David Robinson wrote:
Disaster!

Focus Seramiksan 33cm x 25cm ceramic tiles
Newly (a few weeks ago now) plastered walls, which I've sealed with
Ultra Tile Prime IT FP (mixed with water according to the
instructions)
Ultra Tile ProGrip HG (purple top tub)

I looked at the "good stuff" (BAL and Mapei), but due to cost and lack
of local availability, for these tiles only (the others are porcelain,
so needed something better), I was advised the ProGrip HG would be
good enough to stick 30cm tiles to nice solid walls. Was this a
mistake? ...

I started putting the tiles on last Thursday. I finished one wall on
Sunday (not doing it full time! + lots of cuts! + I'm not very fast!)

I went in tonight to remove the wooden batten at the bottom of that
wall, ready to start another one. When I pulled the wooden batten off,
one tile came off. The one next to it also seemed lose and easily came
off.

Behind the tile, the adhesive wasn't set at all! It was still quite
soft. It was stuck OK to the wall, but came completely off the tile -
except where I'd packed the corner of one tile with extra adhesive,
where it was even softer (not dried at all) and stuck a bit of the
tile. The adhesive on the wall has clearly been squashed down by the
tile - maybe squashed by 50-70% i.e. the original 5mm ridges are now
1-3mm. The wall isn't particularly flat (not the best plasterer) so
the squashing was uneven, but even so...!

The adhesive seems to only to have set where it's exposed to the air
at the edge of tiles. Many of the tiles sound "hollow" when knocked.
In fact it's only the ones where I added extra adhesive to pack them
(due to uneven wall) that _don't_ sound hollow - but when I took those
off to add that extra adhesive, I could see the tile had been well
pressed down into the first lot.

What have I done wrong?

I've found this thread elsewhere...
http://www.tileforums.com/index.php?showtopic=7371
...which sounds very similar - but mine are supposedly ceramic tiles.
They say they're ceramic. They cut nice and easily with a cheap
diamond wheel cutter. The man at the adhesive shop recommended this
tile adhesive for them - in fact he recommended this tile adhesive for
them only - the other tiles I've got are porcelain (supposedly), for
which he sold me a mix-it-yourself job.

Is it true that tubs of adhesive don't dry on A4 sized tiles, like it
says in that thread?!

Any help / advice greatly appreciated.

I'm supposed to be finishing this job by having a full weekend at it,
but it doesn't look very hopeful now.

Cheers,
David.


I bet you have a waterproofed wall or summat.

Leave the batten up for a couple of weeks. It takes a LOT of time to dry
through the cracks.

I have personally found that Evostik waterproof DOES set faster than
simple air dying cements.