Plywood Walls

[mz30]

Personally simon I wouldn't use greenstar on a shower area full stop,whitestar at a push,but then I would make sure it was properly primed,before I touched it,but we all learn from mistakes mate,what type of ply was it by the way?

 

[mache]

Brian, how long I've been tiling is irrelevant.
Tanking was not provided or not wanted, as said, I had no input on any of the prep.
Assumed, now possibly wrongly, that Greenstar was suitable as per tech data sheet.
Would also like to mention that the bathroom hasn't been used yet, and tiling was done about 5months ago.
The end result is that I will be re-tiling, using a different adhesive, but still hoping that no PVA/sealer has been applied.

I know you state over boarding is not an option, but as a professional service surely it is the only option for you to have 100% confidence that the same episode won't occur further down the line. Is the trade price of backer boards worth the cost of reputation. You could even try and agree with client that if they cough up the over boarding costs so that a proper prep is achieved then you will cover the retile cost. Most people accept mistakes happen, what sorts the men from the boys is how that problem is handled and dealt with and if they will deal with that person again.
Just my thoughts
Martin.

 

[Brian the Tile]

Good luck for when you re do it

 

[Mr Tiler]

Obviously I tiled it. My main concern is that neither the adhesive or grout has stuck to the ply, which may indicate the ply has been sealed, which I wouldnt have done anyway, but apparently many would do.

you shouldnt of tiled to the ply from the start, you should of raised the issue and stated there would be no guarantee and yes you may have lost the job but you wouldnt be in this situation matey... cant read through the whole thread but you should of at least used the adhesives manufacturer reccomended acrylic bonding agent (primer not pva) and i dont use bal so dont know if the tubbed has got any flex but a flexible adhesicve should of been used to take any movement which is unavoidable with plywood... id tile a ply floor any day but i personally would preffer to over board ply walls with a cement board of customers choice.

 

[demi34]

White star for ply wood and not green star

 

[Martyn Leeds]

Between the lines, I think I know your main issue here.

Why make the same mistake twice? overboard it or don't do it

 

[mike1979]

Doesn't matter who sealed what and what they used green star on ply wood ??? What's going on here I don't tile straight on wood and sorry to be blunt anyone worth their salt wouldn't either

 

[Brian the Tile]

Mike1979 your talking crap ,and that is being blunt ,anyone worth there salt

 

[mike1979]

You would tile on wood then too perhaps up your neck of the woods you do down here most of us don't perhaps I'm am talking crap so I will bow down and let's you experts crack on

 

[Brian the Tile]

Not wanting to be rude mike1979 but i have been tiling for 44 years now and there are times i have and no doubt will again tile on timber with no problems whatsoever so your comment not worth there salt i find very offensive ,if you know what you sre doing ,use the right adhesive in the first place no problem to the experts as you call them ,i call it knowing what your talking about and being able to do a job without any problems

 

[mma]

Anyone that uses Greenstar on ply, in a bathroom is an amateur or a diyer! You might as well use toothpaste!!

 

[mike1979]

If I offended anyone then I do apologise it's just I'm only a young pup tiling for 15 years and when I was an apprentice working for Taylor tiles a bloke tiled on a wooden wall and 10 blokes laughed at him and called him a &@£& and I was always told to avoid wooden construction as it was rough that's all like I said I shall leave it up the experts everyone has a view I suppose

 

[Concrete guy]

For years I overplyed floors with 12mm WBP or thicker if necessary and tiled it on almost all occasions with Ardex S16 and Ardion 90. This was back when tile backer board was in it's infancy, Aquapanel was actually still a firecheck board and Knauf hadn't discovered it's waterproof properties and Lux Board or Wedi board were oddities from the Germans that you bought for doing steam rooms and wet rooms.

Everyone else used WBP ply, and it worked. It worked so well that adhesives are still produced to tile on wood.

There are now so many better alternatives that it's no longer necessary to use ply as first choice, but it is still a choice in non wet areas.

What is important is that the correct adhesive is used. This where I have an issue with the ambiguity of the spec sheets provided by the manufacturers.

BAL clearly state in their Specification sheet linked to in my earlier post that Greenstar can be used to tile on Ply. Why are they stating this is acceptable?

 

[Viceroy]

When I was in a situation where the builder used ply on the walls, I was stumped on what adhesive to use, so I contacted Bal who recommended only to use a rapidset adhesive as any slow setting adhesive would allow the ply to draw the moisture out before curing properly