Hi,
I have just finished tiling the kitchen and will be moving onto the
bathroom.

I notice for tiling bathroom walls my adhesive specifies to use a solid
bed so there are no voids.

For the kitchen floor we useds a 10mm notched trowel and combed through
the adhesive.


So does a solid bed mean I use a flat edges trowel to put adhesive on
and dont comb through any grooves?

I imagine it must be more difficult to judge the right thickness of
adhesive this way also?

wrote:

So does a solid bed mean I use a flat edges trowel to put adhesive on
and dont comb through any grooves?

Yes, you treat it like you are skim plastering with the stuff. Once it
is on and level(ish) you can also use the grooved trowel to make ribs
(ribs make it easier to bed the tile on) - but unlike normal you don't
push it right through to the base.

Note that you only really need to use this technique in wet service
areas. So fine for the shower walls, but no necessary for the remainder
of the bathroom.

I imagine it must be more difficult to judge the right thickness of
adhesive this way also?

It is a little - but not much. It is also partly why its a good idea to
stick ribs on top, since it gives you a bit more latitude when pushing
the tiles home to get them level with each other.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
wrote:

So does a solid bed mean I use a flat edges trowel to put adhesive on
and dont comb through any grooves?

Yes, you treat it like you are skim plastering with the stuff. Once it
is on and level(ish) you can also use the grooved trowel to make ribs
(ribs make it easier to bed the tile on) - but unlike normal you don't
push it right through to the base.


Cheers for clarifying that :-)

Note that you only really need to use this technique in wet service
areas. So fine for the shower walls, but no necessary for the remainder
of the bathroom.

I imagine it must be more difficult to judge the right thickness of
adhesive this way also?

It is a little - but not much. It is also partly why its a good idea to
stick ribs on top, since it gives you a bit more latitude when pushing
the tiles home to get them level with each other.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

wrote:

So does a solid bed mean I use a flat edges trowel to put adhesive on
and dont comb through any grooves?

No, it means that you apply a thickness of adhesive, typically 4-6mm and
lightly comb the surface. The idea is that air does not get trapped
behind the adhesive giving maximum contact area and leaving no voids
which fail to support the tile under point loads. For uneven floors, the
thickness can be increased locally to the maximum specified by the
manufacturer. As you are not a professional tiler, if this is the case,
patching the floor with PVA/mortar at least a day before is the easy
route to follow.

http://www.axp.mdx.ac.uk/~john49/faq0.htm

will give a pointer to my tiling FAQ, but also to the rest of mine.

John Schmitt