What adhesive and grout for translucent wall tiles?

[rrh]

I want to put ten mega-expensive such tiles above a sink as a splashback, on a plaster wall. They are essentially coloured glass, though in some cases with painted or fired-on opaque decoration. The wall is painted a neutral colour. The wall or whatever is under the tiles will show through them, at least in places. If I am forced to choose a coloured adhesive and grout I will probably go for grey, making sure the tiles are fully bedded in with zero air gaps in the adhesive. But what I would really like is something colourless. The tiles would be in two rows of five with the lower row supported by the washbasin. Is clear sanitary silicone, used as both adhesive and grout, a real no-no in these circumstances? The shop can't help.

[John Schmitt]

Silicone chemically bonds to glass, so no problem that side, it also sticks reasonably well to plaster, but due to its low modulus will not technically satisfy BS5980. Your big problem IMHO, is getting a bubble-free layer behind the tiles. I expect whether the bubbles are tile side or wall side they will show. As you are probably aware, silicone is awkward stuff to work with. My best suggestions are to use a paste adhesive (cement is a no-no on plaster), possibly pigmented to taste, but check with the manufacturer for compatability. Have you considered mirror corners for fixing them? Perhaps even mount a mirror and stick the tiles with a border of silicone. That might be quite attractive.

John Schmitt

[rrh]

Thanks - will consider.

[John Schmitt]

Having applied more thought to the problem, if you are sticking to mirror, the "grout lines" alone will be sufficient if they touch the mirror and edges of the tiles down the length of the gap. A bead around the outside of the edges will complete the job, but you will need to support the tiles in some way until the silicone is set. When I was in the industry we made some demonstrators for sales reps, a couple of pieces of glass bonded in the middle with transparent silicone, a bead as thick as the glass. They would fold to 180 degrees with no problem up to about 100 cycles when the silicone would start to tear. If you don't believe me make one yourself. It's a cool executive toy, a folding piece of glass.

John Schmitt