Tips for exterior wall & floor tiling

By Tal | 2016-06-01

Update 21-02-2020

It must be noted that external tiling installations – floor tiling or wall cladding – requires a far stronger and more flexible adhesive system. All external installations will be exposed to building movement, thermal expansion and contraction, as well as inclement weather conditions (rain, dew, frost, etc). It is therefore essential that latex modified adhesive and grout systems be used when tiling externally to cater for these movements. TAL BOND must be incorporated in the adhesive and grout mix, as a total water replacement, with a solid bed of adhesive behind or beneath each tile, and the tile panel movement joints should be located at closer centres.  

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It is also essential to provide for all extremes of climate during the entire tile installation and for as long as possible after grouting has been completed.  Cold weather conditions and/or frost can retard or even circumvent the curing process; rain can cause serious damage before, during or immediately after grouting, and very hot / dry exposure may adversely affect the curing of fresh adhesive or grout.

In addition to the above, the following must be noted when undertaking external wall cladding installations:

If the top of the cladding installation is not going to be ‘capped’ with a tile, we recommend that the installation be protected against the ingress of water behind the tiles by either applying a wide bead of TAL GOLDSTAR SEALMASTER 1000 polyurethane joint sealant or a suitable waterproofing compound over the adhesive ‘joint’ between the tile and background.

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When tiling walls the adhesive system must be assisted by means of a form of mechanical fixing at maximum 2 metre intervals.  This mechanical fixing/support can be in the form of non-corroding metal angle strips, slightly smaller in dimension than the thickness of the adhesive and tile,  firmly fixed to the substrate with non-corroding bolts or screws at 2 metre intervals on the horizontal plane, or as per Engineer’s recommendations.

Heavy and/or large format tiles should also be well supported by means of a batten or some type of mechanical device until such time that the adhesive has set.




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