Hi, I have just finished tiling the kitchen and will be moving onto the bathroom.
I notice for tiling bathroom walls my adhesive specifies to use a solid bed so there are no voids.
For the kitchen floor we useds a 10mm notched trowel and combed through the adhesive.
So does a solid bed mean I use a flat edges trowel to put adhesive on and dont comb through any grooves?
I imagine it must be more difficult to judge the right thickness of adhesive this way also?
Yes, you treat it like you are skim plastering with the stuff. Once it is on and level(ish) you can also use the grooved trowel to make ribs (ribs make it easier to bed the tile on) - but unlike normal you don't push it right through to the base.
Note that you only really need to use this technique in wet service areas. So fine for the shower walls, but no necessary for the remainder of the bathroom.
It is a little - but not much. It is also partly why its a good idea to stick ribs on top, since it gives you a bit more latitude when pushing the tiles home to get them level with each other.
Cheers for clarifying that :-)
No, it means that you apply a thickness of adhesive, typically 4-6mm and lightly comb the surface. The idea is that air does not get trapped behind the adhesive giving maximum contact area and leaving no voids which fail to support the tile under point loads. For uneven floors, the thickness can be increased locally to the maximum specified by the manufacturer. As you are not a professional tiler, if this is the case, patching the floor with PVA/mortar at least a day before is the easy route to follow.
John Schmitt
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