Dot & Dab travertine?

[spanky]

Can someone tell me if you can dot and dab 600 x 400 travertine tiles onto a plasterboard wall?

Thanks

[bj F]

I don’t think is a good plan

[Varley]

You shouldn't be dot & dabbing any tiles to walls or floors.

[charlie1]

spanky, its not a good idea to dotdab any kind of tile on to any kind of wall, never mind travertine.

[charlie1]

you were just too quick there varley

[spanky]

I am being told it's fine, after 35sqm is now on the wall and I have noticed how it's being done?

[Varley]

Who told you it was fine to fix tiles in this manner?

[spanky]

The tiler and the contractor he is working for. They say they checked with the adhesive firm.

[Sir Ramic]

The tiler and the contractor he is working for. They say they checked with the adhesive firm.

Then why dont you check with the adhesive firm yourself and have the pleasure of telling them to redo it all. TOTALLY WRONG

[spanky]

I need to get a definative answer, all they keep saying is the tiles won't come off the wall, however, travertine is porous I thought, surely the adhesive is waterproof and protects the pasterboard from damp etc.

What does the British Standard say about this?

Obviously I have nearly £1000 worth of tiles on the wall in a method I am pretty sure is not correct.

But is it just not correct, this is a supposed "know what their doing" company.

I am paying quite a bit too have this done.

£7000 in all or their abouts, excluding the tiles.

[Sir Ramic]

All wrong....sounds like you know more than they do anyway.

[Varley]

Waterproof adhesive does not protect any surface from water damage, the substrate should be tanked prior to tiling. All waterproof adhesive means is that the adhesive doesn't break back down when it comes into contact from water, it still lets water through to the substrate.

[Sir Ramic]

Adhesive and grout is water resistant not water proof. Plasterboard is not water proof either....your thoughts are all correct and you should stop them fixing NOW

[CJ]

They are taking the mick...................no way on earth ANY tiles should be D&D.

Ring up any adhesive company and they will tell you.

Bad Bad practice..............and cheaper for the tiler

[grumpygrouter]

Yep, I have to agree with everyone else, deffo a big NO! NO!.

Yes it is porous but you are incorrect about the adhesive being waterproof, it isn't. Hopefully they are putting the tiles onto bare plasterboard and not skimmed, these are heavy tiles I would imagine.

I think you will find (I may be wrong here) that british standards say that adhesive should be applied and combed through with an appropriately sized notched trowel. it will certainly say that on the bag of adhesive!!

[spanky]

12 or 13 responses, all saying the same, yet I am still being told it is ok by the Tiler and the contractor.

Is there any particular reason not too Dot & Dab Travertine (30kg Sqm) onto a plasterboard wall. There is no PVA on the wall, it is bare, new plasterboard.

Thanks

[Fekin]

All I can say is what everyones already said, dot and dabbing is not the propper method for any form of tiling, never mind Travertine.
All tiling needs to have adhesive covering the whole rear surface area of the tile, period.

Stand your ground and insist they fix your tiles correctly, and redo what they have botched already, and dont pay a penny until they have fixed their "errors"

And no adhesive company in their right mind will say their product will preform propperly with just dabs of adhesive.

Basically if they are only putting a dab in each corner of the tile then thats the only aread holding the weight of the tile, so if they adhesive covers the whole back of the tile then the weight is shared out over a greater area, meaning they tiles will "should" never fall away from the wall.

If their doing it on floor tiles then within weeks they could all start cracking, maybe sooner.

[Sir Ramic]

Lets have details, what adhesive are they using and then we can sort it once and for all.

[spanky]

Adhesive used:

Keraflex Maxi & Ultra Proflex SP Adhesives.

Enc Picture showing what the Tiler says is on the back of each tile.

[Sir Ramic]

I am sure neither manufacturer of thos adhesives would say dot and dab is a correct method. i suggest you stop the tiler and ask the manufacturers, Mapei (MAPEI) and Ultra (Instarmac: Highway Maintenance, Streetscape, Flooring and Contract Tiling products and systems) for their advice.
As shown in the picture you have not got full coverage and you are likely to have problems in the future.

[spanky]

Can anyone tell me the reasons you should not do this, the tiles don't appear to want to come off.

[Sir Ramic]

Because water will find its way through and due to the voids between the tile and wall caused by not having a full bed of adhesive water may hold and then progress through into the plasterboards which wil then break down and then tiles may come loose. Further more those tiles will be heavy and i would want to be sitting in the bath when 5 dabs of adhesive decide they cant hold the tile any longer.
I could sit here all night telling you how wrong this is but i am getting the feeling you dont want to listen so i am opting out. Hope you get it sorted though.

[brummie tiler]

Im with everybody else. Dot n dab I would never dream of doing it certainly not on Trav. They might be stuck firmly now but what about 6 months down the line......Do the job properly not twice.....

[grumpygrouter]

12 or 13 responses, all saying the same, yet I am still being told it is ok by the Tiler and the contractor.

Is there any particular reason not too Dot & Dab Travertine (30kg Sqm) onto a plasterboard wall. There is no PVA on the wall, it is bare, new plasterboard.

Thanks

This is approaching the safe limit for plasterboard! Add to that what (should be) the correct amount of adhesive, around 3-4kg/m2 and grout then you have issues!

Remind me if we ever we meet not to take a bath or shower in there, I don't want your nice tiles falling onto me.

[bj F]

Seventy percent coverage is the minimum.:90

[bj F]

From what I can gather you have the maximum Wight fixed with the minimum adhesive in the most unorthodox manner I have ever herd of and the contractor is fine with that????? Will he guarantee the work?

[spanky]

Oh, I am still listening, however from my point of view I am:

Without a bathroom (have been for 2 weeks)
Have to persued them that they will have to rip off 35 sqm of tile, then pay for 35 sqm more, re-plasterboard it, and re-tile it.

I can imagine they are not gonna want to do that.

Hence the needing a good reason for not doing it, they are saying the tiles "won't" come off.

I am running out of arguement, I am sure he knows it is wrong.

Kind of between a rock and a hard place.

They were gonna tile onto the original plaster: see post

Professional Travertine Fitter - What should I be looking for?

Got them to board it out.

[Sir Ramic]

Ok so i am back. I cant tell you how this winds me up. 2 things i hate in this game is bad workmen and customers getting ripped off, both are in this thread. Dont pay them...totally sub standard work.

[Varley]

Oh, I am still listening, however from my point of view I am:

Without a bathroom (have been for 2 weeks)
Have to persued them that they will have to rip off 35 sqm of tile, then pay for 35 sqm more, re-plasterboard it, and re-tile it.

I can imagine they are not gonna want to do that.

Hence the needing a good reason for not doing it, they are saying the tiles "won't" come off.

I am running out of arguement, I am sure he knows it is wrong.

Kind of between a rock and a hard place.

They were gonna tile onto the original plaster: see post

Professional Travertine Fitter - What should I be looking for?

Got them to board it out.

When you say they were going to tile over existing plaster and you persuaded them to board out, please tell me they removed the plaster first, because if they boarded over the top of the plaster you are reaching seriously dangerous levels of weight.

[uug197h]

never D & D. from a plumbers point of view no tile should be D & D if you drill the tile to fix a shower screen then the tile is more likely to break when tightening the screws. if you d & d you are only fixing to the tile so making more of a problem for the tiles to stay on the wall