Swiss Tony
TF
By way of background that might go some way to explain this question - I'm from Yorkshire...
I have some bags of Ardex X7 G tile adhesive left over from a DIY tiling job i did in spring 2016, when i tiled my downstairs shower room/ toilet. There are two unopened bags and one open. The date mark on all the bags is April 2015. The use by date is one year after that according to the manufacturers. However, I stored the bags in a dry attic wrapped in bin liners. After three years the contents are still powdery i.e. they haven't been exposed to damp and there are no hard lumps in them.
Three years later I'm now starting another DIY tiling project in my ensuite and want to use the old Ardex (I don't like wasting brass) so the other day I mixed up the powder from the opened bag of three year old Ardex X7 G and stuck about 1 square metre of 600 x 300 porcelain tiles to bare plastered walls in my ensuite. The powder mixed as normal, applied well and the adhesive dried as usual. After two days all looks well - the tiles are stuck fast to the wall and not going anywhere. In other words, the adhesive seems absolutely fine, even though it is over three years past its use by date.
So my question is - does the age of the powder effect its adhesive qualities?
I think - although I stand to be corrected- that the reason such products have a sell by date is because they contain a chemical that reduces the potentially harmful Chromium VI that naturally appears in grey Portland cement (which this product contains) and that chemical starts to become ineffective after one year. So the sell by date for this particular product is for health and safety reasons rather than due to loss of adhesive qualities.
Am i missing something?
Your experiences / comments would be welcome.
Cheers
I have some bags of Ardex X7 G tile adhesive left over from a DIY tiling job i did in spring 2016, when i tiled my downstairs shower room/ toilet. There are two unopened bags and one open. The date mark on all the bags is April 2015. The use by date is one year after that according to the manufacturers. However, I stored the bags in a dry attic wrapped in bin liners. After three years the contents are still powdery i.e. they haven't been exposed to damp and there are no hard lumps in them.
Three years later I'm now starting another DIY tiling project in my ensuite and want to use the old Ardex (I don't like wasting brass) so the other day I mixed up the powder from the opened bag of three year old Ardex X7 G and stuck about 1 square metre of 600 x 300 porcelain tiles to bare plastered walls in my ensuite. The powder mixed as normal, applied well and the adhesive dried as usual. After two days all looks well - the tiles are stuck fast to the wall and not going anywhere. In other words, the adhesive seems absolutely fine, even though it is over three years past its use by date.
So my question is - does the age of the powder effect its adhesive qualities?
I think - although I stand to be corrected- that the reason such products have a sell by date is because they contain a chemical that reduces the potentially harmful Chromium VI that naturally appears in grey Portland cement (which this product contains) and that chemical starts to become ineffective after one year. So the sell by date for this particular product is for health and safety reasons rather than due to loss of adhesive qualities.
Am i missing something?
Your experiences / comments would be welcome.
Cheers
