Advice for mosaic and porcelain Page: 2

[MTiler]

Use a decent adhesive and mosaics wont slip. If mosaics are thinner than field tiles use a thin sheet of backer board to bring substrate out so mosaics end up flush. Those plastic backer sheets are a pain and can make it messy.

 

[MTiler]

Thankyou all.

The mosaic (not bought yet) are 300 x 300mm and have a mesh back. Is Mapei P10 appropriate for such a mosaic?

I've thought about maybe using a flat metallic edging strip to run down both edges of the mosaics to accommodate the thickness issue and also any slight irregularity in alignment at the edges of the mosaics. I'd them tile the porcelain against that edge. My wife saw something similar in Porcelanosa and liked the effect.

I think it might be worth screwing some of the cement board up in the garage and fixing a few mosaics just to check there's no effect on the colouring of the glass.

Thanks again

P 10 should be fine, it can be used with different materials. Just check spec sheet on Mapei website.

 

[Sludd]

So - a change of plan.

We were at Porcelanosa at the weekend to buy the tiles and she saw these ceramic tiles she wants instead of the mosaic & porcelain plan.

She now wants these ceramic tiles that are 1000 x 333mm, so basically, on the walls of the quadrant enclosure, I would only need one tile (horizontally) per wall as it's a 1000mm quadrant.

Given this very large format, the fact that they are ceramic and no need to consider mosaics any more, is there now a different adhesive that I should be considering for the job?

Also, each of the walls has a slight dip towards the middle. So half way from the corner to the outside of the 1000mm enclosure, the wall dips inwards by about 5mm on one wall and about 3mm on the other.

Should I be considering using some adhesive to "flatten" the walls and letting it set before fixing the tiles, or can I just catch this dip with the adhesive at the time of tiling the walls?

 

[Dumbo]

No , you still should use a good quality flexible adhesive . It would be best for you to try and skim some of the dip out with adhesive .

 

[Sludd]

Thankyou

Just use a plasterer's darby to skim the dip?

And I assume, once that adhesive dries, it won't affect the adhesion of the tiles being laid on top of that dried adhesive?

A skim layer might also help a little to make sure I get full adhesive coverage anyway, from a waterproofing point of view - or am I overthinking now...

 

[GoneGuy]

As @jcrtiling mentioned, also consider using a standard set or semi rapid adhesive

 

[Flintstone]

I'm glad you have steered away from the mosaic band which is in my opinion, old fashioned ! I know the porcelanosa tiles you are referring to as I'm fitting some myself in a few weeks. I would make the wall as good as possible before starting to avoid having to try and build out adhesive etc. Standard setting s1 adhesive will be a good all rounder for you.

 

[Dumbo]

I'm glad you have steered away from the mosaic band which is in my opinion, old fashioned ! I know the porcelanosa tiles you are referring to as I'm fitting some myself in a few weeks. I would make the wall as good as possible before starting to avoid having to try and build out adhesive etc. Standard setting s1 adhesive will be a good all rounder for you.

I agree with you as old fashioned , if the tile shop think their tiles are boring and need dressing up they shouldn't be selling them , personally I think they only do it to make extra money because I'm sure the margins are better maybe not percentage wise but certainly in monetary value .

 

[Sludd]

Thanks guys - my previous reply had to be approved by a moderator, so you may have missed it - I've pasted it below just in case:

Just use a plasterer's darby to skim the dip?

And I assume, once that adhesive dries, it won't affect the adhesion of the tiles being laid on top of that dried adhesive? Should I create a keyed surface??

A skim layer might also help a little to make sure I get full adhesive coverage anyway, from a waterproofing point of view - or am I overthinking now...