Fixing wall tiles - coverage

[norman]

Hello,
My bathroom tiles are 250x400mm and the walls are made of brick
I noticed that the tiler "buttered" the back of the tiles to place them on the wall but (at least while I was watching) did not appear to also spread the adhesive on the wall.
However, from what I can gather from my reading on the internet, the normal procedure seems to be to put adhesive both on the wall and then, sometimes, also butter the back of the tile (e.g. for larger tiles).
Any comments on this would be appreciated.
Is there a reason why someone would butter only and not spread adhesive on the wall as well e.g. the walls are very uneven? And is it likely to result in cracked / falling off tiles?
Thanks

 

[kilty55]

are your tiles fixed directly to bricks?

 

[norman]

Hi,
Thanks for responding. As you can see, I don't know much about tiling. It's great there are forums like this to visit.
The history is - the house is double brick and was built in about 1970. We just took out the original bathroom and those tiles appeared to have been stuck on with a sort of concrete mix. After the tiles were ripped off, the tiler painted a grey-looking paint on to the walls before sticking the tiles on. I'm sorry but I don't know the correct term for that grey-looking paint!
Once again, thanks for your help and apologies for my lack of technical knowledge!

 

[doug boardley]

the grey looking paint sounds like a tanking agent, which is a good thing!. Why are you doubting you're tiler if you don't mind me asking?

 

[norman]

The instructions for tiling that I have come across on the internet generally seem to advise that the way to fix wall tiles is to apply adhesive to the wall with a trowel and that buttering is a useful "extra" thing to do if, for example, you have a large tile or a cut tile or a tile in an awkward place like around a tap.
However, perhaps I am misunderstanding the information I have been reading or perhaps things can be different in reality for a number of reasons, which is why I thought I would pose the question to people with expertise.
Thanks again for helping.

 

[david campbell]

if he's using a cement based adhesive then as long as the tiling looks good then theres no problem!

 

[norman]

I'm not sure what was used but thanks for letting me know that.

 

[grumpygrouter]

Buttering the tile is a slower method of doing the work but should not be a problem as long as he has buttered the tiles sufficiently with adhesive. Buttering the wall is quicker because you can trowel a larger area and apply more tiles in a given time.

 

[Fred]

Ardex's new tanking system is a greyish-black colour, could have been that he used.

 

[Lucas 2]

grumpygrouter put it perfectly!