Lost In The Adhesive/Grout Wilderness

[jaydebruyne]

I'm doing a job for a mate and re-tiling the walls in her bathroom.

They are 20x25cm white ceramic tiles.

They will be bonded to hardiebacker board, roughly 6m2.

What is the most cost effective, decent adhesive/grout to use in a shower/bath area?

Do I need to use an adhesive with a colour that matches the tile colour? And the same with grout? Does the grout also need to be waterproof/flexible like the adhesive? Does the grout need treating after application?

I've read so many posts on this stuff that I'm now lost!!!

Any help is extremely gratefully received. Budget is not on her side so ideally, a decent enough adhesive/grout that won't break the bank.

Cheers
Jay

 

[White Room]

A single part flexible to stick the tiles, if using a light grout then go for a white adhesive, if going the darker grout route then a grey adhesive.

 

[jaydebruyne]

Are there any brands to steer clear from? There is a 'no nonsense' brand adhesive from screwfix that has good reviews.. Is cheap as chips. Is it wiser to go for a bigger brand?

 

[jollyroger]

As above...A good single part flexible adhesive and a flexible grout. I would go for Mapei P9 Adesilex which has 8 hour pot life, and Mapei Ultracolour Plus. I know budget is tight but my advice is get a good quality addy and grout. Not essential that you seal the grout but it won't do any harm if you do, just make sure you push the grout in really well around the shower area.

 

[Stef]

I was using P9 today on a marble kitchen splash back, hadn't used it for a while but It's a good adhesive with a great pot life & CTD are doing a good deal on it just now.
I personally like Bal wall grout, easy to mix & easy to use.

 

[Rookery]

I'd use Mapei P9 white and Bal microflex white.

 

[jaydebruyne]

I was using P9 today on a marble kitchen splash back, hadn't used it for a while but It's a good adhesive with a great pot life & CTD are doing a good deal on it just now.
I personally like Bal wall grout, easy to mix & easy to use.

I've just had a look at the CTD site, I can't see the price as not a member :/ I've just applied for a log in but takes a couple days. But thanks for the recommendation Stef, much appreciated

 

[Stef]

I've just had a look at the CTD site, I can't see the price as not a member :/ I've just applied for a log in but takes a couple days. But thanks for the recommendation Stef, much appreciated

Get yourself an account as they do some cracking deals now & again..

 

[Qwerty]

P9 is a great adhesive as is Weber set plus. Both are very similar to each other and are perfect for your requirements
Weber joint pro white grout would be my choice

 

[jaydebruyne]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate the help! :hurray:

 

[White Room]

Ultra single part flex is good adhesive as well....

 

[jaydebruyne]

Ultra single part flex is good adhesive as well....

Who makes that one Whitebeam?

 

[White Room]

http://www.ultratileadhesives.co.uk/products.jsp?productCategoryID=11

 

[jaydebruyne]

http://www.ultratileadhesives.co.uk/products.jsp?productCategoryID=11

Cheers mate I'll look into it

 

[Andy Allen]

Lol ask ten tilers about adhesive and grout and you will probably get ten different answers..

Mapie
Weber
Bal
Tilemaster
Ardex
Are all good makes. I would go to a tile shop to get it and avoid the diy sheds..

 

[Ajax123]

Don't use premixed tubbed adhesive, although i did in my bathroom 18 years ago and it's still stuck fine...it was hard and messy work... Having used powdered since I wouldn't go back.

 

[jaydebruyne]

Lol ask ten tilers about adhesive and grout and you will probably get ten different answers..

Mapie
Weber
Bal
Tilemaster
Ardex
Are all good makes. I would go to a tile shop to get it and avoid the diy sheds..

Haha I'm learning that it's a very subjective area!! I'm thinking of going the P9 route as this seems to be a recommendation by a few people.

Topps are stupidly expensive for adhesive.. Or they seem it. Do you know of any reasonable stockists in London?

 

[jaydebruyne]

Don't use premixed tubbed adhesive, although i did in my bathroom 18 years ago and it's still stuck fine...it was hard and messy work... Having used powdered since I wouldn't go back.

Is it worth buying a mixer rod to stick on my drill or will a stick be ok? (Sorry for the stupid question!)

 

[jaydebruyne]

I've decided to go with 20kg Mapei P9 and 5kg ultracolour 100. Found it pretty cheap on Tile Mountain

 

[Qwerty]

I have had to amend your post above as no prices allowed in the open forums I'm afraid. If you are trade then I thoroughly recommend you set up trade accounts to benefit from better prices.

 

[jaydebruyne]

I have had to amend your post above as no prices allowed in the open forums I'm afraid. If you are trade then I thoroughly recommend you set up trade accounts to benefit from better prices.

Sorry, no problem. I'll bear it in mind for future posts.

I've applied for a couple of trade accounts this week with Topps and CTD. Do you know of any other decent merchants in London?

 

[TJ Smiler]

Use a whisk (a decent one) in your drill, mix on a low speed setting........ Dont use a stick mate. In terms of adhesive all of the ones mentioned are good products but we all have personal favorites and this is often due to who stocks what closest to where we live, for me it's Weber on everything and that is partly because it's easy for me to get hold of and partly because i am now so used to it i know how it works best.

Just for your knowledge Topps own stuff is a good product too.

 

[Stef]

Use a whisk (a decent one) in your drill, mix on a low speed setting........ Dont use a stick mate. In terms of adhesive all of the ones mentioned are good products but we all have personal favorites and this is often due to who stocks what closest to where we live, for me it's Weber on everything and that is partly because it's easy for me to get hold of and partly because i am now so used to it i know how it works best.

Just for your knowledge Topps own stuff is a good product too.

TJ, what is Topps own brand adhesive & is it ok?
I've just been asked to finish off a site for a company (36 houses) & they use Topps for everything, I had to use a 2 part adhesive last week to fix quartz & flung most of it away as it was a rapid set, it came in its own bucket.

 

[White Room]

Topps own stuff is Palace....

 

[TJ Smiler]

Yeah it's Palace. I'm talking about there Rapid and Standard set Flex in both white and grey (TopFix) is good gear mate. I aint used the two part i'm afraid but i can vouch for Topfix. I am a big Weber fan but have recently moved so it's now too far for me to go. Have been using Topps stuff on about 90% of my work and can honestly say i can't really fault it.