Hi. I am a retired guy (philip) thinking of marble tiling the bathroom

[philip.surdival]

Having had a guy with 40 years experience in to re-tile the bathroom in marble the tiles started to fall off within a couple of days. He used two part adhesive onto a plaster base but the adhesive appeared to reject the tile. Any advice would be welcome as I don't fancy a 5-6 Kg tile falling on my head whilst bathing.

 

[Gazzer]

Hi philip.surdival and welcome to tilersforums.com

 

[Bubblecraft]

Hi & welcome to the forum. First & foremost, you have tile weight issues with your substrate. A plasterboard wall can take up to 32kg pm2. A plaster skim greatly reduces this to 20kg pm2. Depending on the thickness of your marble, you are greatly exceeding these weights. For example, with adhesive & grout, tile weights are as follows:
10mm Stone - 31.10kg pm2
12 mm Stone - 36.48kg pm2
20mm Stone - 58.00kg pm2
I would sort your substrate before commencing any further. Hardibacker is the direction I would be heading.
What did your tiler have to say about the tiles falling off?

 

[Ian]

Welcome along to TF. So the adhesive has adhered to the wall but not the tile. Do you know which adhesive was used and can you post a couple of pictures please?

 

[Bubblecraft]

As above

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

:welcome:to the forum philip as above pic's please, the tile not adhering might be for any number of reasons!! dusty tile back,dirty tile back,adhesive to dry, adhesive Not mechanically bonded to tile, wrong adhesive , loads pics please

 

[philip.surdival]

Hi Bubblecraft. Many thanks for the information. There are three substrates that the tiler has been working onto. The floor is ply (I believe 15mm), two walls are standard plaster from the original 60s build and two are non-skimmed plasterboard (dry-line). The tiles are Mira Grey Marble 61x30.5x1cm (from Prestige Stone). The given weight is 20.4 kgs covering 0.774 pm2 working out at 26.35 without adhesive and grout. Since the mishap I have told him I wish to go down the Hardibacker route. All surfaces were treated with PU prior to tiling which was carried out using Toppfix rapid set two part adhesive applied with dot and dab. Within less than 6 hours, tiles started falling. On inspection the tiler claimed that there had been an adverse reaction between the resin backing on the tile and the adhesive used resulting in tile rejecting the adhesive. The floor was laid on a combed adhesive bed but again there was non-adhesion. With this being a bathroom installation would you still recommend Hardibacker or a material more water resistant? Once more many thanks for your response. Philip

 

[philip.surdival]

Hi and thanks for the reply. Yes - I do have some not very pretty pictures but don't know how to upload them here. As soon as I learn - I will do so. But in the meanwhile all I can say is that the dabs have adhered (mostly) to the substrate/s but rejected the tile. With time some of the dabs have been dropping. Mostly they are attached firmly enough to damage the plaster when trying to get them off. There appears to be shrinkage on the dabs as they are quite 'crazed' as in land that has dried out. But a few photos will sort that one out .

 

[philip.surdival]

Hi Bri. Thanx for coming back to me - the adhesive used was Toppfix 2 part quick set. The container states it to be suitable for marble and natural stone. As I have said else-where I need to learn how to upload photos and will do so ASAP. Once more many thanks for responding.

 

[White Room]

Hi Bubblecraft. Many thanks for the information. There are three substrates that the tiler has been working onto. The floor is ply (I believe 15mm), two walls are standard plaster from the original 60s build and two are non-skimmed plasterboard (dry-line). The tiles are Mira Grey Marble 61x30.5x1cm (from Prestige Stone). The given weight is 20.4 kgs covering 0.774 pm2 working out at 26.35 without adhesive and grout. Since the mishap I have told him I wish to go down the Hardibacker route. All surfaces were treated with PU prior to tiling which was carried out using Toppfix rapid set two part adhesive applied with dot and dab. Within less than 6 hours, tiles started falling. On inspection the tiler claimed that there had been an adverse reaction between the resin backing on the tile and the adhesive used resulting in tile rejecting the adhesive. The floor was laid on a combed adhesive bed but again there was non-adhesion. With this being a bathroom installation would you still recommend Hardibacker or a material more water resistant? Once more many thanks for your response. Philip

Is PV as in PVA......And did he dot and dab the tiles with adhesive onto the walls....Just trying to get my head round it.

 

[steveaykroyd]

hi there, i would use flexible standard setting adhesive.(topps tiles do a good one) on marble tiles. makesure you damp sponge to take the chalk from the back of the tile. this could be the reason the adhesive rejected the tile and fell off hope this helps you regards steve