Tile weight on various surfaces

[doug boardley]

Ok, but you have all given slightly different answers (28 or 32). someone on another forum has said 20kg because i have plastered the PB. Clean PB can take more weight because it doesnt have a skim on it.

Still confused. I did think 20kg was a bit low as well.

I was hoping to use 10mm limestone and that will be 31kg. So under one persons weight limit and over the other.

any more views ?

adhesive and grout will push it up to about 35kgm2, hope this is clearer now

 

[charlie1]

Just been going through old posts today as not very busy! I have always wondered about this very issue too. It would be interesting to set up an experiment, you could screw some plasterboard to some studs, then stick a 600x600 tile to it, then see how much weight you could hang on the tile until failure! bet it would be a lot more than 10 kgs

 

[Peter]

Often pondered this myself, seems logical. Then again, what tiler can honestly say they've never went over weight? 😳

 

[JLM Tiling]

A few of you may have read my post last week about the argument I was having with a project manager about ripping down or tiling over tiles. Anyway long story, ended up ripping it down. But it's got me thinking about this all week.

So question is, anyone got any first hand experience of weight limits being exceeded and a failure happening as a result? And how extensive was the failure? Any links to videos or pictures would be great if you know of any!

 

[White Room]

Thats a good question, I have'nt personally have'nt just water ingress has been the biggest problem on many jobs but as a plasterer of 30 years I have seen finish come off walls as it was applied on a dry undercoat, browning etc.

Render is also another thing, I've seen soft sand used and that has no strength for a large surface area but many have used it and that can fail...with the added weight of tiles can make it unstable over time.

 

[JLM Tiling]

Yeah It's really got me curious. He said to me well have you seen it happen and I thought wait, no I havent! And then I got to thinking where do these numbers come from anyway? How do they work it out, is the test data available, photos, videos etc. I just like to have the details, I find if you give enough technical to the point of being slightly boring people trust you! Got the whole PVA argument memorised!! I want to see it happen just so I know exactly what is going on there and how dangerous it is etc. Somebody must have something

 

[White Room]

State British Standard that what there for, the weight limits from BS are a safe level...I've read many failures on the forum over the years but most were incorrect adhesive, prep work and installation...

 

[Gazzer]

Never actually seen any failures due to weight but yesterday I was asked to fix 600x300 porcelain tiles to plastered walls which had old glossy paint on. I had to write a letter to the building contractor declining the 70m2 job.
Not only does this mean its 70m2 I wont be doing but could also lose further work for the building company ( Large company who give me lots of work) but I will not be worrying about tiles falling off in the infant schools toilets were the job is.

 

[JLM Tiling]

Yeah it's difficult eh. On this last job I ended up forking out about 300 quid to pull down the wall and marmox board it. Coulda just walked away but needed the work and better working for less than not working at all. Plus someone else woulda just come and done it. Walkin away means its not my responsibility but it's still dangerous and someone else would have done it. Ended up emailing the contracts manager and the boss of the company (vears, think they're quite big in the uk) saying that by trying to force this to happen they as a company would be negligent in their duty of care to the customer and to the general public. Good luck getting any more work from them!!!!!

 

[peteablard]

Yeah it's difficult eh. On this last job I ended up forking out about 300 quid to pull down the wall and marmox board it. Coulda just walked away but needed the work and better working for less than not working at all. Plus someone else woulda just come and done it. Walkin away means its not my responsibility but it's still dangerous and someone else would have done it. Ended up emailing the contracts manager and the boss of the company (vears, think they're quite big in the uk) saying that by trying to force this to happen they as a company would be negligent in their duty of care to the customer and to the general public. Good luck getting any more work from them!!!!!

I've done loads of jobs for the when I was working down south and to be honest never had any major problems with them. Had to tile on tile on a small estate agent refurb job but the majority of their works is for most of the major banks and those jobs were generally spot on!