Small Kitchen tiling job

[tommyc]

Hi folks

I need some serious advice because I havent a clue on how to lay floor tiles correctly and what the procedure is.
The kitchen is very small and the floor space is 6 m2. So before finding this website I went to B&Q and bought some of those 600mm by 600mm procelain tiles that no one likes on here. I need a step by step guide. I ripped up the old laminate floor and found these old small brown plastic tiles underneath so i ripped them up as well, it's a concrete floor but the glue from the tiles has stayed on the floor, could i stick the tiles to this? it solid glue and it is notched from when it was layed.
So questions, whats the best adhesive to use with these tiles, do i pva before putting adhesive down or what primer do i use, what size notch on the trowel do i use. The man at B&Q sold me some sealant for the tiles since coming on here not sure if I got the best so what sealant would you guys use for these tiles. Getting worried now because I was just going to slap some ready mix unibond stuff down then plonk the tiles on hey presto but since checking this website out there seems to more to tiling and all the different layers of sealants, adhesives, back boards, ufh ?, slc etc...
Any help appreciated apologise for the way it's been typed up also

Regards Tom

[Brinkley]

best method is to remove the bitumen then prime with accrylic primer use single part flexible adhesive which says porcel bond or is suitable for porcelain thena flexible grout

[Daz]

Hi Tom & welcome to TF.

B&Q 600's represent a challenge mainly because they can be very porous and not particularly calibrated for size.

With any polished porcelain I always use LTP MPG sealer but that is a personal preference and does not mean that it is better than many other brands on the market. Given that you are a DIY'er I would suggest that you seal the tile face prior to attempting to fix the tiles and again prior to grouting.

Without seeing any pics of your subfloor, I would suggest that you prime the floor surface with an acrylic primer (not PVA) and then apply a floor smoothing compound (slc - self levelling compound) prior to tiling.

You should use a good quality powdered flexible adhesive to fix these tiles, something like Mapei Keraquick (available from Tile Giant stores) or Ardex X7R. I would use either a 10mm solid bed trowel or a 12mm notched and backskim the tiles (cover the underside completely with the smooth edge of the trowel) as well as trowelling the adhesive to the floor.

If you are using a light coloured porcelain then use white adhesive, if it is a dark porcelain then you will get away with grey.

Good luck,

Daz

[andy8758]

Welcome TommyC - not too many questions to answer then!!

I like using this to remove bitumen, buy some spare blades for it - one will almost certainly break doing this. Reckon u got an hours work and alot of seat to pour!
TradeTiler.Ltd
Usually only polished porcelain needs sealing. But it does no harm to seal a tile that does not need sealing - just unnecessary cost.
DO NOT USE PVA to prime - use a proprietary primer like Mapei Primer G or BAL Primer APD.
Use one of these trowels to fix your tiles:
TradeTiler.Ltd

You then disappear into a range of options like under floor heating (then you would overboard to provide better heat dispersion), over boarding - not required unless problem sub-strata or underfloor heating - keep it simple for 6sq m just fix the tiles with porcelain friendly adhesive (it says on the packaging - suitable for porcelain).

Have a good weekend lol!

[whitebeam]

What cutter's do you have to lay the tiles

[tommyc]

Thanks for the fast replies folks, so not looking forward to scrapping up the bitumen. So i cant get away with leaving the bitumen and just putting the acrylic primer over it? I'm soooo lazy.

[tommyc]

I got an electric cutter somewhere in my shed which i used to tile my bathroom many a year ago. just to mention I am doing some wall tiles aswell on the kitchen, when taking the old ones off i ripped some of the paper layer off the plasterboard can i just prime that and then tile also could I use the adhesive for the floor on the tiles for the wall?

[tommyc]

[QUOTE=andy8758;481843]Welcome TommyC - not too many questions to answer then!!

I like using this to remove bitumen, buy some spare blades for it - one will almost certainly break doing this. Reckon u got an hours work and alot of seat to pour!
TradeTiler.Ltd
Usually only polished porcelain needs sealing. But it does no harm to seal a tile that does not need sealing - just unnecessary cost.
DO NOT USE PVA to prime - use a proprietary primer like Mapei Primer G or BAL Primer APD.
Use one of these trowels to fix your tiles:
TradeTiler.Ltd

You then disappear into a range of options like under floor heating (then you would overboard to provide better heat dispersion), over boarding - not required unless problem sub-strata or underfloor heating - keep it simple for 6sq m just fix the tiles with porcelain friendly adhesive (it says on the packaging - suitable for porcelain).

Have a good weekend lol!

^^ yeah I hope it doesn't stop raining

[tommyc]

[QUOTE=tommyc;481853]I got an electric cutter somewhere in my shed which i used to tile my bathroom many a year ago. just to mention I am doing some wall tiles aswell on the kitchen, when taking the old ones off i ripped some of the paper layer off the plasterboard can i just prime that and then tile also could I use the adhesive for the floor on the tiles for the wall?

Any advice on this guys and gals^^^