New Tiles Loose !

[ANt]

DIY Nightmare here I come.

A few weeks ago, I set up tiling the new kitchen...do about half the main wall on Sat all going well. On Sunday start tiling the cut tiles. I find when I'm butting up against a couple of the previous days tiles that they come loose...no problem, just chisel out the gunk reaply..probably just got nudged and loosened as I was applying them the first place.

Ok...so a weekend later I start to tile the remainder..around the extractor fan...last row under the pelmet etc. A bit worried about the loose tiles from before I decide to tap all the tiles incase there's any other loose ones...I find 3-4 (this is a 4.5 metre streatch so about 49 tiles by 5 excluding the cooker area). Not bad...small number that I probably missed before...maybe a bad batch I mixed or something.

so another weekend passes before I think about grouting...all tiles in place now..don't get chance to work that weekend.

Tonight I get home and think about tackling the grout whilst SHMBO is out on the town...decide to clean the lines of adhesive before I start and also tap these tiles again....now I find what I think are possibly

8-9 tiles giving a 'blown' sound..almost as if they're coming unfixed from the corners...they're not actually falling off but do sound loose...nightmare !

ok..so the bumf out of the way...the tiles are normal ceramic tiles and the ones that I've removed so far have just come clean off the adhesive. The adhesive has set hard and is firmly attached to the new level clean plaster..so I have to chisel it all out of the way before reapplying.

I did make a mistake of using some adhesive a mate gave me from doing his Kitchen (AHHHHH...you all say)..must have been less than a couple of months old but there you go..if somethings gonna go wrong it's bound to be the obvious although I'm not convinced yet that it's just the tiles that I used his gunk for that are loose...it only did about

3 rows before I started with fresh adhesive (plus the old stuff appears to bond to the wall with no problem).

The only other thing I can think of is that we've been boiling the kettle near the tiles...but I find it hard to believe 3-4 boils per day over the course of a few weeks is enough to blow the tiles...

I guess I know what I'm going to have to do...just wondered if anyone can make me feel better by telling me it's happened to them ! I'm just gonna wait 2 months and if any more fall off, it'll be a total removal (hey...at least they come off the adhesive clean) and start again :-(

Ant.

[dp]

Before you apply the tiles, use a comb-like tool to put ridges into the cement. The whole wall to be tiled should be covered with ridged cement. Push the tiles firmly into place, rocking them slightly as you put them on the wall. Do not touch the tiles for a day. If they don't stay in place, your tile cement might be mixed wrongly. After a day, apply the grout.

[chris French]

In message , ANt writes

How did you go about putting them up?

Adhesive on the walls with notched trowel to give ridged adhesive bed?

Tiles bedded down properly.

Anything that could be on the tiles affecting bonding?

I take it this was a powdered adhesive, not ready mixed? Was maybe the glue going 'off' at this point?

John Schmitt's tile faq might help:

[usenet]

[ANt]

yup, in the most part, gunk on the walls then combed the area and applied the tiles with a push and a twist. the smaller areas I had to apply the gunk to the back of the tile and combed the tile..

I thought that the cut tiles may have a residue on the back (disk cutter) after the first day so I made sure I washed and wiped them going forward..no other obvious imperfections..

yup, adhesive was powdered and mixed very slightly more water to instructions (as the amount specified didn't quite fully mix..only slightly more water tho as so much as a 1ml over made it runny)

I'm gonna get a suction cup and pull all the tiles to remove the definate loose ones this weekend and then wait a few weeks to see if there are any others. Gonna be a real pain tho as If a large amount need replacing I'll most likely have to tile top down as I bet the higher rows are fixed like they're part of the house now...

[nog]

Hoo's that?

[Howard]

Presume he means She w(H)o Must Be Obeyed ...He didn't know WHO starts with aW

[ANt]

yeah...Hoo

Ant.