Adhesive not set after a week.....

[Mammamia]

Well, we have a progress update of sorts....

We took all the tiles up (some were easier than others) and it looks like we have saved most of them, which is great news. B&Q also agreed to refund the cost of the tubbed adhesive so at least we're not out of pocket in that area.

We had a couple of tilers round to quote and it looks like we can't afford to get the work done by a tiler so we're back to DIY (I do wish this wasn't the case, but there you go).

The big challenge now is that the floor is covered with the dry adhesive and it's rock hard. We managed to get most of it up when we lifted the tiles (it was still mostly soft) but there is a thin dry layer over most of the tiles which is quite powdery in texture and in several areas there are hard lumps of adhesive which are very hard to remove, even with a spade (so at least we know that the old adhesive really was "extra strong":smilewinkgrin.

We have spent the last two evenings trying to chip it off with limited success so went to a specialist tile shop and they suggested we do our best to remove the biggest lumps, seal the floor with a PVA sealer and then re-lay the tiles using the new adhesive and it should be OK.

Before we make another massive amateur mistake, does this sound like the right thing to do?

Thanks again for all your help so far,

MM

 

[jimbob]

Don't use PVA, use an acrylic primer or SBR primer for the floor

 

[jay]

deffo dont pva you could hire a large grinder to etch floor back and maybe a smaller grinder to remove adh from tiles :8:

 

[Deleted member 9966]

I'm with Jay on this one. Do what you can to get the lumps down. A wire brush head attachment on a drill or angle grinder is a good option, or you could try using a sander. Or the old fashioned way is to chip it off, bolster/chisel and a hammer.

Get it as flat as you can but it's worth remembering that the new adhesive you will put down will need to be around 8mm or more deep for your floor tiles so this should cover any stubborn small peaks you haven't been able to knock off the floor.

When you say you took up all the tiles, did you take up the old ones that were already down too?

 

[Mammamia]

No, sorry - the original tiles are still down. We just took up the new ones which came up quite easily as suggested above.

So the advice is to grind the lumps down as well as possible, clean, then seal with an acrylic primer before relaying the tiles?

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Yep, that's correct. Use a flexible cement based adhesive. Are the old tiles glazed?

 

[Mammamia]

Thank you. Yes, the old tiles are glazed. Why do we need a flexible adhesive?

 

[jimbob]

You need a flexi adhesive because the tiles are porcelain. Flexi adhesive will have a stronger grip which is needed for porcelain tiles

 

[Mammamia]

Thanks very much again everyone.

 

[Mammamia]

Right, we're armed with chisels, stiff brushes, vacuum cleaners, lots of resolve, acrylic floor sealant and several 20kg bags of this broken link removed

Let's hope we can get it right this time!

Thanks again for all help.

 

[Mammamia]

Well, it looks like the children will have to go without presents this Christmas as there's no way we can do this ourselves (I can hear all the people out there saying "you don't say.....":smilewinkgrin

Anyway, I have just put a new thread in the "tiler needed" forum (it's not appeared yet but I assume it needs to be moderated), but if anyone is in the mid/south Cheshire area (near Sandbach) and is interested in quoting to finish this job then please PM me, if that's not breaking the rules.

Thanks again for all the good advice in this thread, hope to hear from you.

 

[DHTiling]

Your post is viewable...and again thanks for offering the work to members on tilersforums..

 

[Mammamia]

Hi all, just a note to say that the floor has now been done by a forum member (not sure if I'm allowed to name him here?) and he did a great job. I'll try and post some pictures later in the week.

Thanks again all,

MM

 

[jay]

thats good news glad its sorted i cant see any probs with naming your tiler so go for it:8:

 

[White Room]

Glad it worked out for you, as above