#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Construction in Thailand >  >  > Building in Thailand Famous Threads >  >  Tiles and Tileing in Thailand

## dirtydog

Ceramic Tiles in Thailand, first off let's start with the products available, Tiles come in 3 grades, "A", "B", and "C", "C" grade is the worst, the absolute pits, the best thing you can do with "C" grade tiles is to smash them up and make a Mosaic out of them, the color variation and size variation is so great that you really wouldn't want them on your floor or wall unless you was doing some weird modern art type of design where straight lines don't really matter, these are the junk of ceramic tile manufacturers and amazingly they sell quite well here in Thailand.

"B" Grade tiles are slightly better but hell is it really worth the saving of 50 pence per meter? why not go for the "A" Grade stuff?

Since the Recession in Thailand all grade "A" tiles are exported and now grade "B" tiles are labelled as Grade "A" for the Thai market, these aint so bad and I have seen a lot worse in some of the Aussie home improvements magazines, yep even in their full page advertisements, got to admit I was quite shocked and will scan the picture and post it.

Onto the real Grade "A" tiles before the reccession, now this room was tiled about 8 years ago, yes I know the grout looks shite but tomorrow I shall get my girlfriends toothbrush and bleach and show you how to clean your grout, anyway as you can see there are still size variations in the tiles, obviously with all tiles you will get slight color variations but this is minimal on Grade "A" tiles, So what should builders do with the oversized tiles, ie the one that is 4mm bigger than 6 other tiles? dump and absorb them in their cost? Get the customer to buy a few more boxes and listen to him whinge about the price? or just lay them? Don't forget this is worldwide not just Thailand.

3 Pictures of the same tile.







tiling

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## Thetyim

> So what should builders do with the oversized tiles,


Take them back and change them.

I went back to the tile shop four times.
In the end I refused to take any tiles that did not come out of an unopened box. They were fobbing me off with other peoples rejects.
Got what I wanted in the end.

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## dirtydog

All the tiles I buy are from unopened boxes, it's bought as seen and each box states to expect variations in size and color.

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## dirtydog

Onto Grouting in Thailand, your tiles will generally need grouting, the best grout you can use to make the job look good has to be nearly the same color as your tiles, if you use a differant color it will highlight all the size variations, grouting tools in Thailand consist of the back end of an old flip flop chopped off of the main flip flop, by saying flip flops I mean the Thai National footwear, I might regrout my bathroom on Monday so that should make some good pictures.

Nice straight line on the tiles here.



To clean your tiles any bleach over 10 percent acid strength will do, a toothbrush is the best but my galfriend is here so I used the bog brush.



Yesterdays tile today.



As you can see it comes up pretty clean.

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## man with no head

Isn't it a bad idea to use smooth glossy tile for the floor? Seems like trouble if water get on them in terms of someone falling.

Looks nice but I think I would have rougher tiles in my home (if I end up tiling the floor...haven't decided yet what I'm going to use).

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## dirtydog

There is no water in this room so it wont get wet, although if it did get wet it would be like an ice skating rink  :Smile:

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## man with no head

Yeah, there were a few times I nearly broke my neck in my wife's family's house when the floor was somewhat damp after been cleaned following a large meal  :Lol:

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## Thetyim

Good timing DD

I have got to re-grout the downstairs bog this week.

Keep going,  I'm listening.

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## man with no head

Are there many foreigners in Thailand catering to or supervising home building?

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## dirtydog

> Are there many foreigners in Thailand catering to or supervising home building?


About 50 in Pattaya at least, no idea about other areas of Thailand though.

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## man with no head

So, not many? Is it a profession in high demand?

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## dirtydog

Difficult question that one, yes they are in demand but for what reason I don't know, they still need to use Thai staff and basic Thai materials, also a lot of the trades here have faded out in the UK and other first world countries and at that stage the staff know more than you, I think it generally comes down to trust, ie the farang builders don't live in wooden shacks and most wont do a runner with the first 200,000baht deposit they get on a job.

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## Marmite the Dog

I hope Farang builders are ok, oherwise I might have to have a rethink...

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## dirtydog

What to do with crappy grade "C" tiles? Here is a nice couple of pictures.

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## DrAndy

we often use the workers that are recommended by the tile sellers

we have had three lots, including granite and hand-made, and all have been well laid, almost perfect

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## RDN

> ..


OMG! You just gave me a headache. I hope that's the neighbour's floor.

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## Spin

Hey DD, whilst not quite on topic about tiling.....can you tell us more about a finishing that i am seeing more and more of.

