Hi everyone.

A very vague question here and i will try and be as descriptive as possible but i bet i won't cover every question but will try my best .
I have got porcelain tiles to put up on walls and floors.
Floors first.
The tile sizes are 30x30, 45x45, 30x60,15x15 these are to be put down on plywood 9mm (as advised by tiler on thickness of ply) and onto concrete floor.
Wall tiles are 700x250 these are going onto plastered walls.
My question is what type of adhesive and grout would anybody recommened?
Oh nearly forgot where the tiles are going.
The mixed sized ones are for the hall all the way round to the kitchen, and in a wetroom as well, also in bathrooms.
Wall tiles are for bathrooms.
I hope i have covered every question that will be asked but proberly not.
Thanks everyone for looking.

firstly why is fixing ply to a concrete floor,what is the state of the floor .
the wall tiles are to heavy to fix on to plastered walls

As above, your tiles are too heavy for that substrate, you'll have to give a lot more detail please, is the floor a combination of ply and concrete or are you over boarding with ply ?

I knew i would not get it all.
The floors are both floorboards that i have plywooded over and concrete which i have not plyed onto.
The tiler didnt say that the 700x250 tiles would be to heavy for newly plastered walls , although some of the walls have been plasterboarded onto studwork the other walls were existing outside walls (extention old bedroom has been made into bathroom and ensuite).

Originally Posted by ethascar

I knew i would not get it all.
The floors are both floorboards that i have plywooded over and concrete which i have not plyed onto.
The tiler didnt say that the 700x250 tiles would be to heavy for newly plastered walls , although some of the walls have been plasterboarded onto studwork the other walls were existing outside walls (extention old bedroom has been made into bathroom and ensuite).

9mm ply is not thick enough for a start imo 15-18mm ply,did he use 9mm to build up to level of concrete floor,he prob did,nt mention about weight issues with the tiles because he doesnt know.as the plaster board on the stud work been skimmed over

hi nybor62 thanks for the replies.
He came out and looked at the job and he said 9mm wil do (dont know why he said 9mm to tell you the truth maybe it was to build upto this level).
And yes the plasterboard has been skimmed over.
Im getting worried now.

Originally Posted by ethascar

hi nybor62 thanks for the replies.
He came out and looked at the job and he said 9mm wil do (dont know why he said 9mm to tell you the truth maybe it was to build upto this level).
And yes the plasterboard has been skimmed over.
Im getting worried now.

British Standard for ply on a floor is 15mm minimum prior to tiling. And the skim on the plasterboard actually means you can have less weight than without the skim. But you're in the right place here; plenty of good accurate advice available on this forum.

Originally Posted by ethascar

hi nybor62 thanks for the replies.
He came out and looked at the job and he said 9mm wil do (dont know why he said 9mm to tell you the truth maybe it was to build upto this level).
And yes the plasterboard has been skimmed over.
Im getting worried now.

plaster board and skim will only take 20kg of weight per m2. your tiles will be way to heavy, i would suggest removing the stud wall and replace with hardi backer boards.

how about the plastered outside walls?

any pics of the floor would help

how do i upload pics? tryed earlier using the pic icon but did not know how to find url and also my posting rules say img turned off and i will take some and post them.

Hi and welcome Ethescar

you did the right thing in coming here and asking these questions, the replies above are correct

theres a lot of people trading as tilers in this economic climate that lack the knowledge required

with the correct information you can test a potential tiler to see if he really is a genuine , knowledgable tiler

this tiler will cause you problems if he overboards with 9mm ply, in addition to this there are issues with tiling across a wood /concrete sub floor wich require the correct methods to deal with

ive just realised there is no mention of any tanking being done ,did your tiler not advise you about it

What problems could there be with tiling from plywood floor to concrete floor?
Sorry if that sounds a thick question.

no i have not been advised about tanking, is this for just the wetroom to be? or all over?
Another thick question sorry about this.

were are you based ethescar im sure some one on here would be happy to help you out with this project, as he mentioned what adhesive he is using

