Tiles and Tileing in Thailand

[LesBonsTemps]

Well, the tiles are pretty close so it doesn't look awful, but given the choice if I was rich and it was my place the whole lot would be knocked up and granite or marble put down.

Well, too late now, but what I would have done is put in a contrasting tile on a diagonal pattern -- would have kept the eye from trying to match up the lines.

[charlie]

Tile adhesive and cement are differant products.

Hi there DD.....
We're ready to tile the new bathroom extension...........
As the materials man, and chief (only) financier I'd like to make sure the tiles stick to the wall.
We've used Superblock, now it's a given that there are two special cement mixz for gluing the blocks and for the finishing plaster.

What adhesive ( if different) do you recommend for the tiling?
Should the S'blocks be plastered before tiling or would the adhesive bond better to the S'blocks?

[dirtydog]

It can be done many ways, I personally would recommend rendering off so your sure you have a flat wall without bows and that, although with superblock it is real hard to go wrong, best adhesive is the cement based tile adhesive comes in green 20kg bags, got a drawing of the bags of the product being spread with a plastic scraper, in English literal translation is cement glue, in Thai Bone Gow, trouble is white cement is called Bone Cow and this is often used to stick tiles up so it gets confusing at the shop.

[charlie]

thank you, the guys actually rendered the (internal) wall without me asking.
proactivity rooles!

have sent the wifee (with a print out of your green bag suggestion) to the local supplier

[dirtydog]

Talking of rendering the walls first, here's one where the walls have been rendered off, just before the render dries off it is scored with a stiff broom normally, this one I am not sure what was used to score the walls but it is enough to be able to stick your tiles on.

[dirtydog]

Here we have some great planning, got to admit we weren't doing the tiling so nought to do with me.

Now obviously this is where the pipes are going to be run, notice the use of the plural, yep it's a classy bathroom and he has hot water, so they have taken out 1 row of tiles.



Now they have taken out more tiles, the hot water pipe is the nearer one, note the blob of concrete chucked on it to stop it getting knocked about by clumsy feet.



T piece for the toilet and bum sprayer.

[dirtydog]

This is quite a nice design, horrid tiles though, there is about an 8cm gap between each tile, this gap is filled with a mix of cement, sand, small stones and yellow iron oxide to color it, good for garden and swimming pool areas, only trouble with the stone finish is that in shaded areas it gets discolored very quickly and is difficult to clean.

[NickA]

Quick question... we've got the guy to come in and re-tile the bathroom, where he's pulled up the old tiles the floor has worn away below the grouting of the old tiles - is this normal or was the original tiling done badly?

I would guess the original tiling is about 10 years old.

[dirtydog]

it's pretty normal when cement is used.

[Marmite the Dog]

Do the ants and then the water erode it?

[NickA]

it's pretty normal when cement is used.

So how often should a bathroom floor be replaced?

What about kitchen or outside tiling?

[dirtydog]

I should have explained that a bit better, with bathrooms you need a slope, so you are using maybe between 3cms and 1 cm of cement to lay your tiles, as you lay a tile you scoop round the tile to pick up excess cement, you then lay your next tile, etc etc, when you get back to your start point after finishing the first row the cement has hardened up there already, the next tile you want at the same height, so you chuck down some cement, take up the excess from where the edges will be then lay your tile and tap it into place, this is where the gaps will occur.

Tiles should be replaced when they get damaged or you get bored with them.

[NickA]

^What about if the bathroom floor starts to leak?

[dirtydog]

Regrout it....

[NickA]

The old tiles were feking horrible anyway...the guy says he's putting some special glue down to stop it leaking again....bullshit reu plao?

[DrAndy]

I was told that if you add some waterproofing stuff to the cement, it gives you extra protection, but good grouting is the most important thing to stop any leaking

and make sure there are no places where water is left standing, it should slope so that the water runs off and gets dry fairly quickly

[Marmite the Dog]

I would take all the tiles up and lay new ones (try to make sure it is done properly. Nearly impossible I know, but...).

[NickA]

^That's what I'm doing!

[Marmite the Dog]

^ I'll shut up then.

[NickA]

the guy says he's putting some special glue down to stop it leaking again.

I was told that if you add some waterproofing stuff to the cement, it gives you extra protection

That must be the stuff.

[NickA]

Oh, well, the guy has finished doing the tiling today...actually his missus did most of the grouting and stuck the toilet back in (she even looked after my daughter whilst i was on the shitter on my wife was on a mercy mission to get me some medicine for my tummy).



The tiles were chosen for practicality more than beauty, ie. they are a rough texture so the kids won't slip and a brown colour so you can't see when someone misses the toilet



Notice the star of the show - the red toilet. It was the first ting that I planned to remove from the house when i moved in and it's still here two years later. I'm getting kind of attached to it.



Cost of the tiles was 285*4=1140 baht and there were a few left over.
Paid the man and his wife 2,000 baht.

Not too bad, but I wouldn't mind doing the next bit of tiling myself to see how I go along

[Little Chuchok]

Is it possable to get "A" grade tiles here at all?

[dirtydog]

Yeah the imported ones from Malaysia and that, about 1,000baht and up per square meter, Thai grade "B" is ok though.

[Little Chuchok]

cheers.

[Marmite the Dog]

Is it possable to get "A" grade tiles here at all?

I thought you were deserting us? What d'ya want tiles for?