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Discuss Advice for Tile adhesion concerns in bathroom - BAL White Star tubbed adhesive in the America Tile Forum area at TilersForums.com.

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We have our bathroom renovated and contracted an experienced tiler to do the tiling job. We removed 2 of the tiles after more than 48 hours as they had misaligned corners. We noticed there seem to be limited area were the tile BAL ready mixed adhesive has actually bonded to the green plasterboard , as seen in the pictures. We are now quite concerned and don't know what is best to do next...

Is this even a reason for concern for all the other installed tiles ? As the tiling job is around 80% completed, is it OK to carry on with the same adhesive ?

Job details: 10mm thick, 300x600 ceramic tiles. Installed by the professional tiler using 7mm notched trowel and BAL white Star Plus tubbed ready mixed adhesive. Resulting gap between plasterboard and tile is around 4-5mm. Backing substrate is green plasterboard except for shower-over-bath area where there are Wedi boards.

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Wrong adhesive has been used. Max size is 30cm x 30cm for dispersion adhesive.
plus needs a porous background to help with drying and to key. Cement based adhesive should have been used
Dave, much appreciated your reply. There goes my hope that I am worrying for nothing... and all is good..

What would be the best advice for all the existing tiles which were already installed on these walls ? (around 80% of our small bathroom)

I can see now on the back of the BAL tub it says not suitable for bed depths larger than 3mm. Can this be an additional problem ?

Most of the tiles seem solid for now... but for some of them I can see little movement when I press on the corners. I really worry if they may come loose in time when adding thermal expansion , ageing etc...

I can see a difficult conversation with my tiler about any reparations and completing the job ... 😟
 

Dave

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Dave, much appreciated your reply. There goes my hope that I am worrying for nothing... and all is good..

What would be the best advice for all the existing tiles which were already installed on these walls ? (around 80% of our small bathroom)

I can see now on the back of the BAL tub it says not suitable for bed depths larger than 3mm. Can this be an additional problem ?

Most of the tiles seem solid for now... but for some of them I can see little movement when I press on the corners. I really worry if they may come loose in time when adding thermal expansion , ageing etc...

I can see a difficult conversation with my tiler about any reparations and completing the job ... 😟
The adhesive will dry around the edges of the tiles due to contact with air but the centre will still be wet. Sorry to say but your installer has naffed up.
 

eddcottee

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That adhesive is totally unsuitable for tiles of that size. There is no option than to remove the lot and re fit them properly with cement based (powdered and come in a bag which you mix with water) adhesive. If they have been fitted within the past week or so, probably won't be difficult to pop them off the wall and scrape off the adhesive without damaging the tiles. But it will take some time. Tubbed adhesive is OK for metros on a kitchen splashback and that's about it I'm afraid
 

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