grouting ???

[johnakay]

is there such a thing as flexible grouting?
seen a few on ebay but not sure if they are flexible?
our bathroom floor flex causing the grouting to crack.
put silicon on the joints this morning but it still soft.

 

[Mark 5]

is there such a thing as flexible grouting?
seen a few on ebay but not sure if they are flexible?
our bathroom floor flex causing the grouting to crack.
put silicon on the joints this morning to the wife what I had done and what did she go and do.walked all over complaining its sticky.grrrrrrr

Hi
If the floor flexed then it wasn't leveled or fixed properly and you may well have to deal with this first.

Look at brand BAL, they have a technical department or Brand Maphi, their grout products are good.

I got to use Dunlop Flexible floor Grout for the first time late last year, pretty damn good.

There will be others but BAL has always been my first choice.

 

[RWD3M]

Yep, mix your own and add a plasticiser. Useful when putting ceramic floor tiles onto wooden floorboards. I did my upstairs bathroom (circa 16m2) about 25 years ago using a plasticiser from Leekes. Absolutely no issues since.

I used Biscem Flexibond (no idea if it's still available!) but there are plenty of others available, for example:

ISOLASTIC - Plasticizer additive by MAPEI | ArchiExpo

Elasticising latex mixed with KERABOND, KERABOND T and ADESILEX P10. When KERABOND, KERABOND T and KERABOND PLUS are mixed with ISOLASTIC they form a high-performance, highly deformable adhesive with extended open time (C2E/S2). When ADESILEX P10 is mixed with ISOLASTIC (dilution rate 1:1 with wa...

www.archiexpo.com

 

[johnakay]

had the bathroom redone new part walls, tiles floor inc,new shower unit etc.
complete refurb had bath remove part flooring re boarded.
this was 7 years ago. the guy who did this is no longer in business,
as for his work I can't complain did our kitchen to.
he put 6mm plywood down then tiled on top.
he did come back a year later when cracks first appeared.
but now the there's a few more cracks in the grouting,wear and tear I suppose.
its not all over just a small area.
so I need something that won't do this at a later date.
pictures just taken.

 

[angellonewolf]

yes there is flexable groute but it only goes so far any tiles layed on any type of wood will move flex

i put down 12mm mdf over a wood floor years ago and scrwed it down well still moved and that was with flex mapi stuff was good stuff so now if we want tiled we lay lino efect stuff and water proof if masticed all side and you dont leave water laying around

 

[Keithmac]

I think you're on a loosing battle unless you can re-lay the tiles on a stable sub floor.

 

[brightspark]

clean it all out and use maipe flexible wall and floor tile grout the floor cant be that bad or the tiles would have cracked

 

[jimbo84]

I did a bathroom in one of my old houses which was a wooden floor, it was the first floor I ever tiled, over boarded with 18mm ply, primed, flex adhesive then grout with additive, all Mapei products, followed their instructions to the letter, never budged/cracked in the following 6 years I owned it.

 

[ukracer]

My son used evo stick and it did nit stick. Took it back to b and q. The stuff I had scraped of the floor and tiles I shoved in a dunhelm box.
The guy said...that's not ours that's dunhelm.

I said nope....that's a box for a light. ( that actually works.
It's this ****e adhesive that 48 hours later has still not gone off.
Refunded me full price (it was reduced and I told him) but he insisted.
Gave me a new bag of grout that we had used up.
So purchased some mapping flexible tile adhesive. Stick after 30 mins....we shall see how it holds up as he has been to Spain for the past week. So should have gone off totally now.

But could not find flexible grout sadly.

 

[Welderpaul]

Flexible grout does exist, but if your substrate is moving it's not going to be anywhere near flexible enough.

Silicone is your next best option until the adhesive starts to fail.

 

[johnakay]

thanks for your replies. no cracks in tiles. I'll go with maipe flexible grouting.
I can get that locally. cheers.

 

[dobbslc]

I'm doing my ensuite at the moment and this thread has probably made up my mind to take up the old and very thin floorboards and to replace them with 18mm Caberfloor like I did in my old house that never caused any problems.
I was thinking of just a thin ply covering but knew it was a bodge but would save time .

 

[Mark 5]

I'm doing my ensuite at the moment and this thread has probably made up my mind to take up the old and very thin floorboards and to replace them with 18mm Caberfloor like I did in my old house that never caused any problems.
I was thinking of just a thin ply covering but knew it was a bodge but would save time .

There's thin and then there's thin, if existing boards are 17mm, you should be ok to lay ply or other on top.

Thinner then replacing with caberfloor is a great way to go.

 

[Smallfry]

If it on a wooden sub floor, as said, you are fighting a losing battle as they all flex a bit. I would replace the floor with high quality vinyl. MUCH nicer and warmer underfoot and not slippery. Will last many years, enough to see you out.

 

[dobbslc]

There's thin and then there's thin, if existing boards are 17mm, you should be ok to lay ply or other on top.

Thinner then replacing with caberfloor is a great way to go.

5/8"! So about 15mm thick with wildly spaced joists so it's a bit flexible
I've got to rip up a lot anyway to get a new soil pipe in there so might as well do a proper job.

 

[Mark 5]

5/8"! So about 15mm thick with wildly spaced joists so it's a bit flexible
I've got to rip up a lot anyway to get a new soil pipe in there so might as well do a proper job.

Yup, to thin so take them up and if widely spaced joists, some noggins wouldn't go amiss.

 

[gaz1]

I'm doing my ensuite at the moment and this thread has probably made up my mind to take up the old and very thin floorboards and to replace them with 18mm Caberfloor like I did in my old house that never caused any problems.
I was thinking of just a thin ply covering but knew it was a bodge but would save time .

if your taking up your floor boards take a good look at your beams

the beams cause the flex in many floors not the floor boards

most upstairs rooms are not meant to be sealed and the floor structure is not designed for this hence the flexing

most old propertys dont flex and thats due to using proper 12x 4" beams or joists whatever you want to call them nowadays its 2" joists

 

[dobbslc]

These are 4x2" joists downstairs as it's a chalet bungalow but a decent bit of 18mm flooring will help I think.

 

[gaz1]

These are 4x2" joists downstairs as it's a chalet bungalow but a decent bit of 18mm flooring will help I think.

nope double your joists up and it will stiffen up your floor rather well

 

[dobbslc]

I'd be tempted if I could buy real 4x2" timber instead of the metric stuff that's just a bit too small!