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Floor tile advice please


Chrissie
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We want to tile a downstairs apartment, i.e bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom, using the same tiles throughout.  But I'm totally bewildered by the choice on offer everywhere.  I understand grès is sandstone, but there is "grès émaillé", "grès ceramico" as well as just "carrelage" and something else whose name I've forgotten but it's something like "planche forme".  They all seem to be much the same thickness, and although they come in various sizes, the price doesn't seem to follow naturally.

Can anyone offer a fool's guide to tiling? Or alternatively just suggest what sort we should have, bearing in mind that we want to use the reception area for general large-scale entertaining and so don't want it to mark or stain....

I know someone out there will have just the answer!

Chrissie (81)

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Hi

Anything 6mm and over is good for tiling floors, and generally a matt finish. I have to say the laying is the most important thing, floors can be laid with wall tiles without problems, if laid properly.

Building materials in France are at best questionable, I would recommend using swimming pool grade adhesive and grout, the small extra cost is worth it for peace of mind.

regards

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I'm not sure about the tile types, but really as long as it is thick enough for floor tiles then just get whatever you like the look of!

If the tiles are more than about 20cm x 20cm then you need to use a cement-based adhesive - not a ready mix or regular tile adhesive because it will never fully dry in the middle of the tile as those adhesives set through evaporation (which can't happen with big tiles), whereas the cement based one sets by chemical reaction.

Matt

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When I did our bathroom, about 1 in 5 tiles came up after the adhesive had gone off. Tapping them revealed that they were loose. They were laid direct onto levelling compound, using cement based adhesive, rigorously mixed EXACTLY as per instructions, volume to volume. I still have the photo I took of the floor covered with scraps of masking tape to mark those I'd had to relay, so I could check them before grouting. Heartbraking.

I lifted them, removed old adhesive, (which was hard but not completely "off"), and relaid them after painting the tile AND the floor under it with diluted PVA.

In future, any floor I do will get PVA before I tile it.

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Good advice.  Depending on the tile, I have also taken to dipping them in water before laying so that the ceramic back of the tile soaks in some water and doesn't instantly dry out the adhesive by sucking the moisture out of it before it properly goes off.

Matt

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[quote user="mmaddock"]Good advice.  Depending on the tile, I have also taken to dipping them in water before laying so that the ceramic back of the tile soaks in some water and doesn't instantly dry out the adhesive by sucking the moisture out of it before it properly goes off.

Matt
[/quote]

Yes, I'd thought of that too, but I reckon a coat of PVA on both will suffice. The water trick was one a bricky showed me ages ago.

Anyone else tried to put a plaster moulded lighting cornice(??) on the ceiling WITHOUT PVA, using plaster adhesive? AND had it come down? I reckon mine soaked up around 63 GALLONS of water, and still asked for more, before I thought of the PVA......mind, this was some years ago, and I was a bit greener then[;-)]

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Thanks for all the replies.  I picked up the Lapeyre brochure the other day and it has a lot of really useful info on which tiles are suitable for what, and each of their ranges is labelled accordingly.  The only bad thing is I don't like any of their tiles.  Oh well.

Chrissie (81)

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[quote user="tj"]

Building materials in France are at best questionable, I would recommend using swimming pool grade adhesive and grout, the small extra cost is worth it for peace of mind.

[/quote]

 

What! products made by Weber Broutin and Mapei (to name just two) are sold worldwide and extremely good quality. use the right glue and grout for the job - your builders merchant will advise you, use tiles at least 6 mm thick on the floor. If the floor is rough it is best to use some self levelling compound (regreage) as the money spent on this will be saved in glue. Use a 10 or 15 mm comb trowel to spread the glue.

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