Flattening walls for tiling

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FreeD

FreeD

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If you are asked to flatten an unlevel wall that is going to be tiled do you flatten the wall and leave it at the existing level or flatten and level wall or give the customer the option level of flat. Level costs more?

Cheers
 
lol thanks that helps...my feeling is that flattening is a quick job but flat and level is alot more time consuming so the cost should be higher.
 
Place your straight edge on the wall and you will get an idea where to work off, depending on background and after PVA, starting right to left apply bonding and pull your straight edge vertically across both sides. If the bonding goes off quicker than expected just knock up more and fill where is needs it. Checking with straight edge and if you are happy then devil float the entire wall before bonding sets. Problem is its not recommended to tile onto backing plasters and you are suppose to skim over the bonding with but not finish to a smooth surface, but a lot of people do tile onto backing plasters
 
FreeD said:
lol thanks that helps...my feeling is that flattening is a quick job but flat and level is alot more time consuming so the cost should be higher.
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errrrrr....
eh?
im guessing you mean they want the wall 'plumb' as well as flat?
doesnt it depend on just how 'out of plumb' the wall is to start with? and what method you use to re-plumb it? and that obviously takes into consideration what materials you use for said method?

but yeh, i agree, if theyre tiling floor to ceiling for example, you want to know what tiles they intend to use, and the weight of them per square metre, where the wet areas will be such as shower/bath etc and what sort of standard theyre expecting you to work to based on that information. That will dictate your price.
overskimming a bathroom wall to take heavy tiles in a wet area may not be such a good idea....
 
Thanks Chris yep that is what I meant plumb and flat. Its not applicable to all walls sometimes you can't notice...but today I flattened a wall with bonding...it ran onto a column and you could see on the column that the wall was running out. I didn't level it because old house and I hadn't quoted for it. But didn't like to leave it like that so that brought me to think in future will give the customer the option Skimming it tmw.
 
thats what i meant by 'standard' really - bonding / board vs s+c...

everythings got a weight limit, boards, render, skimmed render being less than render on its own...
wet areas dont like bonding or skim...
bonding or hardwall should be skimmed before its tiled but only in dry areas
sand and cement or tile backer board is the way to go for heavy tiles in wet areas and then its just down to time and total cost of materials..
ive been caught out before - you go and quote for a respray and theyre on the phone a week later telling you the 600mm square 15mm thick tiles are causing em problems.... :rolleyes)
 
I should like to say that this and the other post on permeable render have been a bloody good read for a newbie like me - fair play, you both know your stuff and its interesting stuff. Cheers :o)
 
A decent tiler should be able to sort out walls that are out of plumb himself, everything Chriss has said is correct, myself if a wall needs squaring up and flatenning the safest stuff to use is the adhesive you are going to tile with, i only use cement based addys.
 
lucius said:
A decent tiler should be able to sort out walls that are out of plumb himself, everything Chriss has said is correct, myself if a wall needs squaring up and flatenning the safest stuff to use is the adhesive you are going to tile with, i only use cement based addys.
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agree like the weber-set great stuff
 
Depends how much dubbing out is needed. Rapid set is probably only good upto about 10mm at a time. Other options are wickes one coat plaster or bal quickset render.

Most tilers I know want the walls sorted before they come. Otherwise it holds them up. And it costs me more!
 
mate on my road got his bathroom done recently - large tiles. The tiler dabbed adhesive on each corner and sorta levelled em.

Trouble is when there's condensation it brings out the four dabs on each one of his posh tiles. He aint happy..
 
twitcher said:
mate on my road got his bathroom done recently - large tiles. The tiler dabbed adhesive on each corner and sorta levelled em.

Trouble is when there's condensation it brings out the four dabs on each one of his posh tiles. He aint happy..
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tell him the void behind the tiles is a low emissive air gap and as such is saving him money in heating bills...

although first time he slips and hits the tiles with a shampoo bottle he's prolly gonna crack em... :RpS_lol:
 
If a tiler has put large format tiles , or any tiles by dabbing i would sue him, he has not read the instructions on the adhesive and followed them and it is downright dangerous there is a good chance in time the tiles will come away from the wall and a large format tile landing on a childs head dosent bear thinking about.I have used one coat for squaring up realy bad walls but remember any gypsum product needs priming with a sutible primer if you are using a cement based adhesive.
 
I've seen a couple of 'tilers' D&D large format tiles. don't know how they sleep at night. Get the walls flat first and u'll have no problems using a notched trowel and getting a solid bed behind the tile. Tilings easy if the prep is good.

And what do you mean it brings out the 4 dabs? you can see them through the tiles?
 
the heat will dissipate through the tile where its in contact with the adhesive making those spots cold... thats why water will condense there only... the rest of the tile will be warm because theres nothing behind it to conduct heat through the tile into the wall, only air..
the condensation should appear all over the tile if its properly bedded...
 
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