Thread: Wall Tiling Adhesive

liquid nails

get a decent notched trowell and use the mastic stuff, its all i ever use these days, holds the damn tiles to the wall perfectley

David
What is this 5 spot method you spoke of?

Hi Mark,

It is where a dob of adhesive is placed near the four corners of the tile and one in the centre.

Regards
David

G'day metal head (strange name :confused: ).

Using the old '5 spot' method, from my experience, the tiles will come off in time. The tile is to be fully covered with adhesive to have any lasting effect.

I have used aba flexible multi purpose adhesive (a tad expensive) and found it easy to use. Sort of a smooth toothpaste-consistency. It will stick to the notched tool as it dries, perhaps you could spread a fair area then clean up the tool.

I am always surprised at people going to Bunnies for advice, when they should have gone to a tile supplier

I was also recommened that stuff by Buinnings ... its still sitting in the shed if youi want it! These days I actualy prefer the unmixed stuff ... it isn't that hard to mix as you go and it actually comes off your hands when you wash them!!. All the Davco stuff Ive used has been great.

Thanks to everyone who answered my question(s) so promptly. I ended up purchasing Unifix by Selleys. Given it's expense (as well as its reputation) I will be using the 5 spot method still. The bathroom had been 5 spotted previously and not one tile had come off in at least the last ten years!!.

Ii did notice the "Davco" range but it did have one on the shelf for waterproof areas so I gave it a miss. I suppose the beauty of mixing your own stuff is at least you can make it to a consistancy that you want.

Regards
David

Originally Posted by Jacksin

G'day metal head (strange name :confused: ).

Using the old '5 spot' method, from my experience, the tiles will come off in time. The tile is to be fully covered with adhesive to have any lasting effect.

I have used aba flexible multi purpose adhesive (a tad expensive) and found it easy to use. Sort of a smooth toothpaste-consistency. It will stick to the notched tool as it dries, perhaps you could spread a fair area then clean up the tool.

I am always surprised at people going to Bunnies for advice, when they should have gone to a tile supplier

is it ASA Flex or ABA FLEX?????

its about $80 for 20 kg is that right???

Originally Posted by Jacksin

I am always surprised at people going to Bunnies for advice, when they should have gone to a tile supplier

Also our local tile supplier is about 40 % cheaper than Bunnings.

Bunnings is great for a lot of things, but for others they are expensive.

Peter.

First the product should be well stirred prior to use as it tends to separate and as previously posted use a toothed applicator for the job and you will have no problem as you are not using two tools for the one task. I would not recommend the 5 spot method as tiles like all materials move through expansion/contraction and i can see tiles comming loose with the 5 spot method and if a wall tile falls out when your kids are using the bathroom and cuts one of them how will you feel when he/she says to you Daddy why did you put me at risk by taking a shortcut.

Metal Head, Sturdee is quite right about tiling shops being cheaper, plus you get real advice there. I have found Davco premixed (white colour) to be ideal for walls, use a spatula or putty knife to put the stuff on the wall, then spread it with the notched trowel. Apart from that you can also spread it on individual tiles just like butter on your toast for tiles in corners etc. Then slide the tile into place, using spacers (the little plastic crosses), but dont bury them between the tiles, only put one arm of the cross in,so you can remove them later. I have done lots of bathrooms etc this way, and the tiles are all still on the walls (as far as I know). For the floor its best to use the Dunlop stuff that needs to be mixed with water. cheers Peter

Metal Head

As a complete novice, I learnt on the product you photographed. I agree with you on the messy part - it's revolting, I always had multiple wet cloths around. But I did find that the trowled on method very helpful for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the trowel application meant that the depth was constant, and the tiles lined up well on the wall. Secondly the tiles slipped around a bit, and the large surface area helped to 'fix' them in well.

I figured the initial extra cost was pretty minimal compared to either the cost of tiles, or getting a tiler in to do it.

Good luck!

Stop buying the stuff ant bunnings, they sell a20kg tub for $60 where a decent tile shop sells the same for about $45

Maybe this isn't a good way to tile but I found that if I buttered the entire tile with a notched tool - it's more like a BBQ scraper than anything else, then stuck the tile on the wall, I got a better result when it came to grouting. This was because the adhesive was only under the tile and didn't squeeze up between the adjoining tiles and reduce the depth of the grout.

This also gave me a cleaner job by not having adhesive all over the place. Yes it was slow but I don't do this for a living where time is money.