Discuss Victorian tiles in the Australia Tiling Forum area at TilersForums.com.

Sean Kelly

TF
Arms
647
1,068
Ruislip
These Victorian tiles come on a paper mesh. In most cases the mesh has been doubled up on the back of the tiles. i.e. there are 2 overlapping layers of paper mesh holding the tiles together.

There is the usual notice in the boxes of tiles stating that due to shrinkage of the mesh the tiles will not exactly be of all the same size. That’s an understatement because the individual mosaic sheets of tiles can be 3-4 mm out.

I do not know who makes the tiles but what I do know is that they are a bugger to line up.

My other issue can be shown in the attached pic. While I was cleaning the tiles yesterday several of the small triangle tiles came away from the floor. I noticed that due to the type of mesh the adhesive had hardly any contact with the tile.
2014-11-22 12.51.28.jpg

This is the first time I have laid Victorian tiles – is it normal to have these issues?

The floor plan was drawn up by the architects and they ordered the tiles. If you zoom into the floor plan you will notice that there are 4 large brown tiles in the border that in reality do not exist. I pointed this out to one of the architects the other day and I got over the problem by slightly merging two of the diamond brown tiles (see in 2nd pic below). I believe my way is more pleasing to the eye. However, the architects think differently and they have gone away to discuss the issue!
2013-10-11_14-25-10_926.jpg 2014-11-22 15.35.14.jpg

I have also rearranged the ‘field tile’ pattern so that there is not a strange line cutting the hall in half. Again, they have drawn a tile that does not exist! Did I do right?
 

Sean Kelly

TF
Arms
647
1,068
Ruislip
I thought I would have finished the job today, but where I was grouting was like Piccadilly Circus. A cleaner, 2 work men, a heating engineer and the residents in and out all day long.

It’s a cold ground floor and there is no heating apart from 2 electric heaters I brought in. The grout stayed wet all day long. The more I tried to clean the surface, the more grout I pulled out. In the end I decided to clean the tiles tomorrow.

I know the tiles will have a small amount of haze on them. I did seal twice before grouting with Seal Guard. After I clean them tomorrow do you think I could use Aqua Mix Enrich & Seal on them? Just to bring the colour back
2014-11-24 14.48.58.jpg 2014-11-24 14.49.27.jpg
 

Sean Kelly

TF
Arms
647
1,068
Ruislip
Just to bring this one to it's conclusion. I came back the next day and used Fila neutral tile cleaner on the tiles. Washed off with water, and dried the tiles with a microfibre cloth. Came up a treat. The residents thought the tiles looked great before, but I could see that they should have been cleaner and shinier. I did not bother with the Aquamix Enrich & Seal. I did however gave the aluminium nosings a squirt of WD40. Job done.
 

Sean Kelly

TF
Arms
647
1,068
Ruislip
The headers in the border should be stretched or compressed to make them full, you should never introduce a a closer.

Did a post on this a while back. Never been a fan of this pretend geo on mosaic mesh.

I don't know what you mean Phil.

So, the picture at the bottom of the stairs.......there are 2 corner pieces (left & right of stairs). These are fixed. So what should I have done?
 

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Title
Victorian tiles
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Forum
Australia Tiling Forum
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Which tile adhesive brand did you use most this year?

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    Votes: 9 6.3%
  • Kerakoll

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  • Ardex

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  • Mapei

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  • Ultra Tile

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  • BAL

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  • Wedi

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  • Benfer

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  • Tilemaster

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  • Weber

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  • Other (any other brand not listed)

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  • Nicobond

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  • Norcros

    Votes: 3 2.1%
  • Kelmore

    Votes: 4 2.8%

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