Bostik Vitriflex Grey rsf

[andy8758]

Laid a floor using this adhesive on Thursday. You see, I have never been impressed with bostik tiling materials, then on Wednesday, last mad rush to stock before starting new job the next day.

Popped into CTD at ten to five, and the manager talked me into this. Apparently its dead cheap (cannot price it here, but its cheaper than all the "trade" rsf's). Apparently "all the local tilers are using it.... they spec for a higher priced adhesive, then buy this."

So I give it a try. Goes off quick, pot life of 20-30 minutes, so mix less then a bag at a time, unless your are "Supertiler" (you know the guys, 20 sq m per hour, airport terminal tiled before breakfast...). Set hard enough to grout after 3 hours. All ok. Which begs the question.

If you can buy an adhesive dead cheap (and I mean cheap), it does the job, and only requires a little compromise in your working practices, then why buy an adhesive at twice the price, (because it handles lovely?).

Discuss anyone?

 

[WetSaw]

I can only go by what I've used here ( Spain ). I can get a Spanish brand SPF porc adhesive for around €6. It does the job but is quite coarse and "sandy". Kerakoll H40 No Limits €12. Smooth, creamy, stickier than a sticky thing on a sticky day.
Leave some of both to go off in the bucket. Spanish one crumbles and cleans out easily. H40 is like iron and stuck to the sides of the bucket like a very sticky thing.
No very scientific but it convinces me!

 

[On one]

Personally I will never use Bostik products again after a problem with their floor grout many years ago.
The floor grout went crumbly,and when they tested the grout it was proved to be perfectly OK. ........my a**e!

 

[hmtiling]

for me, confidence in a product comes first, then price.

 

[peteablard]

^^^^^ Yep, me too!

 

[One Day]

sand, cement and polymer = tile adhesive

water, barley, hops = beer

Simple ingredients, but it's the quality and quantities which make ALL the difference.
Carling Black Label or Duvel???

 

[andy8758]

sand, cement and polymer = tile adhesive

water, barley, hops = beer

Simple ingredients, but it's the quality and quantities which make ALL the difference.
Carling Black Label or Duvel???

Yeah right. I ain't about to swallow some tile adhesive to see which tastes better....!

 

[Spare Tool]

Been recently toing and froing between TM setaflex and Ultra standard set, depending which shop I'm in..
The ultra 30% cheaper on price and not much difference in performance from what I can tell, both do exactly what it says on the bag!

 

[Rich Midge]

I have to order Ultra extended set but the rapid ProFlex and Setaflex are price matched locally. I tend to sway toward TM just because I prefer the grouts.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

I'm currently using tilemaster it's basically buy 2 get 1 free compare to weber from ctd

 

[Spud]

I starting to see it a lot on Facebook and Twitter , tilers who keep changing brands , suppliers all to save themselves pennies per bag or because they are getting something out of promoting certain manufacturers or suppliers ,
I try and stay loyal to one brand and existing suppliers who I have built up long standing good relationships with ,my descision is based on 3 things and all are equally important to me , 1st is ease of use/ reliability , second is Price 3rd is customer service , I am not going to name names but the brand I prefer ticks all 3 boxes , new people come into the market and I am willing to try these products out as they may be the next big thing but if they don't exceed the 3 criteria above I won't change

 

[Rich Midge]

We used to use Biscem (Bostik) when I first started out as they were half the price of the only other gear available locally at the time (Ardex). I remember a failed floor with Vitriflex. When it was first launched it said on the bag it could be laid directly onto Gyproc without the need for overlay. It was subsequently removed from all the literature. The old Showerproof ready-mix with the green lid was awesome. Gypsum based if I recall and would pull the pb clean off the blockwork if you had to replace a tile.

 

[One Day]

I starting to see it a lot on Facebook and Twitter , tilers who keep changing brands , suppliers all to save themselves pennies per bag or because they are getting something out of promoting certain manufacturers or suppliers ,
I try and stay loyal to one brand and existing suppliers who I have built up long standing good relationships with ,my descision is based on 3 things and all are equally important to me , 1st is ease of use/ reliability , second is Price 3rd is customer service , I am not going to name names but the brand I prefer ticks all 3 boxes , new people come into the market and I am willing to try these products out as they may be the next big thing but if they don't exceed the 3 criteria above I won't change

You are of course talking about a mancunian chap of short stature? Drives an electric van?

 

[hmtiling]

Ultra user?

 

[Spud]

You guessed it lads it is getting embarassing and I am glad I am n ot the only one who noticed

 

[J Sid]

are you getting messages in your twitter in box from this gent trying to get you to change?

 

[peteablard]

I've used Weber for years, can't see me changing any time soon.

 

[One Day]

You guessed it lads it is getting embarassing and I am glad I am n ot the only one who noticed

He's a corporate ***** (and I've told him so!)

