bal or mapei?

[Time's Ran Out]

After sand and cement Building Adhesives Limited introduced BAL TAD to the ready mix tile adhesive industry and it was like metal - in colour and strength!
It really had no competition until a white adhesive was developed which made joint cleaning easier.
Other adhesive manufacturers developed new products with admixes for flexibility etc and these pushed the prices of adhesive to over £30-35 a unit.
Today adhesive costs are exceptionaly competitive and allow the fixing of tiles within acceptable budgets.
Its thanks to companies like Mapei who provide an excellent product that can be used with confidence that ultimately allow cost effective installation of wall and floor tiles.

 

[bootsmckiber]

Is that 30-35 quid for a 50lb bag,if so all I can say is holy crap,we pay about 10 quid for a bag(50lb)of mapei ultraflex two.Mike

 

[westerhopetiles]

Since i started tiling nearly 2 years ago i have always used bal products from my local topps.I have used many of there products from green star ,grip,gold star to name a few it was my tutor in college who recommended bal and have been impressed with there products. i did use webber and dunlop on seperate ocassions and didnt find there products to be as good as bals.Ino a lot of tilers have started using mapei products and was wondering what the tilers on here think of there products adhesives grouts etc...?

hello mate bal /ardex /mapei and weber all are great but give weber set plus a go it is great stuff for the price

 

[brian c]

i tried the webber stuff just before christmas and liked it..good grab..i think i made a thread about it but cant be sure.

 

[kev]

dont mind the mapei adhesives but i find their grout difficult to use , it doesnt seen to have that 'stickiness' for want of a better word, where by with the bal you can stick it to the wall as you use it, without it all dropping to the floor, i know you cant with the wide joint, but the microflex is good stuff, maybe im wrong but every time ive had to use mapei grout its felt and acted lake a wide joint.

 

[bigregrout]

bal are dick turpin of tile world. stick with webber or benfer for good value

 

[westerhopetiles]

Mapei products are technically as good if not better (in certain instances) than BAL but at a much lower cost (if you know where to go)
20 years ago there was only BAL and Ardex and that was pretty much who everyone used - with the odd splattering of a poor Mapei range and Laticrete, etc. However IMO BAL/Ardex got lazy and rested on their laurels, whereas firms like Mapei invested a fortune in R&D/Staff which has paid off over and over again, resulting in them leaving BAL in their wake

here here mapei is great but weber is great aswell

 

[Peter]

Don't really get on with Mapei at all. Don't mind using Keraquick, D1 or Tradeplan, but find Keraflex Maxi to be poor as a wall adhesive compared to other brands which I can source cheaper. Wouldn't have Ultracolour about me.

Some people rant and rave about Mapei but it's pretty overrated to me, and I feel that I can get better adhesives for less money.

Wouldn't really use Mapei or Bal that much these days, but if I was choosing a brand for an entire job, it'd be Bal. Neither would be my first choice, however.

 

[Stephen@Weber]

Both have good products but some of BAL's new products seem a bit strange to me, I just don't see the point.

 

[Rich]

Mapei ALL the way for me!!!