Advice on Tiling Floors

[Dave]

Advice on Tiling Floors


Preparation

Concrete/Cement-Sand Screeds

Ensure that the floor is free from any surface contamination such as oil, grease and dust. A dusty cement floor may be sealed by using a suitable sealer e.g. BAL Bond SBR. Otherwise, degrease and clean the floor thoroughly to enable full contact between the floor and the tile adhesive you will be using.
Existing Unglazed Ceramic Tiles, Quarry Tiles and Natural Stone

All existing tiles should be firmly bonded to the floor and in sound and clean condition. Test the tiles for solidity and bonding. Any hollow sounding or defective areas should be cut out and the section made good with BAL pourable thick bed or BAL PTB flexible, applied over a slurry bonding coat (2:1 - adhesive to BAL bond SBR).
Wooden Floors

Ensure that the existing floor is rigid and firmly fixed. There must also be sufficient ventilation, which is particularly important at ground level.
You may tile over floorboards. If doing so, please check that they are strong and solid without any movement. The boards should be free from varnish and other contaminants. Screw them down along the joists at minimum 300mm centres to ensure more solidity. Prime with BAL Prime APD and fix tiles using BAL Fastflex.
BAL Fastflex can be used to fix tiles to both soft wood tongue & groove floorboards and flooring grade chipboard sheets. Alternatively, overlay the boards with minimum 15mm thickness exterior grade plywood or waterproofed plywood. This should be fixed down at 300mm centres, in both directions, using screws or ring shank nails. Seal with BAL Bond SBR. Tiling can then be done with an adhesive such as BAL Rapidset Flexible or BAL Single Part Flexible.
Mastic Asphalt

Must be in sound condition and have adequate cohesive strength. It should also be of a suitable grade e.g. flooring. The surface should be sufficiently regular. Remove any surface contaminants.
Fixing

Before starting to fix the tiles arrange the tiles in such a way that small cuts are avoided. Then spread adhesive on to the floor with a solid bed trowel. (Note: Always do small sections at a time and try to work quickly, especially if the adhesive is fast setting. If left for too long, the adhesive will start to dry and the tiles will not adhere.) If necessary, ‘butter’ the backs of the tiles with adhesive, especially the corners. There should be no air trapped behind the tiles. Make sure they are solidly bedded.
Leave at least 3mm spacing between the tiles. Leave more if quarry or hand-made tiles are being used. It is recommended that tile spacers are used to acheive even and uniform spacing.
If you use a rapid-setting adhesive, it will set in 2 to 3 hours.

Grouting

Use a suitable grout such as BAL Superflex Wide Joint Grout or BAL Microcolour Wide Joint Grout. These are available in a range of colours.
On wooden floors where tiles are fixed to a single layer of tiles it is recommended that BAL Admix GT1 is diluted 1:1 with water and that the solution is used to mix the grout. This makes the grout more flexible. Dilute 2:1 with water where tiles are fixed to a plywood overlaid floor.
Please note that some coloured grouts can stain certain tiles. Check using a spare tile or a usually hidden section of the floor. If necessary use BAL Protective Sealer to protect the tiles from staining.

Fully Vitrified Glazed Porcelain Tiles

Use an adhesive that is suitable for porcelain such as BAL Rapidset, BAL Gold Star, BAL Single Part Flexible or BAL Rapidset Flexible. If large format tiles (400 x 400 mm or larger) are being fixed then use BAL Pourable Thick Bed, or BAL PTB Flexible.
Grout with highly polymer modified grouts such as, BAL Superflex Wide Joint Grout if the tiles are fully vitrified. Alternatively use a 2:1 or 1:1 water:BAL GT1 mix with a wide joint grout.

Slate

When fixing slate tiles onto concrete use BAL PTB Flexible and grout with BAL Wide Joint Grout.
When fixing onto timber floors, the floors must be stable and rigid. The extra load of the natural stone must be taken into account. Laying 15mm WBP or marine grade plywood will strengthen the floor. This must be screwed down to the existing timber floor at max 300mm centres.
When fixing tiles onto timber floors, always use a flexible adhesive and grout such as BAL Fastflex adhesive and BAL Superflex Wide Joint Grout. Grout joints between slate tiles can be 6-10mm. Apply BAL Impregnating Tile Sealer ideally before fixing but at least prior to grouting. Be sure to follow the instructions.
After grouting, clean the floor using clean water and a suitable sponge. Allow enough time for the grout to dry thoroughly, minimum 24 hours. Seal with BAL Floor Tile Polish making sure to follow the instructions.
When cleaning the floor during normal use, use BAL Floor Tile Clean and Wax.

Limestone

For the best results, ensure that there are no unintended colour or shade variations. To do this, lay out the tiles, then mix and adjust them until you have an acceptable colour blend and all the colours are distributed randomly. When fixing the tiles to a concrete screeded floor BAL Single Part Flexible White, BAL Rapidset Flexible White or BAL CTF3 should be used.
Seal the tiles with BAL Impregnating Tile Sealer either before fixing or grouting. This will reduce the porosity which will help protect against staining. It will also enhance the natural appearance and act as the foundation for the surface finish. It is always recommended to carry out a trial on a spare tile. Seal it and then try some grout on it. Check that grout is not absorbed into the tile. Add a further coat of sealer if necessary.The tiles can then be grouted with BAL Superflex Wide Joint Grout or BAL Wide Joint Grout. BAL Floor Tile Polish may then be applied to provide a hardwearing, satin finish to protect the tiles against stubborn dirt and stains

Please note other products can be used, i just used bal products as an example.
...........dave..

[GazTech]

Absolutely sensational posts Dave...many thanks for your efforts that continue to make this forum numero uno!....Gaz

[brian c]

excellent post DH.