Hi
Need to tile a wall thats always wet. Yes, drying it would be ideal, no, its not practical.
I've got some of this, would it do the job?
cheers, NT
Why is it always wet ....where is the wall situated ?
PS Would like to get this done asap, ie tomorrow if poss.
Dunno what the dunlop one is, but I wouild have though you'd want a cement-based adhesive (not pre-mixed) that will set on a wet surface. And a good key on the surface - dig out some mortar between bricks etc. Simon.
What's the wall surface (I presume not gypsum plaster)?
Is there pressure behind the moisture (e.g. a celler below the water table), or just penetrating damp with no significant pressure behind it?
I'm guessing you might do better with just a strong sand and cement mix, depending on the wall surface. That won't mind being wet, but I suspect most of the bonding agents in tile adhesives (the glue) won't work at all if kept wet, and is likely to make the adhesive weaker than it would have been without the bonding, which basically leaves you with just [fine] sand and cement. Could add a combined waterproofer/plasticiser too.
If there is pressure behind the moisture, then you may have to tank the wall first, or it will ultimately push the tiles off, and I doubt you'll manage to get the tiles act as tanking for any length of time.
Tile adhesive is water based so won't object to a bit extra surface moisture providing, as you say, it's not coming from within the surface you're tiling
,
The water is meeting the tiles from behind, but at a slow enough rate that I dont think it would push them off - there is an area at the bottom it can escape. I think Andrews right about going with sand & cement, I dont really feel like chancing it with the dunlop stuff. I'll check more thoroughly when I do it but I'm pretty sure the wall surface is good and sound, so it cant really be gypsum. The wall is porous enough for the bottom drainage to handle the water ok.
Thanks everyone, can get on with it now!
NT
Tiling this wall will reduce the opportunities for water to escape and quite possibly build up pressure that will dislodge the tiles over time.
I think you should deal properly with the water before even thinking about tiling the wall. But then I would, wouldn't I?
,
Getting the sand and cement to stick to the wall might be a challenge. Normally, one would wash over the wall with dilute PVA, but that's going to be a disaster here. I might be inclined to brush over with a thinned cement wash, a few minutes before applying the sand and cement. That's a good way to get sand and cement to stick to surfaces which it otherwise might not, as long as it doesn't leave the wall too wet.
Note that the sand and cement will take much longer to set than a normal tile adhesive with bonding in it, and when it isn't quite set, I suspect tiles will easily pull away. I wouldn't dream of touching it (e.g. for grouting) for at least a week, or two or more weeks if you can. It takes about
6 weeks to reach full strength, although you can probably get away without waiting that long if you're very careful.Depending on what the tile backs are like, the same cement wash trick might be useful on them.
I haven't tried this myself -- just extraplorating from one or two vaguely similar things I've done in the past.
Many years ago, I had to tile a wall in a steam room. Other people had tried various tiling adhesives, and they all failed.
I stripped off all the old tiles, pva'd the wall and used swimming pool tile adhesive (cement based) and swimming pool grout.
It did the job.
Rick... (The other Rick)
Science and sound engineering will always prevail in the end "for nature cannot be fooled" [Feynman]
various tiling
adhesive (cement based)
But in a steam room the moisture is on the tile side, not coming from behind them. In the latter case I don't think one stands a chance in hell of getting tiles to stick
I agree.
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