 

[White Room]

I've had one supplier who used to do Weber, there was a failure and didn't (allegedly) get a very good response from them so stopped supplying.
Then supplied Tilemaster, conflict about price per bag or something so stopped that.
Then onto Norcross which I'm not a fan but continues to supply including some Palace, then Granfix under the Ultra label which there was another failure, very little response from the company (again allegedly) they stopped supplying.
Never known a supplier to change suppliers sooooooooooo many times, now they are considering Benfer.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

We used to use Biscem (Bostik) when I first started out as they were half the price of the only other gear available locally at the time (Ardex). I remember a failed floor with Vitriflex. When it was first launched it said on the bag it could be laid directly onto Gyproc without the need for overlay. It was subsequently removed from all the literature. The old Showerproof ready-mix with the green lid was awesome. Gypsum based if I recall and would pull the pb clean off the blockwork if you had to replace a tile.

I remember the bucket ready stuff it was made by RMC then changed to bostic

 

[Kyle Knowles]

He's a corporate ***** (and I've told him so!)

Social media ****

 

[Tile Shop]

We supply bostik.... tilers used to love it under their old pre-buyout name biscem. Used to be a great company.

Now, their after service is....... not great. One person i occasionally get through to on their technical line always has to pop off and ask someone else some i'm left waiting 2 hours for a call back, an getting them to do a site visit when something goes wrong is virtually impossible. We'll send images, a perfectly good method statement showing it was all done correctly and it still takes 2 months and an argument with one of their seniors for them to even consider it.

Just my experience but others may have had better support.

 

[Lee@emctiles]

im in @GaryTheTiler camp here, those three points as a supplier are vital.

You will always find cheaper, think there is a bit of an adhesive war out there atm,

 

[andy8758]

It's good to see a general consensus that Tilers want to use adhesive that is reliable and has good back up service. In fact, I have had great back up from BAL, who have a technical dept that is always accessible, Schluter who took the time to follow up two queries on their products, and Tilemaster who were prepared to replace a defective product without recalling it. Yet, the biggest criticisms within these forums of such companies is that their products are too expensive. So if a retailer is telling me "all the local Tilers are using this cos it's so cheap" I tend to believe him. And as it happens, the Bostik rsf seems to be a pretty good product to use.

One thing I have learnt is that all Tilers have favourite products. I once met Deano who only ever used Mapei. Another tiler from the NE only used Weber. One guy swore that only Granfix was any good. Two Tilers doing commercial contracts would only use Ultra. And almost yet nearly every commercial contract seems to supply Norcross.

That still leaves me wondering how many guys would go for the cheapest, especially in large flooring contracts, where 50 and more bags of rsf can add up to big savings. And that's money in your pocket.

 

[Rich Midge]

From reading this forum for however long I have been I'd say the majority if not all the guys who regularly post would go for the adhesive they trust, tried and tested over a cheaper alternative on larger jobs. I've recently being doing a bit for a bathroom firm who have their own branded gear, they also stock Weber at £3.50 a bag more. I always insist on Weber just on reputation.

 

[area tiling]

Reliability , quality and affordable prices ! And For me At the moment it's Dunlop, unless the project requires something more specific then I'll switch to kerakoll or Tilemaster !
Though I truly believe if you do your job correctly , then it's very rare that something will go wrong !!!

 

[Rich Midge]

Used to use quite a bit of Dunlop, always got on with ok. The ptb, in a green bag years back was excellent and used hundreds of tubs of the ready mix waterproof. It's sold in a couple of big diy sheds round my way which I think puts some tilers off. Went on a Dunlop course years ago, we were basically told it's a Bal product for the more budget end of the market.

 

[peteablard]

It's good to see a general consensus that Tilers want to use adhesive that is reliable and has good back up service. In fact, I have had great back up from BAL, who have a technical dept that is always accessible, Schluter who took the time to follow up two queries on their products, and Tilemaster who were prepared to replace a defective product without recalling it. Yet, the biggest criticisms within these forums of such companies is that their products are too expensive. So if a retailer is telling me "all the local Tilers are using this cos it's so cheap" I tend to believe him. And as it happens, the Bostik rsf seems to be a pretty good product to use.

One thing I have learnt is that all Tilers have favourite products. I once met Deano who only ever used Mapei. Another tiler from the NE only used Weber. One guy swore that only Granfix was any good. Two Tilers doing commercial contracts would only use Ultra. And almost yet nearly every commercial contract seems to supply Norcross.

That still leaves me wondering how many guys would go for the cheapest, especially in large flooring contracts, where 50 and more bags of rsf can add up to big savings. And that's money in your pocket.

When I had a few subbys and was doing a lot of car showrooms I did opt for the Weber Eco rather than SPF. That was because I'd used it before and had confidence in it and it was cheaper! Still stayed with weber though. Confidence in a product is worth an extra couple of quid per bag.