It's like small chunks of broken up stone that is sprinkled onto cement.
The small chips are then troweled flat into the cement.
A kind of non slip rough like finish that is very safe and is normally used for step edges and step risers.
I never saw the material for sale anywhere.

Do you have any more info??

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## dirtydog

Would this be it OC?

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## Spin

^ yeah, thats the stuff.

Is it risky to use on large areas like that though?

Expensive m2?

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## dirtydog

This probably deserves a differant thread as it has it's good points and bad points, we try to get it between 10 and 15mm thick, any less than that and it aint gonna stick to good, this means using a lot of stone and lot's of iron oxide(colorant), reckon on 700baht per square meter.

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## Thetyim

That plastic grill stuff that covers the top of the drainage gulley in your picture.  Where do you buy it and how much per metre is it.

Mine has gone brittle and cracked in a couple of places.

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## dirtydog

any swimming pool suppliers and about 700baht per meter length.

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## Spin

^^^ B700 m2, quite expensive then, good solution though over slippery tiles.
Waiting for the new thread.. :Smile:

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## dirtydog

Sod your new thread I am back on tiling again  :Smile: 

Ok so you want your floor tiled with your nice new ceramic tiles, now we live in hope that the boxes are labelled up as grade "A" and only have slight variations in color and size, of course this aint likely to happen and you got cheap on the tiles and got grade "B", so the nightmare begins.

First off we got to make sure the tiles will stick to the concrete, if this place is a shophouse with nice smooth concrete floors that have been finished with a steel trowel they aint gonna stick so good, so we got to chip up that nice smooth surface, this is a real poxy job, aint nobody in the world enjoys this job, no safety googles means bits in your eyes etc etc, the normal price for this is 50baht per square meter, but these days you aint gonna get many people to do that at that price.

Next off you need your level, cos you know for a fact that the floor is not level, for this you need a superduper laser, or, a bit of clear hose pipe with water in, so you go round with the water pipe marking the level 50cms above the floor, find the high point in the floor and then mark it all round 2cms higher than the high point, get the chalk line out and mark off the whole lot around the walls, you have now got a level.

Now tell the gits to chip out more of the cement so you get a better bond for your tiles.

The first tile should be layed in the middle of the room, sometimes for cosmetic purposes it is better to start from a wall, depends on the room etc, now don't forget your walls in no way bare any resembalance to anything straight, thats something you will have to live with.

So you need a nice lean mix of cement and sand to get the tiles to stick and off you go, obviously with a line going over 6 meters it will sag in the middle, so your back to the puddle in the middle of the room again  :Sad: 

Wall tiling might be tomorrow.

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## dirtydog

Actually the last few years we have been doing a lot of places with the reconstituted granite tiles, I really can't understand the attraction of these as you can buy the real thing for the same price, now this is really hard stuff to cut, I done a quote a few days ago for a big bathroom all over the place for 400baht per square meter, we supply cement and sand, I think he thinks it is too expensive, BUT, he wants everything to line up, he hasn't got a 90 degree wall, I know 3 Thais that can do this but it can never be 100 percent as the floors need a slope for water drainage, now thats 3 Thais out of 1,000's that I have employed, he has already had the walls tiled and it isn't too bad, in the UK you would get paid for the job, but he want's it better, he complained so much they just gave him his money back, now he wants all the expensive wall tiles smashed out and redone again, it really aint gonna be that much better, there are at least 14 90 degree angles in that bathroom that are not 90 degrees, sometimes I wonder about these kind of people....

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## dirtydog

Now normal wall tiles are great, these are real soft and easy to cut with the old angle grinder, so lets say we are in your bathroom, the wall on the right has a 3 cm dip in the middle, the wall on the left is perfectly straight, now a 3 cm dip over a 4 meter span is quite a lot, ie the left and the right aint gonna match up, yet the customer will blame the tiler, should the tiler re render the walls to get them straight? yes he could but then we are talking about a differant price range, you just got him in to tile the bathroom not foking rebuild it.

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## Marmite the Dog

So, how long does it take to yile, say, a 10m x 4m shophouse floor? I used to know a chap in the UK who could do it within 2 days.

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## dirtydog

Tile adhesive and cement are differant products.

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## dirtydog

> So, how long does it take to yile, say, a 10m x 4m shophouse floor? I used to know a chap in the UK who could do it within 2 days.


Doubt that cos the first day he would screed it to get it level, to finish the job he has at least 93 tiles to cut, 4 days at least.

