Marineflex or Sikaflex?

[cuthound]

On my first shareboat the tiles were secured and grouted with mould resistant silicon. No issues in the 10 years we were on that boat, and it had a hard life.

The second shareboat used a flexible adhesive to stick the tiles to the bulkhead with normal grouting. Loads of issues with water ingress rotting the bulkhead.

[pearley]

I used Dow Corning 785 silicone from Screwfix/Toolstation to stick our tiles up. Despite Topps  Tiles telling me they would all fall off after a few months they are still there many years later. 

Edited November 28, 2017 by pearley

[Sea Dog]

What he said ^^^^

Dow Corning silicone is the best I've used and also the easiest to apply - so easy that sometimes it doesn't look like Paddington Bear did it!   Iirc, the 785 is the mould resistant one. My boat shower is done with that in both white around the edges/corners and in clear to seal the chrome door.  I've stuck upvc window trim and skirting with it, but not tried tiles. I reckon it'd be good though.

[Chewbacka]

I used some 'tile on wood' adhesive from wickes and 6 years on the tiles have not fallen off.  The wood was 15mm ply supported on studwork timber also from wickes, so not prone to flexing.  

[Drayke]

On 27/11/2017 at 14:17, Mike the Boilerman said:

I need to bond some ordinary ceramic wall tiles to the plywood wall paneling in the shower. What does the team recommend I use for adhesive? Sikaflex, Marineflex, or something else?

There seems to be quite a few types of Sikaflex all having much the same characteristics according to their Ebay listings. Is one type of Sikaflex any better than any other? 

And what colour is Marineflex please? Their website doesn't say AFAICS. 

If you are near T&K they used to sell Marineflex about £ 6-8 a tube. Go on you know you like to go there.

[blackrose]

On 27/11/2017 at 15:04, David Mack said:

I thought Stixall was the recommended low cost alternative to marineflex and sikaflex. Available from Toolstation in black, white and clear. Not tried it for tiles though.

I started using Stixall a few years ago and it seems just as good as marineflex to me and much cheaper. 

[Guest]

Holy old thread revival, batman!

 

My bathroom has just been finished, as far as the woodwork goes. Now it's on to me to tile it. I've read this thread with interest but am still puzzled what to buy to stick the tiles on the woodwork (18mm marine ply throughout).

 

If I was to use silicone, how do you apply it? Liberally over the back of the tile and stick it on the wall? Another method?

 

I suspect I'll probably go with tile to wood adhesive mainly because the wall isn't totally flat - has a few slight indentations where one panel meets another and I think adhesive rather than silicone might work a little better in this instance. But would welcome suggestions.

[WotEver]

8 hours ago, welly said:

If I was to use silicone, how do you apply it? Liberally over the back of the tile and stick it on the wall? Another method?

5 dabs on each tile - one in each corner and one in the middle. It’s the silicone ‘grout’ that makes it waterproof. 

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, WotEver said:

5 dabs on each tile - one in each corner and one in the middle. It’s the silicone ‘grout’ that makes it waterproof. 

Maybe I might try it on one wall and see how I get on. Cheers!

[nicknorman]

Steve Hudson uses clear silicone to stick tiles to wood, both around the stove and in the shower etc. Absolutely no hint of any tiles coming adrift after 7 years.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, nicknorman said:

Steve Hudson uses clear silicone to stick tiles to wood, both around the stove and in the shower etc. Absolutely no hint of any tiles coming adrift after 7 years.

Ok great stuff. I'm going to give it a go. Going to be easier than mucking about with tubs of tile adhesive too.

[Nightwatch]

43 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Steve Hudson uses clear silicone to stick tiles to wood, both around the stove and in the shower etc. Absolutely no hint of any tiles coming adrift after 7 years.

Behind our stove (fire), in the saloon we have stainless steel sheeting. We want to tile the area. Because of the heat involved, can anyone recommend a suitable adhesive. Would The wife need to score the surface before hand.

[Guest]

Another quick question. Do I need or should I fit the corner trim when tiling? Or can I just tile right into the corner? Less from an aesthetic point of view but more a "tiles staying on the wall and not  getting water into cracks where it shouldn't go".

 

Also - I assume that the Dow Corning 785 (just bought a couple of tubes of it) doesn't have quite the same immediate hold as traditional tiling adhesive. So what would you do to keep the tiles in place while they're fixing?

Edited June 4, 2018 by Guest

[George and Dragon]

3 minutes ago, welly said:

Another quick question. Do I need or should I fit the corner trim when tiling? Or can I just tile right into the corner? Less from an aesthetic point of view but more a "tiles staying on the wall and not  getting water into cracks where it shouldn't go".

The corner trim looks prettier and should also prevent water from getting into the corner and/or behind the tiles if used correctly. It also reduces the precision required for your cuts (tiling into the corner always involves cutting tiles).

[Tony Brooks]

5 minutes ago, welly said:

Another quick question. Do I need or should I fit the corner trim when tiling? Or can I just tile right into the corner? Less from an aesthetic point of view but more a "tiles staying on the wall and not  getting water into cracks where it shouldn't go".

 

Also - I assume that the Dow Corning 785 (just bought a couple of tubes of it) doesn't have quite the same immediate hold as traditional tiling adhesive. So what would you do to keep the tiles in place while they're fixing?

Temporary batten to rest the row on fixed one tile width above the bottom and the use spacers. I stick them between the tiles "end on" so i can pull them out later and reuse them.

