Tiling Woes

[Grunff]

So what exactly happens? Does the adhesive stick to the tiles? Does it stick to the wall? Do they fall off when the adhesive sets?

[me]

Nails? ;)

[Ian Stirling]

No, more

[Dan delaMare-Lyon]

SO I'm doing the bathroom...

Round the bath edge - I've got 2 tiles that just don't want to stay on the wall. Every other one is there sound and solid. Thelse last twop

- oh no.

Anyone got any suggestions. It's onto clean plaster that has been sealed with a light PVA solution (as my first try) and they still won't stick to the wall. Bloody troublesome little buggers.

They are 1/2 tiles - so not tiny little things.

Using howtex waterproof adhesive.

Everything else has gone well - just these 2.

Anyone got any peals of wisdom?

Cheers Dan.

[Grunff]

Any chance they are being squeezed by bath-wall movement?

[Dan delaMare-Lyon]

I knew I'd forgotten something :)

They start of sat nicely on the wall - but when the adhesive goes off it appears to lift away from the wall - leaving the tile sounding if not fully - at least in part hollow when you tap it - meaning that it isnt' stuck.

I remove them at that point - clean off adhesive and try again - but it only seems to be in the very final stage of the adhesive going off that this happens - as the moisture from the adhesive has definately contacted the wall as the plaster on the wall is left damp.

It's very odd - and a right sod.

Might have to be some no more nails on the adhesive when the tile falls off so that the bed of it is set right.

Cheers Dan.

[stuart noble]

If you're mixing the adhesive from a powder, I'd say it needs to be sloppier. All these things hang on initially by suction, replaced by adhesion as they dry. Try slapping a load of ready mix tile adhesive on the back of the tile and pushing it flush with the rest. Gives you a lot of excess to clear off but that has to stick. Bathroom floor I did last week just won't dry in this weather. Solid floor, shady location, unhappy customer.......

[Dan delaMare-Lyon]

Nope - they are not touching on the top of the bath - a couple of mm clear - and we aren't using the bath for the 48 hours that the adhesive shoudl take worst case to go off.

It's all rather puzzling...

Cheers Dan.

[Dan delaMare-Lyon]

On 2004-08-24, stuart noble shady location, unhappy customer.......

Premixed I'm afraid :(

I'll try the "plenty" approach tonight. If that doesn't work - in 2 days time - I'll no more nails the adhesive on the back of the tile from when it falls off to the damn wall :)

Cheers Dan.