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## attaboy

Reminds me of something Mexicans do.. They take marble rubble and dump it into cement. The cement block is cut into tiles and polished. It looks real nice. Unfortuantely I can't find any pics. I don't want to take this topic off course but is the marble tile used in LoS imported or is it cut in LoS?

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## Eliminator

Is there some kind of self leveling cement that could be used first and then put the tile in? Seems a cheaper route if available.

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## Marmite the Dog

^ I think the self levelling cement leaves a finish that is too smooth, as they use cement, not tile adhesive to fix the tiles. I suppose if they used tile adhesive, they wouldn't need to waste time chipping away at cement floors.

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## Eliminator

^ That's what I was thinking and then you could be assured of working with a level surface.

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## dirtydog

Now here is a nasty job, a couple of these reconstituted granite tiles have fallen of the wall and need replacing, now obviously as these have so little pourousity they don't stick so good, as you can see by the cement that is left cos none of it came off with the tiles, the pattern of the back of the tile is firmly imprinted into the cement.

To restick the tiles back on first off the old cement needs chipping out otherwise the new tiles would stand proud, now the trouble with this is your gonna be whacking that wall with a hammer and coal chisel to try and get the cement out, now don't forget these tiles fell off by themselves, so how well are the other tiles stuck in place? and how many whacks next to them will loosen them enough for them to fall down aswell? Yep this job is a nightmare waiting to happen.

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## Spin

I used those recon granite tiles once before, total nightmare.
Ended up using silicone to fix the things in place. A bit of a bodge but they will not fall.

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## LesBonsTemps

I have a tile-related question, maybe you can help me.

My cousin and her partner laid tile in my lower level a couple of years ago.  It's travertine marble, beautiful but quite porous.  I can't seem to get a fix on how often it requires re-sealing -- once a year, every six months?

We drink red wine and I have nightmares of a red stain in the middle of a 40' x 25' room.

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## HermantheGerman

> I have a tile-related question, maybe you can help me.
> 
> My cousin and her partner laid tile in my lower level a couple of years ago.  It's travertine marble, beautiful but quite porous.  I can't seem to get a fix on how often it requires re-sealing -- once a year, every six months?
> 
> We drink red wine and I have nightmares of a red stain in the middle of a 40' x 25' room.


I just tiled my kitchen with cashmere white  granite, so maybe I can help out a bit. Most important thing is don't be "cheap charly" on the impregnation/waterproofing liquid with stain stopper. The good ones are expensive (about  30 -500ml). How often do you have to reseal it? That is a tough one to answer. Marbel is of course softer then granite, meaning the pours open up more easily when it gets scratched. The more people that walk on your marbel floor the more often you have to seal it or at least polish it.
Another good advice is: don't drink red wine! A good red wine, which usually has a nice deep red color, leaves a mark like a DOG. 
If you can't lay off the booze.... put your wine in a non spill plastic baby bottle  :Wink:

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## dirtydog

Time to grout those tiles  :Smile: 
First off 1 kilo of grout will do about 5 square meters of grouting, now dont forget to get grout as near to the color of your tiles as possible to help hide those size variations in the tiles.

All you need for grouting is a bowl, some grout, some water, a Thai flip flop and a damp sponge, I didn't bother with the damp sponge as it's my bathroom and the amount of acid my girlfriend uses to clean it it will need regrouting within 12 months.



Mix the grout with water so it is a nice thick consistencey, here we can see where under the tiles was wet and has made the grout to sloopy, still not too much of a problem, with the cut up flip flop spread the grout and get as much as you can into the gaps between the tiles.



As you are doing each areea try to get as much of the excess grout off of the tiles.



Leave for about 20 minutes and then get the rest of the excess grout off of the tiles, once that is done go over the grout lines with a slightly damp sponge to get that all nice and level and smooth.

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## dirtydog

Here we have another problem job, this was actually 2 rooms that have been knocked into one, trouble is they must have started the 2 rooms at the same time and used two different starting points, so, what to do about this?

Got to admit I don't know, you can put a matching cut tile in there but the lines aint gonna match up, put a contrasting tile in there so the eye is drawn to that rather than the tiles that will not line up, we shall see what they done next week.

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## dirtydog

Aahh, I forgot about that little problem and take a piccie tomorrow of how it finished up, anyway here is a nice design to make out of your tiles.

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## dirtydog

Next up we started on the bathroom today, this shall be finished tomorrow as they are working all night tonight, it's only a 2.5 meter by 2 meter bathroom and about low to mid end on the scale of things.



