Help!!!!!

[Marknpo]

Hey everyone, here's hoping someone can help me!In the process of doing up my sons flat, new bathroom/plasterboard walls.Bought large, 340 x 485 ceramic tiles and unibond rapid set adhesive (powder stuff) earlier this week and made a start tonight. With it being new plasterboard didn't treat or seal it, mixed the unibond as per the instructions and fitted the tiles.Half a wall later, looking good......only to find that when I tried the pull test, they all eventually came clea off the adhesive which had semi set on the wall......tiles had left indentations non the trowel lines but came off almost spotless.Was it me trying to save pennies with the cheap unibond??????Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Ian]

Did you backskim the tiles or just trowel the adhesive onto the walls?

 

[kilty55]

maybe the adhesive was too dry,did you press and twist them into the adhesive

 

[Marknpo]

Hi, just trowel the walls and pressed each tile against the adhesive, didn't press too hard as was worried that tiles would be uneven?

 

[Marknpo]

Didn't twist the tiles I must admit and stuff was quite thick to put on.......my mate has said that I should have used a flexible adhesive and that unibond is rubbish?

 

[Ian]

Sounds like a combination of a few things, not pressing the tile into the adhesive hard enough (the ribs on the adhesive should be completely compressed to give you a solid bed of adhesive), always trowel the rear of the tile with the flat side of your trowel so you are sticking adhesive to adhesive and all the voids in the rear of the tile are filled, and as Kilty said, maybe the adhesive mix was a little dry.

 

[Marknpo]

So the unibond stuff is okay?, I see a lot of members mentioning Mapei, Bal etc?y

 

[Marknpo]

I was under the impression that the adhesive at the back was left ribbed to allow air through to assist drying or does this only apply for water based adhesives?u

 

[Ian]

Powdered adhesives set chemically and don't require air. Dispersion adhesives (ready mixed) do require air to set but, you should still be aiming for a solid bed of adhesive even when using this adhesive type. This is why it is recommended that when using dispersion adhesives, the tile should be no greater than 300x300mm in size, and should not have a bed depth of more than 3-6mm, depending on manufacturer.


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[Brian the Tile]

it sounds to me that the adhesive had started to set or skin over as you started to fix the tiles so no bond was made ,no need to back skim the tiles in my opinion that had nothing at all to do with it ,iff the adhesive is not right the tiles wont stick

 

[Perry]

sounds like you pulled it off before it was fully set and broke the bond

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

sound like a combo of all the above, i like to back skimm the tile as well as i see this can only be a good practice ,and you can see if your adhesive is right straight -away as it stick's like ---- to a blanket, lol......get a professional in to do the job and be safe.......

 

[Brian the Tile]

nothing wrong with back skimming the tile but its just something thats ok if you have all the time in the world or doing the job yourself but as i said no need to do it and that is not the reason that the tiles did not stick,i also agree to get a pro in and then you will be sure the job will be done right with non of the hasstle that you are having,good luck with whatever you decide

 

[Marknpo]

Thanks for all the responses guys, meant to say that I have tiled for quite a few years but not a pro tiler and have never had this problem before, have never ever buttered tiles, just skimmed the wall and fitted the tiles.

I'm going to have another bash tonight, trowelling the wall and buttering the back of the tiles (only going to do two) and I'll see how I get on.

If this doesn't work, the remaining bags of uni are going back and I'll get some decent adhesive!

 

[Discount Tile Supplies]

Mark

Is it the Unibond rapid set floor tile adhesive from B and Q in a red bag?