New member - travertine advice

[keothedog]

Hi all
I,m a keen DIYer and need some help. I,m currently in the process of redecorating the main bathroom and have just got to the part I,ve not been looking forward too - the tiling. In a moment of madness I decided to tile the bathroom using travertine. Having now read many of the comments about fitting travertine I am not very confident that this was a good idea. Ive bought 600x400x12 for the walls and 400x400x12 for the floor. The walls were plastered approx 2months ago and have been sealed and the floor has new floor boards with 18mm WPB secured every 200mm with stainless screws. I,ve fitted a Devimat floor heating system and primed the WPB with 4-1 PVA and covered with latex floor leveller.
Questions:-
I,m only tiling to a height of 1.2m around the wall - will there still be a problem regarding the weight of the tiles on the plaster.
The company I bought the tiles from have supplied me with white Magicbond Porcelain adhesive for both the walls and floor and magicbond flexible grout. Are these suitable for the job or should I replace it with something like Bal.
I,ve got a wet cutter but the turbo diamond blade still chips the tile along the edge of the cut edge. As Ive got a couple of external corners to tile is it ok to butt the tiles together rather than mitre. I really dont want to use plastic tile edges.
Any advice would be much appeciated
Lee

 

[DHTiling]

the weight issue is a conflicting matter but will be ok in this instance...shouldn't really have primed the wpb with PVA but never mind you have levelled it know...
just but joint the corners it will look ok....dont forget to seal the travertine before you grout and after.......good luck.............dave....

 

[keothedog]

Many thanks for the advice Dave. I,ll start tomorrow.

 

[DHTiling]

no probs..anytime............dave..

 

[Varley]

Welcome to the forums and good luck with the job

 

[McP77]

I'm not looking to contradict DH but not convinced on the weight on this one. As the walls have been plastered you can only put a weight of 20kg per square metre on them, including adhesive and grout. In my experience a 12mm natural stone tile is usually too heavy for this. For the sake of safety put some on the bathroom scales to check.

 

[DHTiling]

Anybody with loads of experience will know that this weight issue by bsi is only a guide line and not a regulation.. as long as you are not drastically over exceeding these then dont worry....too many people quote bsi and dont really know what will work and what wont.....dave.....

 

[GazTech]

Hi all
I,m a keen DIYer and need some help. I,m currently in the process of redecorating the main bathroom and have just got to the part I,ve not been looking forward too - the tiling. In a moment of madness I decided to tile the bathroom using travertine. Having now read many of the comments about fitting travertine I am not very confident that this was a good idea. Ive bought 600x400x12 for the walls and 400x400x12 for the floor. The walls were plastered approx 2months ago and have been sealed and the floor has new floor boards with 18mm WPB secured every 200mm with stainless screws. I,ve fitted a Devimat floor heating system and primed the WPB with 4-1 PVA and covered with latex floor leveller.
Questions:-
I,m only tiling to a height of 1.2m around the wall - will there still be a problem regarding the weight of the tiles on the plaster.
The company I bought the tiles from have supplied me with white Magicbond Porcelain adhesive for both the walls and floor and magicbond flexible grout. Are these suitable for the job or should I replace it with something like Bal.
I,ve got a wet cutter but the turbo diamond blade still chips the tile along the edge of the cut edge. As Ive got a couple of external corners to tile is it ok to butt the tiles together rather than mitre. I really dont want to use plastic tile edges.
Any advice would be much appeciated
Lee

Provided that the walls are well plaster bonded 60x40 is fine.Use powder adhesive on wall,and flexi grout(I prefer BAL,read the instructions,if comprehensivley cheaper then question) Remove turbo blade and fit standard diamond wheel,seal as Dave sais before grouting.Trims for external are available at 12.5mm in metal range to suit Travertine or grout colour.

 

[McP77]

Nice little dig.

"The plasterwork should be firmly bonded to its background and sufficiently strong to support the specified tiling. The maximum weight of tiling which can be supported by a dry, firmly adhered plaster background is 20kg per m2, generally equivalent to ceramic tiles with a thickness of 8mm or natural stone tiles with a thickness of 7mm."

I'm not going to offer any other comment.