Any tilers on here? Need some advice?

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Hove / Παρος

Apr 7, 2006

6,541

Hove / Παρος

• Dec 12, 2014

• #1

Dear fountain of all knowledge,

I'm having some problems tiling a small kitchen counter and backsplash.

I cut all the tiles to size, mixed up the adhesive and set to work. Finished everything in a half hour or so. The problem was that as the adhesive dried it became apparent that the tiles weren't going to stick - there was basically no bond between the back of the tile and the adhesive.

Now I should say that the backsplash and counter are built from plywood. It seems that the plywood absorbed the water out of the adhesive too fast and no proper bond could form.

A pain in the ass I thought, stripped all the tiles off and cleaned the adhesive off ready to go again.

I thought if I PVAed the plywood that would solve the problem but after browsing the web I'm reading conflicting opinions.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience tiling on to plywood? Was thinking maybe I should just use Mo More Nails or similar...

Any advice appreciated.

 

I

in the sticks

New member

Feb 16, 2014

23

• Dec 12, 2014

• #2

I've done some tiling but no means a pro, the plywood maybe absorbing the moisture from the grout, that will then dry it out, leaving it unable to bond, a pva wash should do the trick for you. Look on the bright side you could look at it as a practice run !

 

Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ

Hove / Παρος

Apr 7, 2006

6,541

Hove / Παρος

• Dec 13, 2014

• Thread starter
• #3

in the sticks said:

I've done some tiling but no means a pro, the plywood maybe absorbing the moisture from the grout, that will then dry it out, leaving it unable to bond, a pva wash should do the trick for you. Look on the bright side you could look at it as a practice run !

Click to expand...

Cheers mate! I thought pva would be a good solution too, but apparently the pva doesn't penetrate into the plywood enough and you end up with a weak bond between ply and pva. Might give it a text go and see, it's a kitchen counter so not a high impact zone.

 

Garage_Doors

Originally the Swankers

Jun 28, 2008

11,789

Brighton

• Dec 13, 2014

• #4

Use CT1 they won't move then

 

B

BensGrandad

New member

Jul 13, 2003

72,015

Haywards Heath

• Dec 13, 2014

• #5

Just spoke to Ben who is a tiler and he said that you havent primed the wood with strong enough PVA primer.

 

Psychobilly freakout

HellBilly

Feb 23, 2009

22,996

Brighton factually.....

• Dec 13, 2014

• #6

Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ;6702012 said:

Now I should say that the backsplash and counter are built from plywood. It seems that the plywood absorbed the water out of the adhesive too fast and no proper bond could form.

Click to expand...

Not sure its the same process, but the Plyboard should be WBP and not absorb water and then use a primer before adhesive. Thats the case for flooring anyway, I guess the same for vertical just a stronger adhesive.