Mucked up my half-bond... d'oh!!!

[Gross Loydman]

Aargh! I tiled most of the wall above my bath yesterday, and, upon surveying my work this morning, realised that when I carried the half-bond around the corner of the room, I started with a half-tile where it should have been a full one (half-tile?!?!? why!!!!!!!!).


So what to do now? I'm a bit of a perfectionist so loath to leave it as it is, but I suspect that remedying it is going to be difficult. There are 15 offending tiles, 40x30 ceramics, laid onto No More Ply with Mapei flexible rapidset (which was also used to fix the NMP onto the breezeblock wall). I'm presuming that a bolster chisel and club hammer is the order of the day to get them off, but I'd like them to come off intact if possible, and I don't want to annoy the neighbours any more than I already have... is there no way other than the chisel? (I'm prepared to put the time in to sort it out, however long it takes). I'm also concerned that the act of levering the tiles off might compromise the adhesion between the NMP and the breezeblock...?

First ever tiling attempt so don't be too harsh on me... I'm annoyed enough with myself as it is. (But, as they say, experience is the name we give our mistakes... or summat...)

(PS I'm going to have a 1 tile high shelf at the end of the bath to take up the gap between the end of the bath and the wall, which will leave only the 2 'offending' tile lines you can see in the pic which don't continue the half-bond properly, plus another half-tile at the top of the wall, so maybe it wouldn't look too bad...?)

 

[Gross Loydman]

Quick update... I tried prising a couple of the tiles off the wall, and they came off without too much difficulty to be honest... just needed to get the chisel a decent way under the tile, angled it, heard the 'snap' of the addy breaking, and the tile came away intact. Which is quite a relief cos it means I'll be able to get the layout right! And it does enable me to see the bed that I achieved, which is interesting to see. I've actually attached pics of the bed left on the wall, and the addy left on one of the tiles, to canvass opinion as to whether the bed was sufficient. Bear in mind that these tiles will be next to the shower, so will be subject to occasional soaking. I wasn't planning on tanking (yeah, yeah, I know) since it's only a small flat and won't be subject to intensive use. Plus I hoped that NMP and Mapei flexible grout and addy would be a decent enough combination not to need it...

Opinions welcome.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

It doesn't look as though you have achieved a 100% coverage on the back of the tile!
A red biscuit tile has a tendency to be a bit dusty and dry, so you may find that by 'flat backing' the tile with a coat of adhesive it will provide you with a more comprehensive fixing method.

 

[Gross Loydman]

Thanks for the input John. So the standard is for 100% coverage for wet areas then? Should I be using a different trowel? I've been using the Ragni 409S (8006415081124 at B+Q), 8mm U-shaped notches. Is that appropriate? Surely it's going to be hard to achieve 100% using any notched trowel though?!?!?

 

[White Room]

I be back buttering your tiles as well

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Your trowel size is correct.
Don't forget to push the tile into the adhesive with a twisting motion and with the added 'flat backed' skim this will provide your full bonding.