Important update on tiling to Ditra from schluter...

[Dave]

Hi members.... i have always stuck to what schluter say when it comes to using there products....there has always been a debate about which adhesive to use when tiling onto ditra...especially when tiling with vitrified products as we are constantly told to use flexi products to fix porcelain and glass etc...so i contacted schluter.uk to clarify which type of adhesive is best because schluter.com insist that un-modified adhesives are used with Ditra...so to clear this up i emailed schluter.uk and i got a reply saying . just to use which ever adhesive suited the tile you were fixing..this wasn,t clear enough for me so i replyed asking exactly to explain whether we can use adhesives that are flexible or have porcelbond technology such as Bal products and i explained that the majority of the UK adhesive manufacturers input porcelbond in there adhesives now as porcelain tiles are very popular on our market...
I then had a personal telephone call from schluter.uk which i thought was very good of them to do and he explained what they advised to use as per the spec from germany and not schluter.com...
He then said he would put this in writing Via an email and this is what he wrote...so i hope this clears up any confusion as what adhesives to use....basicly flexi is ok with Ditra...


Dear David

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the use of Schlüter®-DITRA and it’s compatibility with cementitious adhesives.

Whilst the Installation Guide found on our American sister companies web site is generally generic, it must be observed that it is written for the North American market, therefore it quotes ASTM standards, which do vary greatly from the ones we use in Europe. In North America they use different parameters to classify adhesives, based on formulation and polymer types, also they need to take account of the various environmental conditions (temperature and humidity), throughout the continent. We recommend that all information for the UK is obtained via our own web site www.schluter.co.uk .

In Europe we use BS EN 12004 for adhesive classification, which we use ourselves in the UK. Cement based adhesives suitable for Schlüter®-DITRA are normally classified C1 or C2 adhesives based on the tile being used.

The use of BAL products with Porcelbond has been used with Schlüter®-DITRA for many years, which are generally classified as CT2 adhesives, we will generally advise that when using a highly vitrified tile a Single Part Flexible type of adhesive is used with Schlüter®-DITRA, depending on application.

If in doubt our Technical Department is only a phone call way.

Yours sincerely


Steve Dennis
Senior Business Development Manager

[whitebeam]

I can see promotion on the horizon for that one Dave

[pjc]

Well done Dave interesting thanks for keeping us posted

[Dave]

no probs lads..i just wanted to clarify what we can and can't use.....