Product category:
Floors
News Release from: Ardex UK | Subject: Ceramic and mosaic tiling
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 08 August 2005
Ceramic and mosaic tiling in the leisure
industry
Cyril Potter, Chief Chemist at ARDEX UK discusses ceramic and mosaic tiling in the leisure industry.
Cyril Potter, Chief Chemist at ARDEX UK discusses ceramic and mosaic tiling in the leisure industry Ceramic tiling and mosaics are both excellent and popular finishes for providing an attractive yet durable and easily maintained surface in wet and dry locations such as swimming pools, changing rooms and showers
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 30 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
System Ardex for new Sports and Media Centre
Ardex UK and Cerface Limited recently provided a 2500m2 tiling and grouting solution at the newly developed Tonbridge School Centre for Sports and Media.
West Cumberland Hospital gets the Ardex treatment
Ardex worked with flooring contractors TT Flooring of Workington, who were commissioned to install the floorcoverings for the refurbished West Cumberland Hospital.
Ceramic tiles and mosaics are also effective in specialised locations such as steam rooms, sauna floors and spa baths providing that appropriate backings are installed.
In most cases the ceramic tiles and mosaics are fixed using adhesives, the use of cement and sand fixing techniques are not appropriate for the denser and thinner ceramic tiles used in these locations.
Any in situ applied materials rely on the correct preparation of the background and the ceramic tiles and mosaics being installed in accordance with the adhesive manufacturer's recommendations.
Further reading
Ardex new Microtec Tile Adhesives range
Ardex UK will be at the Tile and Stone Show and will showcase and demonstrate their recently launched Microtec Tile Adhesives range.
New tile adhesive is fixing the future from Ardex
Ardex, innovator in high performance tile fixing systems announce the UK launch of its new premium tile adhesive, the Microtec range.
Call of duty answered by Ardex at Gamestation
Ardex Feather Finish to smooth over the new plywood floor at Gamestation new store in Hull.
This aspect is particularly important when the ceramic tiles and mosaics are installed in wet locations, on floors and in locations where the installed materials are likely to be subjected to heavy impact or loads.
CHECKING BACKGROUNDS.
There are established requirements for the condition of the background before the fixing of ceramic and mosaic tiling.
The prime requirement is for the background to provide a rigid and stable base that is adequately flat.
In most leisure facilities this requirement excludes the use of wood based sheets and boards as backgrounds for tiling.
In situ backgrounds such as concrete blockwork cement and sand render and screeds require adequate drying times and the drying periods give in BS Codes of Practice are for use under good drying conditions so that under normal site conditions these drying periods should be extended.
Where ceramic tiles and mosaics are installed with adhesives the surface of the background should be checked with a 2 metre straight edge resting on the surface, any gap under the straight edge should not be greater than 3 millimetres.
This surface flatness requirement applies regardless of the type of ceramic tile adhesives used and the thickness of the adhesive bed.
If the completed floor tiling has to be laid to falls the required falls should be preferably formed in the concrete base or screed In wet locations the backgrounds should be water-resistant, ie they should retain their strength in wet and in dry conditions, so that the adhesion of the ceramic tiles and mosaics will not be affected under all conditions of exposure.
For this reason wood and plaster based backgrounds are not used in wet areas.
Surface preparation is also important, not only does the surface have to be clean and dry but it should also be free of all barriers to adhesion.
With certain backgrounds this means that some form of mechanised preparation is required to remove all cohesively weak and loosely adhered materials from the surface.
With floor screeds and concrete sub-floors this may involve the use of contained shot blasting.
Note that the use of primers is not a substitute for the necessary surface preparation.
In all cases the adhesive manufacturers advice should be followed.
FIXING PROCEDURE Before commencing tiling the following points should be checked.
* Is the background (floor or wall) suitable for the location.
* Is the background sufficiently flat and level?.
* Is the substrate stable, sufficiently dry and mature?.
* Is the substrate rigid?.
* Is the substrate free of dust, dirt and other barriers to adhesion?.
* Has the substrate been primed with the primer where recommended?.
The adhesive used should be suitable for the location where the tiles are being fixed so that adequate adhesion will be maintained at all times.
BS 5980 has now been superseded and the adhesives used should be selected for performance from the new standard for tile adhesives, BS EN 12004.
Most adhesives are slump-resistant so that wall tiles can be fixed without sliding down the wall.
