floor tiling woes - bedding

[emptybucketman]

Hi All,

I have a "simple" task of tiling a floor with an area 2m x 3m.

The tiles are 300x300mm and I'm using a 10mm notch trowel at 60 degrees as recommended by the adhesive manufacturer. Mic-d in the following thread suggested starting with 4 tiles (2x2). http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=43026&highlight=tile

I ripped up my previous tiling effort with disappointment since adjacent tiles weren't level.

How can I improve my technique other than slowing down?

1) How far should the tiles be bedded down in the adhesive?
2) Should I first place the 4 tiles and bed them together?
3) What sort of force should be applied with the rubber mallet?
4) What part of the mallet should be hitting the tile, edge or flat?

[RPMT]

if you are trying to level the floor out/or make it flat with adhesive.. you will need to use a bigger notch trowel, maybe a 12mm. use a level or a straight edge on the tiles and work one row at a time. sitting the straight edge on the tiles and ensureing that they are flat.... if you find a tile is too low or too high, then you will need to remove the tile and add/remove some adhesive as required..

laying tiles down with a adhesive shouldnt require you to use the rubber mallet, just apply some pressure, firstly at the centre of the tile then check each corner and feel weather they are flat with the other tiles or not, then ajust as nessesary.


packing tiles with adhesive is something that a professional tiler can do (from experience) but most amateurs have trouble with.

you could also prepare the floor so that it is flat.. and then use a 10mm notch trowel to adhese the tiles to it..resulting in a flat floor.. what size spacer are you using..on a300x300 i wouldn use any smaller than 3mm

[emptybucketman]

Thanks RPMT,

I'm using 3mm spacers. I'll retire the mallet and use a 12mm notch trowel.