curved wall

[harold]

curved wall

hi all

a friend has asked me to tile a curved wall around a bath for him. the wall is a stud wall with 2 sheets of either 6 or 9 mm ply screwed to it. i was going to seal/tank this with a shower tanking kit from tile giant and then tile with mosaics.

the problem seems to be that when the tiles are laid onto the curve the grout lines close up to nearly nothing. this happens with the smallest mosaics!

is there any way around having to cut up the mosaic sheets into single lengths and set them on the wall individually. this would take forever!!!

any help or advice would be much appreciated.

thanx

[whitebeam]

I'd getting rid of the ply to start with, 6 or 9mm willl flex all over the place.

[harold]

what would you use instead?

[Daz]

I agree with Whitebeam, you need a stable substrate to tile to in the first instance.

When you do get round to tiling, you should be able to stretch the mosaics sheet, depending on whether they are mesh backed or paper-faced.

Is this an internal curve? and how tight is the curve? any chance of some pics?

Daz

[harold]

it is an internal curve. its probably about a 1500mm radius but not sure, i'll try call in tomorrow and measure it.
the mosaics he's looked at are mesh backed. they've not been bought yet.
what other option is there rather than ply and could this be fixed over top of ply as i don't think ply can be removed as bath is built into walls.
i'll try and post some pics up tommorow so you can see the problems.

[Stewart]

Agree with above..... Change ply for curved marmox boards or similar.

[Tats]

All great advice but the issue here is the radius is to tight for the mosaic squeezing the joint together. Decrease the radius or apply a sheet and then cut with a knife and open out with the edge of a clean straight trowel or similar. Very time consuming and hard to get all the joints spot on but it is possible or live with the decreased joint size

[Barry bp]

Image0074.jpgP2100031.jpg
Here are pics of 6mm flex ply the internal one i tanked inside shower mosaic tiles stress the least amount used opf addy never had issue the radius is the issue internal curves create more problems if you want equal spacing it is very time consumingBut dont worry about ply with mosaic

[whitebeam]

Sorry Barry, I would'nt give ply at that thickness house room in any part of the house even if was tanked IMO

[Barry bp]

Sorry Barry, I would'nt give ply at that thickness house room in any part of the house even if was tanked IMO

Whitebeam I agree tiling on ply in larger areas especialy with larger tiles is a no no,but you can see from pics all is well if you could see the curves in the flesh and tap them they are rock solid no moisture can get behind or at the front mosaic tiles stress far far less than larger tiles far more stable. On a tight external curve i can get a better smoother surface I also reinforce ply from behind.By the way i get my Motolit today hopefully all the best Baz