Keraflex Maxi - Should I need batons?

[iaincameron]

Hi All,

Following advice from here I have this evening started to tile after spending ages on prep! I am tiling with 600 x 300 porcelain tiles (8mm thick) onto a primed (Primer G) fresh plasterboard wall. I am using Keraflex Maxi.

The question is should I need batons with these tiles? I decided to use a baton for the first row of tiles that need to sit under a window sill, but this is three rows up. According to the Mapei sheet I should not need to use a baton, but the tiles would have slipped without it. I was planning to tile down from the first row once dry and I don't want to have to use a baton every time as it will take ages.

Could it be as simple as I have made the adhesive to runny, or with this size of tile is it not realistic to expect not to use batons?

Cheers
Iain

[Alan.P]

As long as you have your tiles, plus cut ready for the floor cut, I would fix them all and space to suit using wedges between floor and bottom of the last tile to pack up so that the spacers fit. With tha size tile I would never trust them to stick without support, just my view.

[hillhead]

Definitely too heavy for hanging without the full row to floor,i use batons most of the time and find it fast enough.

[doug boardley]

I mark a datum and tile from the floor upto it, does away with the need to batten out. I always, until recently, used to batten out and tile off the batten, but I find tiling straight off the deck a much better way of doing things

[iaincameron]

Thanks for the feedback. What I will do is tile from the floor up to the line of tiles I have put up so far, using spacers/wedges/cardboard etc to get the tiles at the correct level. For the other walls I'll batton at the lowest full tile, rather than half way up the wall, so I only have the cut tiles to tile without a baton. Now that the tiles are in the right place under the window sill everything else will flow from there, so it will get easier!

As an aside, I know you use silicone at the wall joins, but do people using silicone or grout under windowsills, from wall to ceiling and ceiling to floor (same tiles on floor, no skirtings)? I'll be using Mapei Ultracolour grout.

Cheers
Iain