throughout the whole top floor of the house (underneath the carpets).

I'll see if I can get hold of some cement boards and will put those down - once I've got that sorted I'll post an update and go from there. :thumbsup:

I still don't know why the adhesive/grout wasn't setting though - if I go down the substrate route and use the corrent adhesive/grout, will this defintley solve the problem do you think? (The last tub of adhevise cost £25 so I'm keen to get this right first time....well, second time really).

This is turning out to be a lot more difficult (and expensive) than I first thought!
 
On another note, I've just read that you need special equipment to cut a cement board and I need to get it to go round the toilet and sink too but can use the old lino as a template (lifting them up isn't really an option).

Will I end up spending a fortune on the equipment to do the job? (I've bought a £40 electric tile saw already and have the usual hack saw and wood saw in my tool box)

Would an alternative option be cheaper as I was doing the job myself primarily too save money (approx 2.5 metre square space and I've spent over £120 already and loads of time).

Obviously my main concern is getting the job done right, but I still need to watch the cash!
 
It is difficult to say why the ready mix stuff didn't set. Could be one of many reasons....

1. Past it's useable life (check dates printed on tub somewhere)
2. It may say it is okay for wood, but does it say "moisture resistant chipboard"
3. Did you disturb the tiles within the "curing" time? i.e. walk on them within 24 hrs of fixing?


As long as you follow our advice and recommendations you will not have any problems this time round.

One last question for now, do you have a Tile Giant near you? You can check store locations here......Tile Giant.

If not, can you advice what tile shops or builders merchants are local to you, please? It will help us to advise the correct adhesives etc..

Keep smiling, you've found the forum so you're now more than half way to resolving your issues :thumbsup::lol:.
 
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