Bathroom advice, Aquaboard Adhesive?

[jubba]

Hi guys,
I am a bit of a novice but did a good job on my kitchen floor and wall tiling with some great advice from this forum.

Just doing my bathroom now so figured this was the place to come.

Just erected a new stud wall and got some aqua-panels from wickes today, which I am going to fit around the shower bath area.

What i need advice on is a good adhesive to use?
This will be used to seal the joints and fix the jointing tape on the aquaboard.
Going to fit ceramic tiles 250 x 400.
I would prefer to use ready mixed adhesive as it will make the job alot easier for me.
Screwfix do : Bal Bluestar?, unibond?, mapegrip d2?, all suitable for showers?

Also the wickes guide recommends fitting the tape to the aquaboards "immediately before tiling" but surley i could do this in advance as long as I just put a thin coat of adhesive on?

You advice appreciated

Thanks

Lee

[nybor62]

powdered addy for me white flexy,i.e mapei , webber

[Scott]

A good fleixible powderd adhesive is the way to go. ITs a bit of a waste doing all the correct prep to then use the wrong adhesive. I appreciate they say its ok for showers but you soak some of the dried adhesive in water and it softens. You can get a slower setting cement adhesive, its not all rapid set.

Have you got the tape for the joints? I just use normal scrim tape and skim over the joint with tile adhesive

[kilty55]

hello jubba,pass on the tubbed adhesive especially on those sized tiles

its not much hardship to mix some powdered adhesive up,i would go for white also

[whitebeam]

Powdered addy, no tubbed gear

[TilerJames]

yep powdered white flexible addy is the way to go , tubbed stuff is nasty....

[aph257]

Do not use ready mixed

[jubba]

Thanks for the advice guys,

Just prefered ready mixed as I will be doing the tiling in small stints, so easy to just do a small area then pop the lid back on the tub!

If powdered addy means a proper job then I'll use that, any advice on what to use / where from? Something that has a longer bucket life and dosent go off too quick would be good as I'm not the fastest tiler in the world.

Have you got the tape for the joints? I just use normal scrim tape and skim over the joint with tile adhesive

Yeah Scottley paid for the proper tape even though it does look the same as the normal stuff!
You think i can fit the all the tape and put the thin layer of adhesive on then let it set before i start tiling?

[jubba]

Also where I have removed the tiles from the outer (brick) walls there is alot of damge to the plaster / render.

What should i repair it with to give a good surface to tile to: browning? bonding coat? does it need to be skimmed with finish plaster?

[Scott]

If its bonding or undercoat plaster then yes it will need a bit of skim over it. It the rest of the plaster sound? If its a case it looks like its all going to come off you could hack it off and dot and dab plasterboard on it? Or it the sections are large then you could patch the sections using the same method. For the tape just stick it on and skim a bit of addy ovr the top but keep it a thin skim.

Mapei do an extended set adhesive called keraflex maxi, once mixed it has a pot life of around 8 hours. However its more expensive than some of the others. Just mix smaller quantities as you go.

[jubba]

The wall not too bad, pretty solid just some patches /chunks come off, so will need filling with bonding coat and then skimmimg?

The mapei with 8hr pot life sounds good, I will probably get about 4 tiles in fitted in that time

[jubba]

If its bonding or undercoat plaster then yes it will need a bit of skim over it.

Just spoke to the plasterer and he suggested that he can just repair the walls with bonding coat, then I tile straight onto it. Is this OK? Will save me a few quid.

The mapei keraflex maxi spec sheet does state "Perfect adherence to all materials normally used in building" ?

Mapei do an extended set adhesive called keraflex maxi, once mixed it has a pot life of around 8 hours. However its more expensive than some of the others. Just mix smaller quantities as you go.

The spec for kerafix all sounds good but best price I can find is £28 a bag. Gonna cost a bit to do the whole bathroom!
So my question is are there any alternative adhesives that will be suitable for applying my tiles in my bathroom:
To Aquapanel and applying the tape.
Direct to bare plasterboard
Direct to my (bonded coat) walls?
Decent pot life, 2-3 hrs should be adequate

Thanks

Lee

[nybor62]

no bonding coat will need a skim ,

[DJS]

Don't forget to prep the skimmed walls with a suitable primer. I normally use MAPEI PrimerG.

+1 with the Keraflex Maxi. Lovely stuff to work with, can mix up a bucket and tile all day long

[Scott]

As above its not suitable for tiling to.

[jubba]

Thanks again.

Please can someone advise on the technical reasons for the need to skim.

Suction of surfaces / absorbtion of the moisture from the adhesive?

[jubba]

Plasterer has been tonight and says that bonding coat finish with PVA'd surface should be a great low suction surface to tile to, which makes sense to me.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Scott]

Jubba he is soooooo wrong

For starters dont use PVA, as for the bonding read the top of page 4 of this:

http://www.british-gypsum.com/PDF/DS...ing%20Coat.pdf

[jubba]

http://www.british-gypsum.com/PDF/DS...ing%20Coat.pdf

Thanks for the info, Read the section about tiling, now even more confused?

Seems to contradict itself, States :
"Tiles upto 20kg/m2 can be applied directly to the thistle finish except where the system includes a bonding agent."
(Does thistle finish mean a skimmed finish plaster?)
but then says
"Tiles should not be applied directley to thistle undercoats,"

Also says :
"As the total weight of plaster and tiles applied over a bonding agent is limited to 20kg/m3"

Don't expect the combined weight of the plaster and tiles to be anywhere near 20kg/m3.

Am i reading this all wrong? missing the point?

[Scott]

Thanks for the info, Read the section about tiling, now even more confused?

Seems to contradict itself, States :
"Tiles upto 20kg/m2 can be applied directly to the thistle finish except where the system includes a bonding agent."
(Does thistle finish mean a skimmed finish plaster?)
but then says
"Tiles should not be applied directley to thistle undercoats,"

Also says :
"As the total weight of plaster and tiles applied over a bonding agent is limited to 20kg/m3"

Don't expect the combined weight of the plaster and tiles to be anywhere near 20kg/m3.

Am i reading this all wrong? missing the point?

Thats the only bit you need worry about if your tiles are ok on the weight.

[jubba]

Thanks again Scottley,

Just read the stickey post on "PVA Vs Primer" very informative and now appreciate that he should not and will not be applying PVA to seal the surface!

In that thread they talk about sealing render and gypsum coats with primer prior to tiling? Is this not the same as bonding coat?

Can an alternative to bonding coat be used as long as primer is applied to avoid the cost of having it skimmed?