I got to admit I am really not sure about picture tiles, they just don't do it for me, also a lot of the time picture tiles will be a differant size to the main tiles you are using and you aint gonna get a 100 percent job like that, these are pretty ok size wise as we have variations in the tiles we are using, NO, I didn't buy these tiles.

Toothpicks make great spacers for your tiles  :Smile: 



The old squater will be smashed out tomorrow and a new one put in.

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## Dougal

> here is a nice design to make out of your tiles.


No thank you. If I want to play draughts I reckon I can afford a proper board.  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

> Here we have another problem job, this was actually 2 rooms that have been knocked into one, trouble is they must have started the 2 rooms at the same time and used two different starting points, so, what to do about this?
> 
> Got to admit I don't know, you can put a matching cut tile in there but the lines aint gonna match up, put a contrasting tile in there so the eye is drawn to that rather than the tiles that will not line up, we shall see what they done next week.


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.

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## dirtydog

Anyway, we jacked out that old squat toilet, chucked in some 3inch pipe as the waste was in the wrong place, concreted over that and started tiling, generally here 4 inch pipe is used for toilets, it works ok but you really do need like the first meter as 3 inch pipe to get the syphon effect of the toilet going, yep you need the water that is going down the pipe to help suck those turds out of your toilet bowl, the outlet of your toilet is actually about 2 to 2 and a half inches, ie the hole in the base of your throne, quite amazing really that you can get your Sunday Dinner through such a small hole on Monday morning.

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## blackgang

I was worried about the wet slick tiles in the kitchen so I had then use a bathroom finish tiles around the work area of the kitchen as in the pics.





Now I have talked the little lady into a built in kitchen so will do it in the spring.

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## dirtydog

So next we fit the base of the toilet, got to admit I generally just put the whole toilet together and just fit the thing, but my staff wanted to do it this way, ok in the UK it just a mix of putty and oil based paint and just screw the thing down and you can use it straight away, here we white cement the thing into place and you got to leave it for a few hours for the cement to harden off, yes there are holes where you can screw the toilet down but nobody bothers and they just fill the holes with white cement, it works so don't complain when you see this happening  :Smile:

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## blackgang

I had a hell of a time getting mounting flanges and wax rings to mount the toilet properly but finally found them when I went to but an American standard, and if you buy the whole thing it comes with a kit containing the mount flange and wax ring.

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## dirtydog

> I was worried about the wet slick tiles in the kitchen


Why would you worry about a wet kitchen floor? Did you used to wet down your kitchen floor in your home country?

I remember a shop we done out, all carpeted floors etc, the downstairs bathroom had just a toilet, bum squirter and sink, the Thai staff kept complaing that there was no drain in the floor, it was just a toilet not a bloody shower room, I just kept asking them if they had waste outlets in their bedrooms, they just kept saying the tiled floor in the toilet couldn't be cleaned as there was no floor waste, and on and on it went  :Sad:

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## dirtydog

> I had a hell of a time getting mounting flanges and wax rings to mount the toilet properly


Why would you bother? Generally most Bathrooms here are just one room with a open shower so the water gets every where, so then the whole floor has to be sloped towards the waste outlet, messes up the idea of a nicely made flange a bit  :Smile: 

Lets move onto building your bathroom counter, chuck up some blocks or bricks, do your form for the top, do the pour, chuck a lump of granite on top of that, stick a few tiles on and Bobs your Uncle.

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## blackgang

Floors do get wet doing dishes and slopped water while cooking., you never know, and shit happens, Better safe than sorry.
And a toilet mounted properly is always easier to work on if need be and it is the way it is supposed to be done, why do it the Thai way when the correct way is no harder, There is no floor drain in our bathrooms, the only drain is in the shower stalls.

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## 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.

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## charlie

> Tile adhesive and cement are differant products.


Hi there DD..... :Very Happy:  
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?

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## 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.

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## charlie

thank you,  :Very Happy:  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  :Very Happy:

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## dirtydog

it's pretty normal when cement is used.

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## Marmite the Dog

Do the ants and then the water erode it?

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## NickA

> it's pretty normal when cement is used.


So how often should a bathroom floor be replaced?

What about kitchen or outside tiling?

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## 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.

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## NickA

^What about if the bathroom floor starts to leak? :Confused:

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## dirtydog

Regrout it....

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## 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?

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## 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

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## 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...).

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## NickA

^That's what I'm doing!

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## Marmite the Dog

^ I'll shut up then.

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## 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.

