Are 15 mm to 20 mm gaps too big!!

[Deleted member 9966]

Where abouts in Manchester are you?

There's a Tile Giant in Ashton under Lyne, and the nearest CTD is in Chester. Alternatively you could try Topps Tiles if there's one more local to you. The shop advisors should be able to tell you what the best adhesive and grouts to use for your tiles. Take a tile with you to the shop too, to be on the safe side.

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Sorry, just spotted the bit about primer too. All of the top brands - Mapei, BAL etc - do their own primers. If you speak with the shop advisors, they'll be able to recommend one for the floor you're tiling on to. The instructions on the bottles usually tell you how long the primer takes to dry.

When I laid my kitchen floor the BAL primer I used said to wait 30-45 minutes from what I recall. I gave it a good hour or so and it was perfectly dry and tiled no problems.

 

[chorltonred11]

Just checked on Topp tiles and they only seem to have BAL adhesives and grouts which the recommend. Are these ok to use?

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Yeah, BAL products are very good, and I used these when I did my kitchen floor. Don't forget to go for the powdered, cement based adhesive and it's up to you whether you choose to go for a rapid setting adhesive (takes around 4 hours or so to set) or a standard adhesive which will take substantially longer to set. The rapidset adhesives unfortunately tend to go off quicker so if you're unsure about how fast you'll be able to get the tiles down, I'd go for standard adhesive as it will stay wet in the bucket for longer.

And try and haggle on the prices as speaking from experience, BAL products at Topps are quite expensive if you're a normal Joe Public customer and not a tradesman.

And when you've done your masterpiece floor, take some pics and splash them on here so we can all have a looksie :hurray:

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

"IT ALL GOOD ADVICE ",HI MATE AND GOOD LUCK:welcome::welcome:

 

[chorltonred11]

My kitchen is around 15m2 so roughly how much adhesive and grout would i need? Also was the best way to get the mess up under tiles which i have created!! Thanks again for all your help

 

[chorltonred11]

I feel such an idoiot!!

 

[grumpygrouter]

I feel such an idoiot!!

Don't! We all learn by mistakes. You will need approx 3 bags of adhesive (20kg bags) as for the grout, that all depends on you grout joint size, depth and dimensions of tiles. Big tiles will use less grout and small tiles will use more. Gives us a few more details and we can help a bit further with this.

 

[obobsmith]

Good advice there, dont get yourself flustered and If you have the time dont use a rapid set addy, that way you will remove the time pressure that a rapid set will place on you and hopefully allow you more time to do it right. Topps own brand addy is good and considerably cheaper than BAL.

Curious as to how you placed the spacers to get 15-20mm grout line:yikes:.

Welcome to the forum.:welcome:

 

[obobsmith]

I feel such an idoiot!!

Don't we all learn ( or should :lol: ) from our mistakes, tiling is a lot harder than everyone thinks, and you've now come to a place where you can benefit from others mistakes/problems all you have to do is ask, someone will know or have a good idea of how to solve the problem.