Cracking/movement, all materials have different expansion/contraction rates

I live in spalding.
We have had an extention done (well kinda done we had to throw the builder off site in the end and things are getting worse and worse everyday we are finding more things wrong.
I am having to have a go at this myself as i have lost my job also and at this rate i am glad we wont be using this tiler.
What he said he would be using is.
2 part latex flexible adhesive.
Standard flexible adhesive
Standard adhesive
Flexible floor grout
Waterproof wall adhesive
Thanks everone

your not being thick

the wood subfloor and the concrete sub floor move at different rates

if you tile across them your tiles will crack at that point, you will require a movement joint where the different subfloors meet

sorry to here you lost your job.

how many m2 is the job in total

Thats ok mate .
Its been quite handy to tell you truth as i have so much work to do here i havent stopped since.

All the floor areas are 66m2
Walls 66m2 in total for all rooms ie:bathroom/en/suite,wetroom

I think we have too much info in too many places, can you break it down room by room, what's going to be fixed and what the substrate is at the moment, we can then advise room by room.

Ok Alan no probs one room at a time ( thanks for all the help here guys)
First of all there is the hall (bungalow by the way this is) that goes all the way around to the kitchen to the right, the floor have been plyed over down the corridor then turns again at this point it goes onto self levelling compound then old tiles then the new concrete floor leading into the kitchen,(this is hard to try and explain)

The bathroom that is off the hall the floor has also been plyed over the old floor boards,(this by the way was the old bedroom) there is an outside wall that has been plastered over infront of you as you enter the bathroom, to the left is an existing internal wall that has been skimmed, then on the left there has been a studded wall put up and this has been skimmed over as well.

En/suite
Plyed over floor again with stud walls on 2 sides and 2 old exterior walls that have been skimmed over.

wETROOM IS STILL IN PROGRESS BUT THIS HAS HAD AT THE MOMENT GREEN PLASTERBOARD WETPROOF (dot and dabbed) AND THE FLOOR HAS HAD INSULATION DOWN WITH A DPM LAID OVER THE (sos about caps just noticed) top of this. this is to be concreted.
Hope this helps if not i will try again.
Cheers
Nic

hi Nic, heres a chart to check weights tiles/substrates Tiles and Adhesive Weight Per Square Metre - THE TILE SOURCE

Thanks faithhealer
Looks like they can have the tiles back as we were not informed of this when we purchased the tiles there was no professianal advice so to say bought from a proper tile outlet as well.

Originally Posted by ethascar

Thanks faithhealer
Looks like they can have the tiles back as we were not informed of this when we purchased the tiles there was no professianal advice so to say bought from a proper tile outlet as well.

The problem is that tiling is a professional trade so whilst the tile shops can give you guidance it's not their job to tell you everything you need to know. In fact it's just the same on here, we can guide you on the information you give but can't say 100% without seeing the job first hand as there are tiny little details which may change the job spec completely

we had no guidance or anything to tell you the truth they just sold the tiles with no questions asked regarding what they were being put onto.
I understand what you are saying regarding tiling but surly they should be asking these kind of questions if they are selling tiles this big?
Cheers
Nic

Originally Posted by ethascar

we had no guidance or anything to tell you the truth they just sold the tiles with no questions asked regarding what they were being put onto.
I understand what you are saying regarding tiling but surly they should be asking these kind of questions if they are selling tiles this big?
Cheers
Nic

Depends, they have no idea who you are, you might be a consumer you might be a tiler, also you don't have to be qualified to sell tiles in the same way you don't have to be a qualified electrician to sell a light fitting.

Did you ask any questions at all that might have given them the impression you were fitting them DIY? I know you wouldn't have known all questions to ask but advice may have been a bit more forthcoming if you had asked is there anything I need to know about these tiles?, or even seen two tiles and asked what the difference between them were?

I'm sure the shop will try to help you out but they may have had to order them in rather than a stock item so they would attract costs for doing so.

The point i'm trying to make is that the shop shouldn't really be made accountable, the poor advice you have received off the tiler is more of a concern.