Kitchen backsplash

[adventureboy]

Hi there, I'm renovating my kitchen on a budget and have just removed the tiles from behind the kitchen work surfaces and around the windows. My plan is to re tile it myself. The tiles were only four high. I was dreading the damage, but 90% of the tiles came off without a fight. There were a few areas that pulled big chunks of plaster out, maybe 4-5 inches in size, so I patched a few bits of plaster board in and slapped in some pretty big blobs of polyfiller. It doesn't look bad. This has left the repaired areas slightly bumpy by a few mm's here and there - do you think it's ok to use a rotary sander to take the bumps down to match the surrounding straight bits? How perfect does the tiling surface have to be? I am trying my best to take my time and make a good job of it.
Thanks
Rob

[CJ CERAMICS]

using a sander to remove the excess should be fine, as to how good does the surface have to be, the simple answer is the better the surface the better the finish. Is the surface flat and square, try running a level across it from top to bottom and side to side and mark where you have any low spots, this will allow you increase-dercrease the adhesive to get a flat surface. if the surface is realy bumpy the best way for me personally is to trowell the adhesive on the wall and then fully cover the back of the tile aswell, but remember that this will increase the curing time on the adhesive before grouting.
hope this helps
chris

[Max@ableskills]

Also depends on the size of the tile that you are using and what pattern you are going to use when installing!. for instance large tiles in brickwork effect can be very tricky to fix if the surface is bad. You get lipping?

[adventureboy]

Thanks for that, Chris
I was pretty much thinking exactly along those lines to get a straight as possible finish. Much appreciated,thanks for your reply
Rob

[kilty55]

if its justa splasy area is it possible to dot and dab plasterbnoard onto the area

[adventureboy]

I'm planning on using 150mm x 150mm tiles, the standard square size. How long do you usually leave between tiling and grouting? I read somewhere that ready made combined cement/grout can be quite thick and make grouting harder work and that it's favourable to mix your own grout. Is that right?

[kilty55]

dont opt for ready made adhesive adventure if your going to pack out tiles as it wont dry properly,opt for a cement based flexi adhesive that you mix yourself and also same for the grout

[kilty55]

also if your grouts going to be light or white then go for a white addy mate

[Dave]

Hello Rob and welcome.. just to add to the top advice above, if you need to build out more than 3mm then tubbed dispersion adhesive is no good, switch to a slow set bagged cement based adhesive.. suitable for the bed depth required.

[adventureboy]

Thanks all of you for the great advice. I'll do all of the above things