Using (black) cement as tile adhesive

[neilbd]

Hi everyone,

I'm British but living in Bangladesh at the moment. I've four tiles to put onto a wall, replacing four that fell off and smashed. The people in the local tile shop told me that I wanted black cement to put the tiles onto the wall. I bought four KG of the stuff from somewhere else (the tile shop didn't sell it) and put some onto the wall, trying the first tile.

It isn't very adhesive, or I'm doing something wrong. Do you have to mix in sand with this stuff?

I'm sure nothing like this is used now days in the UK. But I wondered if anyone had used this sort of thing in the past.

BTW, I don't know what is in this black (actually grey) cement.

Cheers,

Neil

 

[peteablard]

Does the tile shop not sell tile adhesive?

 

[White Room]

What tiles are they....

 

[Rich]

Welcome to the forum.

Is there any info on the bag you can give us?

 

[johnryan]

it may be similar to the way they tile in israel, where they use sand and cement for wall tiling. they add pva glue to the mix, and you have to soak the tiles in buckets of water to stop it drying out before it all bonds together. probably due to the heat drawing all the water out too fast. also you put the bed of cement on to the back of each individual tile around 10mill thick and leave a small indent in the middle to act as a kind of suction cup to help it stay in place until its sets. give it a tap with a gummy mallet too when you set it to the wall to make it stick. not sure if its the same there, but it sounds like it could be. when i worked in israel they didnt use tile adhesive very often either though that could be different now

 

[Spud]

mix it with 3;1 with fine sharp sand ,soak the tiles in water overnight and then take them out and drain the excess water off of them ,soak the wall where you are fixing the tiles and then butter the tiles with the wet mixed mortar tap the tiles home with the back of your trowel handle ,allow to set for 2-3 hours then very gently brush the joints clean with a soft brush the following day clean the tiles down with clean water and grout them up

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

The good old days Gary.

 

[Gall.B]

Jeezo, are you sure you havent stepped in to a time machine mate.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

It worked for the ancient Greeks/ Romans etc up to me starting work. Still works today in many parts of the world. Rome wasn't built in a day but I was not on that job.:lol:

 

[neilbd]

The bag of cement I got was in a clear plastic bag. They scooped 4 KG out of a 50KG bag. I didn't pay attention to what was written on the larger bag. The tiles are galzed at the front with ceramic at the back.Looking at the back of one of the original tiles, there is indeed a 1cm thick layer of this cement behind the tile. I will follow John and Gary's advice. Sounds like a winner.>Jeezo, are you sure you havent stepped in to a time machine mate.It is very much like stepping back in time. They do a lot of things here in the old fashioned way. Government officials will invite you to take tea with them, people are very polite to foreigners, and children are respectful. It is like stepping into a colonial novel.But at times it can be frustrating here. I wanted to get some tiles cut and asked about this in the shop where I bought them. The guy said he couldn't do it. I asked if anyone in the area could do it. No. How about anyone in the city (5 million population). No. How about in the whole country (160 million population at least). No. I noticed a circular blade on the wall behind his head and asked what it was for. "Oh", he said, "thats for cutting tiles."BTW, I don't know if they used grout on the walls in this flat. It looks to me like the stuff here is white cement. I have seen grout in some shops. But I suppose not everyone holds with the new fashions..