Flex adhesive failure

[john faithfull]

OK, if thats what you experts say, then I say that GRANFIX should put a warning on their bags in large capital letters to such effect.
Also define dry, left for one day in the sunshine, 10 minutes after wiping, kiln dry??? some moisture will always be present! The consequences are so awful, a simple warning on the bag would not hurt, hopefully through this website, others will not suffer as I have!

 

[charlie1]

OK, if thats what you experts say, then I say that GRANFIX should put a warning on their bags in large capital letters to such effect.
Also define dry, left for one day in the sunshine, 10 minutes after wiping, kiln dry??? some moisture will always be present! The consequences are so awful, a simple warning on the bag would not hurt, hopefully through this website, others will not suffer as I have!

sorry to hear of your failure but I think if they had to list all the fitting criteria for each type of tile on there bag then they would need a very large bag.

 

[Scott]

I back skim all tiles to ensure a good bond. I know tiles with dusty backs are a pain and must be wiped, I would tend to sort through them prior to laying anyway to pick the colours and thickness etc and wipe the backs then.

At least you have the answer

 

[steve187]

It seems that a different adhesive will be required for the re-lay, something that will allow for a thick bed, due to the differing thickness of the slate.

and please take note of the comments made by jay post number 14.

 

[ozboz]

Not good when this happens, but it would appear that the damp cloth treatment is the likley suspect for the failure, good idea to clean off the dust etc, but should have left them to dry out, as for your comments about Granfix, I never use them where I have control,and argure the point if they are supplied, I used their grout ond gave up after 10 m2 on a 250 + granite floor, apparently after my complaint went in,their MD told the shopfitters I was doing the job for that 90% of the trade uses Granfix products !!! ........Yeah .......Right .......So im not surprised at your comments Mate

 

[Daveknight]

Never had any problems with Granfix - Indeed their cheap 'Ronnie' sold at Tile Depot has always been reliable too. What subtrate you going on to? Not Anhydrite screed by any chance?

 

[kilty55]

if your tiles are lifting with no adhesive coverage then you can re use them? after removing the granfix adhesive which will be a pain at least you can re lay now with a diffeent adhesive with peace of mind now you know how to fix them this time,not really granfixs fault its incorrect fixing methods

 

[Perry]

Even if your tiles were wiped with a damp cloth if you buttered them they would have stuck but slate cannot be laid on top of standard flexible adhesive without skimming the back of the tile all adhesive companies recommend a solid bed on floor tiles the good news is you can use the tiles again so a lesson learnt find out before you rush ahead and this is the place to find out good luck : Pete. ( I would have used poribale thick bed ) and still would

 

[Dave Ramsden]

In my opinion its purely because you have been wiping the tiles. Did you rinse the rag between wipes as the more you use the same rag you would be causing a residue on the back of the tile.
Tiles should always be totally clean and dry prior to fixing and where natural stone is concerned, you should cover the back of the tile with adhesive and scrape off again before laying each tile to aid adhesion.

Mixing adhesive either with a whisk or by hand will make no difference what so ever.

 

[Dave Ramsden]

sorry to hear of your failure but I think if they had to list all the fitting criteria for each type of tile on there bag then they would need a very large bag.

This is why we are the tilers fixing tiles and the engineers are engineering stuff!

 

[marbleman]

John did you commission the floor before you installed slate as this is very import , and i would say i would recommend ditra matting over the heated floor , pain free installation but cost more to install.

hope you sort it out and just learn from the issue, i cant comment of adhesive manufactor as i dont use that product

 

[Perry]

didn't know this was a heated floor opps best to use a decoupling membrane as marbleman suggested as well

 

[DHTiling]

OK, if thats what you experts say, then I say that GRANFIX should put a warning on their bags in large capital letters to such effect.
Also define dry, left for one day in the sunshine, 10 minutes after wiping, kiln dry??? some moisture will always be present! The consequences are so awful, a simple warning on the bag would not hurt, hopefully through this website, others will not suffer as I have!

I disagree.

This is fixer error, the fixing method is knowledge by pro tilers and this is where the DIY blame anybody but themselves when their attempt at tiling fails.
Stone fixing isn't easy

 

[charlie1]

I disagree.

This is fixer error, the fixing method is knowledge by pro tilers and this is where the DIY blame anybody but themselves when their attempt at ting fails.
Stone fixing isn't easy

Couldnt have put it any better!! I get the feeling there are gonna be a lot of failures in the coming years!

 

[john faithfull]

I would like to thank all the experts for there advise, I have now refixed my tiles by
1) Mixing with a stick
2) Making sure the slate tile was dry
3) Back buttering the slate
All looks ok at the moment.
It looks like it was a fixing error, but my point is that neither the slate people I purchased it from, or the adhesive manufacturer through the instructions on the packet, or the adhesive sales rep on investigating the case afterwards said that I was doing it wrong. Hence what harm is there for the adhesive manufacturer to put a an explicit method of adhering slate tiles on the package for future diy people. I will let the slate supplier know the feedback from this website, and propose they put clearer instructions with the adhesive they recommended!