2 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Behind our stove (fire), in the saloon we have stainless steel sheeting. We want to tile the area. Because of the heat involved, can anyone recommend a suitable adhesive. Would The wife need to score the surface before hand.

I doubt you will find much that will stick tiles to stainless steel in that sort of area and even if you did I doubt it would do much to prevent heat transmission. You need to replace the stainless with fire board of some type, ideally with a vented air gap behind it, and tile on the fire board.

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Temporary batten to rest the row on fixed one tile width above the bottom and the use spacers. I stick them between the tiles "end on" so i can pull them out later and reuse them.

I get what you're saying about the spacers, and that's fine but not sure quite what you mean with the first bit!

[Tony Brooks]

51 minutes ago, welly said:

I get what you're saying about the spacers, and that's fine but not sure quite what you mean with the first bit!

get a straight length of wood. Measure one tile width plus a spacer up from the bottom of where the tiles will start from, say the floor. Drawa  horizontal line at this height. Now temporally screw the wooden batten with its top aligned with the drawn line to the base you will be fixing the tiles to.

 

Now fit your first line of tiles sitting on the batten and that will stop them slipping down. continue laying the next row up of tiles using two spacer per tile so they are supported horizontally on the tile below.

 

When the adhesive is cured remove the batten and fit the bottom row.

 

Depending how you intend to finish the joint below the tiles to (say) the floor you may need to either fit the batten at one tile plus two spacers high or lay the first row of tiles with two sacers below each then put spacers under the "floor" row until set so you have a lower grout line.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

get a straight length of wood. Measure one tile width plus a spacer up from the bottom of where the tiles will start from, say the floor. Drawa  horizontal line at this height. Now temporally screw the wooden batten with its top aligned with the drawn line to the base you will be fixing the tiles to.

 

Now fit your first line of tiles sitting on the batten and that will stop them slipping down. continue laying the next row up of tiles using two spacer per tile so they are supported horizontally on the tile below.

 

When the adhesive is cured remove the batten and fit the bottom row.

 

Depending how you intend to finish the joint below the tiles to (say) the floor you may need to either fit the batten at one tile plus two spacers high or lay the first row of tiles with two sacers below each then put spacers under the "floor" row until set so you have a lower grout line.

 

Got it! Thanks very much!

 

I planned to tile from the bottom up and then put quadrant trim over it along the bottom of the walls as I'll be fitting these vinyl planks on the floor. I think it'll look quite smart like that (if I don't bugger it all up, which is entirely possible/probable).

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, welly said:

 

Got it! Thanks very much!

 

I planned to tile from the bottom up and then put quadrant trim over it along the bottom of the walls as I'll be fitting these vinyl planks on the floor. I think it'll look quite smart like that (if I don't bugger it all up, which is entirely possible/probable).

Tony's method gives a straight and horizontal surface to tile off - your floor may not (most probably won't). This is why you should follow Tony's advice and use a batten - standard, well-proven practice.

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

get a straight length of wood. Measure one tile width plus a spacer up from the bottom of where the tiles will start from, say the floor. Drawa  horizontal line at this height. Now temporally screw the wooden batten with its top aligned with the drawn line to the base you will be fixing the tiles to.

 

Now fit your first line of tiles sitting on the batten and that will stop them slipping down. continue laying the next row up of tiles using two spacer per tile so they are supported horizontally on the tile below.

 

When the adhesive is cured remove the batten and fit the bottom row.

 

Depending how you intend to finish the joint below the tiles to (say) the floor you may need to either fit the batten at one tile plus two spacers high or lay the first row of tiles with two sacers below each then put spacers under the "floor" row until set so you have a lower grout line.

 

I use a variation on this.

 

I mark a length of wood, equal to the floor to ceiling height, with tiles sizes and spacer sizes. Invariably you will not get the exact number of tiles to fit.

 

Then I fit the batten the part tile from the floor. This way the cut tiles are at our level and thus less noticeable.

 

 I use and similar method to centre the tiles horizontally so that you don't end up  a line of very thin cut tiles at the edges.

[Nightwatch]

5 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I doubt you will find much that will stick tiles to stainless steel in that sort of area and even if you did I doubt it would do much to prevent heat transmission. You need to replace the stainless with fire board of some type, ideally with a vented air gap behind it, and tile on the fire board.

Thanks Tony.

Understand there is fibre board behind the S/S sheets. One day, I will investigate further. Take the S/S sheets off and have a rummage and fix accordingly. Will tikes stick to fibre board? That's an open question not just for Tony.

[Tony Brooks]

Fibreboard covers a whole raft of products so without knowing exactly what it is I would not like to say. I hope it turns out to be some form  fire board and if so the worst you may have to do is to prime/seal it with PVA or proprietary product to seal in any dust and give a firm surface for fixing.

You really need a builder to answer rather than a some kind of engineer.

[system 4-50]

Tiles are cold. Use plastic shower panels for the shower. Much better on the bare bum.

[Guest]

Wondered if anyone has any suggestions/pointers in getting started with this:

 

 

This is the first wall I want to start on. From further out it looks like this:

 

 

Where would you start? Top section above the gunwales is staying as it is for the foreseeable future. I may tile eventually but not now.

 

Cheers!

Edited June 4, 2018 by Guest

[Tony Brooks]

I don't like the separate lower panel because it may vibrate at a different frequency to the main structure or expand/move at a different rate but if its to stay the first thing I would do is fill the gaps with epoxy filler and hope. Then tile as has been discussed. If you could find an all in one plastic panel to fit over the whole area so much the better.