Help!: Garage Floor Advice Please!!

[wee.ebbwman]

Hi Guys,
I have a garage floor approx 7x6 metres in size, bare concrete that I'm going to tile using 600x600mm porcelain tiles. I would really appreciate some advice on the following:-

1) Does the floor require priming with pva or equivalent prior to tile fixing.
2) What adhesive would you recommend suitable for the job, BAL, Mapei or other.
3) Are expansion joints required on a floor this size.
4) Should the adhesive be spread on both the floor and tile or just floor only.
5) What type of grout should be used.

I look forward to your replies

Regards,

Neil

[whitebeam]

Hi and welcome..

I would prime the floor with an acrylic sealer, mapei g bal apd or sbr, the latter thinned to a 3-1

Adhesive would be a single part flexible, do you have a tile giant in your area

Do you have any movement joints in the floor already

If the tiles have a deep profile on the backs, yes back skim before fixing

Mapei ultra grout, can be purchased from TG or screwfix

[wee.ebbwman]

thanks for the reply.

I dont have a tile giant in my area only a Topps Tiles, are they a bit of a rip off on the prices though??

My local tile shop only has 'Palace' brand adhesive/grout, not sure if youve heard of this brand or if their any good.

Regarding the floor there are no movement joints in the concrete at present.

The profile on the back of the tiles is not that deep quite shallow, but I was just a little confused as I have read some advice of skimming the floor AND back buttering the tile also, so just wanted to clarify before I start hopefully this weekend.

[Sir Ramic]

Spread the floor with a notched trowel, I would use 10mm for those tiles myself and use the flat edge of the trowel to skim the backs of each tile too.
As for expansion, lleave a perimeter expansion but you do not really need anymore . Personallly if it was my floor then I would have a joint runing through the middle. This could either be a preformed joint or a silicone joint.
Palace adhesive is not a product I would choose to use.
Where about in the country are you ?

[wee.ebbwman]

I'm living in south wales area, sunny ebbw vale lol.. not sure where to source the adhesive from, as I mentioned the closest national I have is a Topps Tiles and the only Tile Giant store I can find is in Cardiff which is about an hour away but will have to bite the bullet and travel I suppose. Any ideas of how much a bag of 25kg adhesive will cover approximately using the 10mm trowel and a light skim on the back of the tile.

[deankyall]

call tg first,then get a price they will rip you off just as much as topps if your not trade,plus you will have petrol costs ,time etc,you will get about 5m2 per bag if back skimming

[jay]

just make sure concrete is clean (no paint or oil stains dirt ect)

[wee.ebbwman]

So would I be right in suggesting the use of either Bal single part flex or Mapei keraquick rapid set and which one would be the preferred option.

[whitebeam]

Mapei out of the two, if Bal is the only one you can get locally then so be it..

[wee.ebbwman]

ok thats great, thanks for all your advice guys really apreciate it!!

[Dave]

As Jay above.. Garage floor is it clean.. No contamination..?

[Rob01]

does the addy have to be flexi seen as its on concrete?

[Dave]

Nope..but you will find that the majority of adhesives are modified for their usage with porcelain tiles.

[Rob01]

ahh right.

[wee.ebbwman]

yes dave garage floor is clean and free from contamination, slab layed approx year ago, cleaned and vacumned couple of weeks ago.

[wee.ebbwman]

one last question guys, if I'm going to use a 10mm trowel would that be a square notched or round notched?? (bit thick sounding I know buts whats the difference between the two in terms of bed??)

[whitebeam]

The round notch tends to give good coverage because of the wide bed of adhesive