Recommendation: polished black porcelain (again!)

[nomates]

hi everyone , i'm not a proffessional tiler , but have done quite a bit of tiling ,on a DIY basis before ....I have a question about the polished porcelain tiles I have just layed in my own home.....

they are 600 x 300 polished black porcelain tiles from topps , the guy's at topps were very unhelpful ,and when they knew I wasn't a tiler ...I must say asking for any advice ,was like getting blood out of a stone ...


anyway I am at the stage ready for grouting ....i have claened the transit grease off with 'fila' tile and stone stripper ,and have sealed the tiles with 'fila' polished porelain protector ....sold by and recomended by topps

firstly are the fila products any good?......and i'm worried about the grout staining the tiles (I'm doing a charcoal coloured grout)

what tips can you give me about the grouting ? ..and are the 'fila' products up to the job?

cheers in advance ....steve


here is a pic of the floor

[tfs]

Just ensure that the tiles are clean and have been sealed, if done well you should have no problems with the grout.

whats goin in that space where you can see the underfloor heating?

Welcome to the forum!

[deanotile]

'fila' is i top product totally suitable

[deanotile]

there are going to be some comments about you installation i think

[nomates]

Just ensure that the tiles are clean and have been sealed, if done well you should have no problems with the grout.

whats goin in that space where you can see the underfloor heating?

Welcome to the forum!

more tiles .....the wall is at a 45 degree angle ....and I needed to start on the right ,so left the tiles to go off for a day...then continued tiling the next day to go round the corner

[nomates]

there are going to be some comments about you installation i think

that sounds bad ....wassup?

[nomates]

here is the 45 angle i was on about ........the tiles were laid on 10mm ,warmup insulation board

[tfs]

your tiling looks good mate but one thing I would say is that it is best to level over the mat with self leveling screed. When I first saw that space my intitial thoughts were that you were going to fix some type of fixture there, heat mats should not be installed under any permenant fixtures so between that and due to the mat not being screeded over I was just curious

[Scott]

Tiing staight over with adhesive is fine as long as its covered, Its prefered to cover it with self leveller incase you catch the mat with the sharp edge of the trowel.

Looks good hope you are pleased with it. One tip for you when you seal them, dont use too much as it only needs a msall amount to go over these. It doesnt soak in like it can on natural stone and you need to really buff it off to get a nice shine on it. It takesloads of cloths or tissue to get it all off

[nomates]

Ah ok .....thank god .....the loo ,bath and all cabinates are nowhere near the warmup pad . my missus and I didn't want skirting board ...so the tiles go nice and tight to the walls ......I ran out of money so plastered the walls myself ...it took a bit of filler .....but I reckon a thin seal with some black silicone sealer is all thats needed ......thanks for your replies I was just worried about the grouting .......reading a few horror stories ect ......just to let you all know I'm a plumber (heating engineer) by trade ........go easy on me

thanks again

[TF Ed]

have you installed a de-coupling membrane?

[deanotile]

how thick is that ply if you don't mind me asking

[nomates]

Tiing staight over with adhesive is fine as long as its covered, Its prefered to cover it with self leveller incase you catch the mat with the sharp edge of the trowel.

Looks good hope you are pleased with it. One tip for you when you seal them, dont use too much as it only needs a msall amount to go over these. It doesnt soak in like it can on natural stone and you need to really buff it off to get a nice shine on it. It takesloads of cloths or tissue to get it all off

i used a radiator roller (the tiny sponge one) to apply the sealer ,I did make sure the tiles were quite wet ...guess i'll just have to buff and buff ...,the darker the grout ,the worse it is to get off .....i'm told ,just wanted some tips ...or methods in grouting as i've never known the correct way to grout

[tfs]

have you thought about using stripf the tile as skirting? This can be effective and give a nice finnish when you put a trim on the top edge. You would only need a few tiles to do this.

I see you took some time to cut the curve on those tiles mate.

[tfs]

Just remove as much grout with the grouting float as you can mate, it will make cleaning much easier.Get as little as possible on those nicw white walls

a tip I would give for grouting would be to mix as per manuafacturers instruction (water ratio etc) and go over all joints a few times untill you are certain that the grout has been compacted fully into each joint, do these things and there will be less chance of your grout failing (providing you floor is solid)

[nomates]

no de coupling membrane ......never heard of one ...

the ply is 18mm thick ......and is only under the bath ,this reduces the the leg length on the bath legs ,makes for a flatter floor ,and give somthing to screw the bath legs into .......the cupboards are on two pieces of 18mm blockboard as the leags they came with weren't long enough ,to accomadate the plinths

[deanotile]

so is the tiling on to chip board sheets?

[nomates]

I originally wanted some tile upstand for skirting ......but the 45 angle kippered me ,as a cut down tile wouldn't be long enough and the grout lines would go out .....so silicone it is ...


LOL @ the white walls ....i'm not sure this was a good colour choice , easy fix if it all goes a bit grubby

[nomates]

so is the tiling on to chip board sheets?

concrete floor , then tile adhiesive, then warmup insulation board ,then warmup underfloor heating pad , then more adhiesive ,and finally tiles

[TF Ed]

hi nomates
you definately need a de-coupling membrane in a situation where you have a plywood floor, with underfloor heating.. the de-coup, combats against lateral movement (side to side movement) due to expansion and contraction via the heat mat and timber!

as for the ply wood, then how you installed it, will determine how it copes with the possibilty of deflection (up and down movement)

[TF Ed]

concrete floor? so why the plywood? why not a backerboard or the likes?

[deanotile]

ok then just ignore me it looked like a wood floor nice job

[nomates]

hi aston tiling ........to be clear ......the ply wood is ONLY under the bath and units .....the tiles are on a concrete base .....but thanks for the advice .....the last time I tiled on a wooden floor ,I used a hardy backer board

[Scott]

HA!!!! nice one, he got us all!

Concrete floor is fine mate

If you get any trouble buffing off the sealer you can add more to aid the removal/buffing

[nomates]

concrete floor? so why the plywood? why not a backerboard or the likes?

for under a bath .......its good for a fixing ,not many plumbers screw the bath legs down....but I like too , the units needed lifting up .....as the legs they came with weren't long enough to accomodate the plinths ,(long story) so I ussed two lots of blockboard to make up the difference ........hope this makes sense

[TF Ed]

nice one nomates
sorry for the confusion.
ed ;0)

so just to be clear...what the underfloor heat on?

[nomates]

under floor heat is on ....warm up insulation board ....


should i clean the sealer off the tiles before grouting ,or leave it until I've grouted?

[TF Ed]

good man, i thought you laid the ufh directly on the concrete but you've used insulation boards

all the best
ed

[nomates]

cheers and thanks for the advice ,if I get into trouble tomorrow i'll be back

[Scott]

Id be inclined to polish it up first then if you get any trouble getting a nice finish after the grout you know at what stage its gone wrong.