Tile adhesive for fire surround

[Blockplane]

The 'heatproof' cement I was sold along with the heatproof tiles I used to surround my woodburner has proved to be useless.
Some of the tiles have fallen off three times in the last year, so I have now taken the lot off, will clean the backs off with an angle grinder, and start again.

Any recommendations as to a reliable adhesive?

Many thanks,

Rob

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - what are the tiles made of and what are you sticking them to? How hot do they get? I think that a cement-based BAL tile adhesive designed for wall tiles ought to be suitable - you could do worse than contact their sales team to advise. Cheers, W2S

http://www.bal-adhesives.com/products/

 

[Blockplane]

Thanks Woody,

They are porcelain tiles, applied to plaster, which is in good condition and I did scratch it a bit to give a key.
Didn't use peev, may do next time - something else for people to offer an opinion on.

Temperature? not sure, if I leave an oven thermometer on top it barely reaches 100 deg C.

 

[tomatwark]

I did you install the wood burner and then tile straight away.

If so it maybe the wall behind the was damp and as you are drying out the top layer with the heat of the wood burner you are drawing moisture from deeper in the wall and the tile adhesive is going soft.

This is why you never should tile onto fresh concrete floors as the tiles will lift in the end as the floor tries to dry out.

The solution could be to use the wood burn without any tiles for a few months and then try again.

 

[NazNomad]

1. How much adhesive are you using? The '5-blob' method, or are you doing it properly?
2. Is there any damp in the wall? A good soaking with 50/50 PVA & water and allowed to dry before tiling might help.
3. As above, BAL know their stuff and I wouldn't hesitate to ask them.

 

[Distinterior]

Scrape the plaster off and use a floor tile type adhesive that you mix up yourself and is suitable for porcelain tiles. Don't use a ready mix type!
As the others have said, make sure the wall is completely dry before applying the tiles and don't light up the Woodburner until the adhesive has set rock solid ( a couple of weeks minimum).

 

[Trevsf1]

Regular cement based rapid set works fine, never had a problem

 

[Blockplane]

Thanks everyone.

Noting what Disinterior says, I may postpone the job until the 'fire' season is over.

I am blaming the adhesive, as in parts it remains stuck to the wall, and in others to the tiles, no sign of it having gone soft. It was applied all-over (although I dispute that there is anything wrong with 5 dot method) with (iirc) 5mm notched spreader.

Don't think the plaster is still drying - mostly it is 20+ years old, with a bit of making good skim in places.
It had about 3 months of central heating and occasional woodburner use prior to tiling.

 

[Paul200]

Regular cement based rapid set works fine, never had a problem

I'll second that. Finished ours 3 months ago and it's hardly gone cold since :lol: We bank it up most nights. No sign of tiles coming loose.