Tile weight on plaster board walls

[wetdec]

There seems to be some confusion on weight of tiles that can be used on plaster board with a number of figures being banded around from varying sources.

These are extracts from British Gypsum plaster board manufacturers tiling document issued April 2006 and is their current standing on the subject.

Tiles can be applied to drylined walls or the surface of lightweight partition systems to dado level or above. Tiling can be carried out in any type of building eitherb in dry areas or in areas subject to intermittent moisture conditions. Tiles up to 12.5mm thick with a maximum weight of 32kg/m2 can be accomodated (20kg/m2 for a plastered surface). The tiles are fixed using a suitable thin-bed adhesive to a nominal 3mm thickness.

Timber stud external walls or partitions ; where tiling is specified, designers should ensure that the timber is of sufficient dimensions to give a stable base for the additional loading

Tiling directly onto plaster : Before tiling commences any tapered joints should be filled with tile adhesive.

Tiling onto plaster : tiles up to 20kg/m2 can be applied directly to the thistle finish coats, except where the system includes a bonding agent. In this situation the total weight of tiles and plaster applied over a bonding agent is limited to 20kg/m2, therefore consideration should be given to tiling directly to the background. If plastering to provide a backround for tiles avoid polishing the surface. Polished plaster should be roughened and a suitable primer used. Tiles should not be applied directly to thistle undercoats with the exception of Thistle Dri-Coat

 

[wetdec]

To further on this post I contacted BG for a little clarification :

Hi

Ok lets just be sure about this.

The 32kg/m2 is weight per m2 with the adhesive and grout of say 3kg/m2 factored in

Regards

Thank you for your further enquiry.

This weight is intended to include the combined weight of adhesive and grout, although in reality, this may be minimal.

Regards
Drywall Academy - Technical Advice Centre

Now that this is all clear where does that leave us tilers………..

I took 2 pieces of QUALITY high density Travertine so these figures are high.

10mm travertine 100x100mm square weighs 237grams

12.5mm travertine 100x100mm square weighs 291grams.


Using these 2 figures :

1m2 of 10mm travertine weighs 23.7kg

1m2 of 12.5mm travertine weighs 29kg


This would suggest that :

Un-plastered plaster board on studs fixed as per manufacturers guidelines can support 10 and 12.5mm travertine in large areas up to 3m high.

Un-plastered plaster board on dot and dab fixed as per manufacturers guidelines (drying time) can support 10 and 12.5mm travertine in large areas up to 3m high


If you find a hole in my math or other area shout out and I will redo it I not as good at numbers as Grumps…………….


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[grumpygrouter]

Interesting calcs Tony, and yes I agree with your figures. So basically you are saying that any trav up to 12.5mm is safe on unskimmed plasterboard?:yes:

 

[wetdec]

I have taken their figures and then done the math.

Remembering the grout gaps are measured at travertine weight so is cancelled out so I would say so ye.

Took figures from BG and Knauf

You asked the other day how I knew good quality travertine, this is the back NOT the front of the 12.5 I used m8 :

 

[Maj1]

Hi
I am about to lay travertine onto plasterboard. The tiles are 406mm x 406mm, and weighs 4.85Kg each. I was told to allow upto 6kg/sqm for adhesive, does this sound like bunkem to those that know? As this would put me just over 35kg/Sqm.
Thanks.

 

[david campbell]

i was also told that addy and grout will weigh about 5kg per m2 ?????

 

[wetdec]

At 6kg/m2 thats a little over 3m2 out of a 20kg bag which contradicts the usage rate for powder on floors so is high.

Floors with powder we average 4.5m2 from 20kg (depending on substrate) On walls we woud use 3kg /m2 approx.

Given these I would say 4kg/m2 would be about the averge...............


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[nybor62]

what size trowel are these figures based on