DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

hello my boyfriend is redoing our bathroom & is putting down quarry tiles on the floor,5 of these tiles the adhesive didn't set so he had to buy some more adhesive to redo them.2 of these tiles will still not set.They are next to the bath.It's an old house so floor isn't all level,so he has put down extra adhesive,but it has been over a week & it's still not setting underneath.we are trying putting a fan heater on them to see if that will help.The adhesive he is using is unibond tiling on concrete floors extra strong waterproof adhesive & grout.it's getting quite expensive so if any one could help that would be good.thankyou

Oh dear. It won't set because adhesive shouldn't be used as a levelling compund, it's far too thick as a result and because it's a combined adhesive / grout concoction which as a product I (personally you understand) hate with a passion.

You are not going to like this but I'm going to recommend that you take them up and level the floor with SLC prior to tiling.

Then I'd recommend that you use a bagged adhesive like BAL (or Ardex, Granfix etc equivalents) SPF or CTF3 and a separate grout like BAL Microflex Wide Joint Grout (or again others) equivalents. Alternatively you can persist with the Unibond after levelling - it's entirely up to you BUT you MUST level first.

Cheers

totally agree with rosebery - those ready mixed floor tile adhesives are a complete waste of time - especially the adhesives and grout in one.

i am guessing that you quite likely bought it from a very large diy chain where people walk around in orange overalls, or a similar chain where they walk around in green overalls with a little orange dot on the pocket. am i right?

do yourselves a big favour and go to a tile shop. buy the stuff that the professionals use. you wouldn't catch pros using that c**p, don't be fooled by the 'extra strong', its a relative term. it's only extra strong in comparison to their own other products.