Where the adhesive has to be mixed before use, ensure that the manufacturer's instructions are carefully followed.
Cementitious adhesives should never be mixed with more water or admix than the maximum amount recommended by the adhesive manufacturer otherwise the performance of the adhesive will be impaired.
Epoxide resin adhesives are supplied as pre-gauged components to be thoroughly mixed together immediately before application.
The ceramic tiles are fixed by applying the adhesives with a suitable notched trowel as a spreading gauge that provides a uniform ribbed adhesive bed into which the tiles are pressed.
The adhesive should preferably be trowelled out as straight ribs and tiles should be pressed into the ribbed adhesive bed whilst the ribs are still wet and workable, ie within the 'open time' of the spread adhesive.
The tiles should be firmly and thoroughly pressed in so that the adhesive ribs are squashed as flat as possible so that the tiles are thoroughly bedded in.
The aim is to achieve maximum contact between the adhesive and the back of the tile.
For internal wall tiling in dry locations more than 50% contact with the back of the tiles should be achieved.
When fixing tiles on floors, in wet locations, eg shower walls, and in external locations the tiles should always be 'solid bed fixed' so that no voids remain behind the tiles.
The adhesive should be trowelled out as a ribbed bed as described above but the backs of the tiles should be 'buttered' by trowelling out a thin layer of the adhesive on the back of each tile immediately prior to bedding it into the wet and workable ribbed adhesive bed.
If pourable floor tile adhesives are used it is possible to fix the tiles in a solid bed of adhesive without having to butter the backs of the tiles.
A freshly fixed tile should be occasionally lifted to check that the size of notched trowel and the bedding technique used results in no voids being left beneath the tile.
When bedding is found to be incomplete either increase the angle between the trowel and substrate when combing out the adhesive ribs or use a trowel with larger notches.
The advice of the adhesive manufacturer on the size and type of notched trowel should be followed.
Too large an amount of adhesive under the tiles can result in excess adhesive grinning up through the joints and the tiles 'swimming' on the adhesive so that there is an increased risk of lipping at the joints, whilst too small an amount of adhesive will prevent solid bedding.
GROUTING.
For most locations a cement-based grout will be suitable and the product selected should be appropriate for the width and depth of the joints as well as the area of use.
The joints between the normal ceramic floor tiling will be at least 3mm wide and normally not greater than 10mm wide.
Mosaics generally have narrower joints and the grout selected should be fine enough to enable the joints to be solidly filled with the grout mortar.
Cement-based grouts for wall and floor tiling should always be mixed with the recommended amount of water since too much water will result in a joint mortar that will be softer than that obtained with the correctly mixed grout.
The grout mortar should be thoroughly worked into the joints to ensure that they are completely filled, removing excess mortar within the working time of the mortar.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS.
In swimming pools and in showers where the main water supply delivers soft water it may be necessary to use an epoxide grout mortar to prevent erosion of the joints.
In swimming pools the water can be treated to make it less aggressive to cement based mortars by correctly balancing the pool water through increasing the calcium hardness and bicarbonate alkalinity of the pool water; guidance on this can be obtained from appropriate technical publications.
Showers can also present difficulties if adequate precautions are not taken to prevent ingress of moisture into the background behind the tiling.
The tile bed is not a tanking membrane and products specifically designed for application prior to the tiling are available to prevent ingress of water into the tiled backgrounds.
In wet locations such as swimming pool surrounds, showers and wet change areas the sub-floors should be laid to adequately draining falls.
As a general rule the falls should not be steeper than 1 in 35 and any falls should be formed in the screed or sub-floor and not during the installation of the floor tiling.
Where it is necessary to use sheets and boards as backgrounds for ceramic and mosaic tiling then the use of proprietary tile backer boards is recommended.
Check with the supplier that these boards are dimensionally stable in changing moisture conditions and obtain the necessary instructions regarding the installation of such boards.
Tiling in swimming pools is a specialised area and it is worth consulting the documents listed below for any necessary advice.
It is hoped that the above information will provide a helpful overview on the installation of ceramic and mosaic tiling in leisure facilities but more detailed information is available in manufacturer's technical literature and in the following documents.
British Standards:.
BS 5385: Part 1.
BS 5385: Part 3.
BS 5385: Part 4.
BS EN 12004.
The Tile Association: Advisory and Guidance notes. Request a free brochure from Ardex UK ...
• Ardex UK: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Buildingtalk email newsletter
• Buildingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
