D
diceman
Hi All.
I'm Rob and a total amateur (not just the tiling:smilewinkgrin
who's stumbled across this forum in search of answers to my latest problem & I've become so engrossed with the information here I thought I might as well join up.
Yes, I've tiled a couple of bathrooms. Yes, I've done the odd couple of m2 of floor. Yes, I always used tub adhesive & thought I was pretty good.
Then I had to deal with the kitchen floor in our house and the tiler I had planned on got booked up so here I am.
It all started when two other tilers looked at the floor (they can't do it soon either) and recommended Ditra/Dural matting as a start. Once the research started one thing led to another and now here I am reading about S1 vs S2 adhesives etc.etc.
Actually I do rented properties so figure that what I can learn here will either help me to do a job properly or to employ someone who knows what they're doing.
Anyhow, here's my job & what I'm doing so if anyone has any do's/don'ts/advice feel free to put me straight.
1. Edwardian house; kitchen is two rooms long ago knocked into one - 24m2. 10m2 is flat, solid 150x150mm quarry tiles & 14m2 is 30mm boards onto joists (8-or-6x3). All very solid with no noticible bounce/vertical flex though boarded area is 6mm lower than quarry tiled area.
2. Got 500x500, 500x300 & 300x300 Maya Avorio glazed porcelain tiles to go down (8 square pattern) - uneven 'flagstone effect' edging so wide joints in places.
3. I want to avoid an expansion joint so taking a 'slight' chance and removing 500mm of quarry tiles and laying Ditra across boarded area & join and onto the first 0.5m of the concrete to allow for lateral movmt. Interestingly, the tilers that looked didn't seem interested in laying likes of NMP or HBacker which I thought would be of at least equal concern. Why? I get the impression that they just don't use these products but not clear why. When pressed they seemed to say that the flex they can see (hardly any) but the lateral they can't and it may occur later so pick the matting. Well who am I to disagree, so Ditra it is (going with the better known brand as pretty much the same price as Dural CI for me).
4. Since I'm a newbie I want to use a single part adhesive with plenty of pot/open time but has maximum flexibility. I've settled on Mapei Ultraflex S2 Mono but also considering Ultra Proflex SP (+ES) - any thoughts on these? For the Ditra addy I've considered Ardex AF200. For the grout I've considered Ardex Flex FL.
Every time I look at a thread/talk to someone on brands I get a different opinion so I'm still open to persuasion - any thoughts on adhesives/grouts here?
Also, I was planing to lightly sand the boards (they've old varnish on) & sugar-soap the quarry tiles. Any thoughts on this as prep? Should I be using a bond/acrylic primer?
Anyway, whatever the final outcome I'll at least learn something!
Regards & thanks in advance for any comments,
Rob.
I'm Rob and a total amateur (not just the tiling:smilewinkgrin
who's stumbled across this forum in search of answers to my latest problem & I've become so engrossed with the information here I thought I might as well join up.Yes, I've tiled a couple of bathrooms. Yes, I've done the odd couple of m2 of floor. Yes, I always used tub adhesive & thought I was pretty good.
Then I had to deal with the kitchen floor in our house and the tiler I had planned on got booked up so here I am.
It all started when two other tilers looked at the floor (they can't do it soon either) and recommended Ditra/Dural matting as a start. Once the research started one thing led to another and now here I am reading about S1 vs S2 adhesives etc.etc.
Actually I do rented properties so figure that what I can learn here will either help me to do a job properly or to employ someone who knows what they're doing.
Anyhow, here's my job & what I'm doing so if anyone has any do's/don'ts/advice feel free to put me straight.
1. Edwardian house; kitchen is two rooms long ago knocked into one - 24m2. 10m2 is flat, solid 150x150mm quarry tiles & 14m2 is 30mm boards onto joists (8-or-6x3). All very solid with no noticible bounce/vertical flex though boarded area is 6mm lower than quarry tiled area.
2. Got 500x500, 500x300 & 300x300 Maya Avorio glazed porcelain tiles to go down (8 square pattern) - uneven 'flagstone effect' edging so wide joints in places.
3. I want to avoid an expansion joint so taking a 'slight' chance and removing 500mm of quarry tiles and laying Ditra across boarded area & join and onto the first 0.5m of the concrete to allow for lateral movmt. Interestingly, the tilers that looked didn't seem interested in laying likes of NMP or HBacker which I thought would be of at least equal concern. Why? I get the impression that they just don't use these products but not clear why. When pressed they seemed to say that the flex they can see (hardly any) but the lateral they can't and it may occur later so pick the matting. Well who am I to disagree, so Ditra it is (going with the better known brand as pretty much the same price as Dural CI for me).
4. Since I'm a newbie I want to use a single part adhesive with plenty of pot/open time but has maximum flexibility. I've settled on Mapei Ultraflex S2 Mono but also considering Ultra Proflex SP (+ES) - any thoughts on these? For the Ditra addy I've considered Ardex AF200. For the grout I've considered Ardex Flex FL.
Every time I look at a thread/talk to someone on brands I get a different opinion so I'm still open to persuasion - any thoughts on adhesives/grouts here?
Also, I was planing to lightly sand the boards (they've old varnish on) & sugar-soap the quarry tiles. Any thoughts on this as prep? Should I be using a bond/acrylic primer?
Anyway, whatever the final outcome I'll at least learn something!
Regards & thanks in advance for any comments,
Rob.
