hi lads,what you guys say about old style tiling(directly on morter)just using morter not adhesive,for me personaly its best way to lay floors in wet rooms or natural stone,ok islitle slowly to work walls on that type tiling but its old fashion style

Originally Posted by bigboy73

hi lads,what you guys say about old style tiling(directly on morter)just using morter not adhesive,for me personaly its best way to lay floors in wet rooms or natural stone,ok islitle slowly to work walls on that type tiling but its old fashion style

I think I will stick with the modern adhesives, they have been adapted and changed over the years to cope with modern living, ie UFH and wetrooms etc.
Plus they make you money by drying faster.

I'm a strong believer in evolution although the old ways stood the test of time and fulfilled the purpose at the time

some people dont want to pay for screeding,so wet fix it is.2 day job done in one.other than that a lot of manufacturers wont warrant their tiles unless you use adhesive,ie fully vitrified

never tried it before but i am with the lads regarding the newer products.

No efflorescence probs when not wet bedding..

yeah,work on adhesive make our money dry faster,heheh,but i was mention to say did you try to work on this type tiling in your exsperiance,also what you think lads about quality work what can be done,not about speed,personaly is great for laying floors because doesnt matter how much out of level is floor u can make it perfect,same with walls,afcourse talking about brick or block walls,heheh

I think its good to remember the old ways of doing things but there is a reason things move on and that is progress, if you have the time and the build calls for it nostalgia is a lovely thing IMHO....Alby

Not many of us left now (sand/ cement fixers)

Horses for courses really, ive seen a few bad jobs ,usually , when someones opted for adhesive, for ease, time, cost etc s & c would have ensured a less problematic journey in the long run

In modern houses now you could'nt use the old methods as sand/cement bedding, far to much movement

This method still has its place and for certain situations I enjoy tiling like this when its needed, there is no better method for fixing uncalibrated stone where it may vary in thickness up to half an inch and external work where falls are needed this method again is a very useful means of achieving good results imo

Most of our jobs are in old houses and the floors and walls are a bit "less than flat, plumb and square". The majority of the installations we do are on mud, although we almost never wet-set them, but instead let the beds cure and then use thinset or medium bed mortars to set the tile or stone.

yup i also beliewe this method tiling can be used in this modern construction,generaly question wasnt about speed but about quality work,and yes stil in south europe lots of people demand to be done on their private houses

it still is the best way

bobo - what would you say are the benefits?

it is the only right way to do the natural stone,not talking about ceramics

I much prefer to use sand cement when working with natural stone, currently doing around 440 meters of granite and limestone in a private house and only 20 meters of its been done with adhesive due to it not having the bed for it ( summer house )

The main benefits to this method john would be loads of work about, what might be a couple of weeks work now would be a couple of months work with the monolithic method. You would,nt get any tom dick or harry doing it either, it had its good points.

Like other older time served tilers I quite like the odd sand/cement job but I have to admit this easy life provided by bagged adhesives has extended my enjoyment in this trade.
Although we may complain about the costs of adhesives, they have to be a saving compared to the time spent breaking the ice of the water barrel and preparing a flat/level background - but then again you only have to blame yourself for any discrepancies in the final finish.

Its not that long ago having to break ice off water barrels etc its still the used mostly if its a german spec, not nice. Site work these days can be a nightmare, the prep (by others) can be disgraceful and theres only so much you can do to correct it, so we cant be held responsible for any discrepancies in the final finish. Weve all heard it before "a good tiler will get over that" its annoying. The main problem now apart from the muppets being employed on sites all over the uk is the rates of pay people are being asked to work for, I personally know top notch tradesmen who at one time had pride in what they did but not any more. Its the old you pay mickey mouse wages you get a mickey mouse job, and I know where they are coming from. It does,nt help us guys when we have to follow them as its our finish thats scrutinised. Most sites employed clerk of works years ago and we used to hate them but there was quality control across the board and thats whats missing now, we miss them. Never thought I would hear myself say that.

I dont miss clerk of the works as I never met one that wasnt trying to deliberately slow the job up and that wasnt full of their own self importance, glad to see the back of them tbh

I've had the pleasure of working on sites with two versions of a Clerk of works, one was a really good guy and just made sure everything was done right, the other was an absolute nightmare...never so many trades going back on good work for snagging.

I have lived out in Tanzania E.A. for a year or so. There, they only use sand and cement to fix down tiles, be it stone or ceramic. I can't remember seeing loose or broken tiles in many places. all houses are normally built with concrete blocks and have sand and cement render both internally and externally. Areas that need to be tiled are laid straight on to the blocks using sand cement mix..

It's good to have the skills to work with mortar on floors and walls, and to be able to take on a job that needs it. THis can be a competitive advantage over other guys that don't know how to do that type of work.

Do like Sand Cement fixing with stone, havent done it in a while. very enjoyable & hard work

the place i am currently working in at the moment all there tiling has been done old sand cement way so thats what i have to do screed up then stick the quarry tile to the bed just like terrazzo tiling only smaller tiles they have loads of terrazzo to do aswell

That's why Im a "MORTAR FORKER"y013.JPG