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## 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 :rofl: 



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 :Smile:

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## Little Chuchok

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

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## dirtydog

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

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## Little Chuchok

cheers.

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## 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?

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## NickA

> about 1,000baht and up per square meter,


May as well use granite or marble for that price

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## lom

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


Building a house for CMn's bird?

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## ceburat

Is it possible to remove tile without breaking them? Or is that a waste of time?

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## dirtydog

Waste of time with ordinary tiles as they are so cheap.

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## Little Chuchok

> Originally Posted by Little Chuchok
> 
> Is it possable to get "A" grade tiles here at all?
> 
> 
> I thought you were deserting us? What d'ya want tiles for?


Take 'em home.Mate of mine wants a bucket load.

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## KunKen

I bought some cement glue for lock the tiles with at the Jotun shop north of Udon.That's the same we use in europe.And the plastic crosses to use between tiles I bought in europe in different mm.Then it's easy to put the tiles on.
And the  grout I  use is Sika Flex for sealing cracks at the roof and walls.It will never go away, same as the grout you buy here.Can buy in Home Mart or Home Pro.But use dish soap on the finger when you put it on.

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## jizzybloke

i thought you should start with the first tile centered in the doorway and work into the room?

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## dirtydog

Which doorway? Most houses use the same tiles through out the whole floor of the building apart from the bathrooms.

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## jizzybloke

if that is the case then i thought you start from the front door, first tile central in the doorway and work away from it?

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## dirtydog

In principle a great idea, in practise its gonna end up looking crap, lets say the door is off centre of the room by 10cms, you are using 20cm tiles, one side of the room is for arguements sake going to have a cut 10 cm run down one wall while the other side will have a full 20cm tile run down the other side of the room, better to have the odd couple of tiles slightly out by the door than all the way down both sides of the room.

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## jizzybloke

i get your point and i'm glad you see my view too. 
i'm no builder or tiler, tried once smashed them up and a friend done it for me.

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## Texpat

I put tiles in each bathroom -- cheap stuff in the guest bathroom and good stuff in the master and downstairs toilet. 
The good tiles were imported from Italy, forget the name but logo was some prancing horse. Anyway, the imported stuff looks FANTASTIC, but the grade A Thai tiles look pretty good too, at 1/2 the price. If I had to do it again, I'd select good Thai stuff.
I also put soft-white Thai tiles in the kitchen.

Texpat's tile rules:
#1: If the color appears in the rainbow, forget it. ROYGBIV
#2: If it's shiney, or slippery, forget it -- even for walls.
#3: If any tile includes a depiction of a group of ladies making som-tam, or a naked bird, forget it.
#4: Beige and browns for floors, off-white for walls 
#5: Buy the best stuff you can within your budget, regardless of rules 1-4.

And tell the tile guy EXACTLY where you want your toilet paper rolls, towel hangars, shower heads etc. BEFORE he starts.

Amazing how swiftly they'll put the towel rack DIRECTLY under the shower head.  (hmph)

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## WhiteLotusLane

> I put tiles in each bathroom -- cheap stuff in the guest bathroom and good stuff in the master and downstairs toilet. 
> The good tiles were imported from Italy, forget the name but logo was some prancing horse.


Yup, those Ferrari carbon fibre tiles will set you back a bit.




> Texpat's tile rules:
> #1: If the color appears in the rainbow, forget it. ROYGBIV
> #2: If it's shiney, or slippery, forget it -- even for walls.
> #3: If any tile includes a depiction of a group of ladies making som-tam, or a naked bird, forget it.
> #4: Beige and browns for floors, off-white for walls 
> #5: Buy the best stuff you can within your budget, regardless of rules 1-4.


Excellent.  Dare I say it, but you should engrave that on a tile and put on the wall.  :Smile:

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## Lily

> Take 'em home.Mate of mine wants a bucket load.


Who do you use to ship stuff home?

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## bangsaenguy

The tiles in our kitchen are light coloured with white grout. The grout gets dirty with constant mopping. I want to seal it to keep it white. I tried some sealer that was like a glaze that did not penetrate the grout. It was not effective. How do I seal the grout to keep it white?

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## dirtydog

Not sure how good those sealers are, obviously the one you used wasn't any good  :Smile:  probably best to bleach it every 6 months to a year, just use vyxol toilet cleaner and an old toothbrush, use the 20 percent acidic stuff not the 5 percent, brush it onto the grout, leave for about 30 seconds, quick scrub with the tooth brush and wipe it up, comes up nice and white again  :Smile:

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