Is there a tile adhesive that will bond when it's dry?

5 years ago

It was a while ago when we had our bathroom done, but I really would appreciate your help now.
Almost exactly a year ago our floor installer left for the day leaving a swath of tile adhesive with no tile over it (see the picture) When I questioned that and asked how will the tile bond to now dry adhesive, he said it's not going to be a problem. Well, there was a problem... As the matter of fact a whole bunch of them and we had half year long gruelling dispute with the company who installed our tile, before they finally reimbursed us for the floor that needs to completely replaced. To make story short, they denied any wrong doing and claimed that our bathroom floor has inadequate support causing floor deflection and consequently problems with tile. (Funny enough, we had zero problems with our previous tile floor). It's done, it's over we don't have to deal with them again. I just would like to know if they lied about that as well. So can anyone tell me if there is an adhesive on the market that will bond to tile after it sits to dry for about 17 -18 hours?
Thank you

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Comments (6)

Alx
Original Author
5 years ago
Sorry, forgot to attach the picture. Here is what I am talking about.
SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
Normally tiles need to be set into either wet or partially tacky material. A thinset that is too dry normally doesn't have enough "grab" to hold anything down. A contact cement application (which is NOT used with tiles) is one of the only adhesives that likes to be COMPLETELY dry. But even contact cement has dry-time limitations. If it has 'set up' for too long (more than an hour or so) then reapplication is required before adhesion will occur.

So in a nutshell, it is safe to say that you were not told the truth and that the installer was some dude who was given the task of laying your floor.
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Alx
Original Author
5 years ago
thank you for your comment. it didn't seem right, I should have known.
PRO
Creative Tile Eastern CT
5 years ago
To clarify. ceramic tile, vinyl tile, laminate tiles? Your post did not specify. Some vinyl tile adhesive must set until dry to the touch with a very long open time. If it is ceramic refer to SJ McCarthy's comment and I'll add your issue to the "Never say you've heard it all category!
PRO
Mint tile Minneapolis
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Professional tilers will measure for deflection in the estimation process and explain to you why you need a new subfloor , then proceed to explain what that costs and why you need uncoupling and premium mortars and backbuttering and full bond transfer etc

....next thing you know your new tiled floor costs about $30-80 per finished sq. ft. plus actual tile costs and rebase costs ...
Alx
Original Author
5 years ago
CT, the new tile is ceramic, the old one was slate. Afterwards they said that our floor can only support vinyl, unless we put a beam in the basement. TFW, we also had heated floor installed -Schlutter ditra heat, and decided to hire an established big local business that wouldn't disappear overnight in case if we had issues with that down the road. we asked a lot of different questions but also expected to work with professionals. We did not believe when they told us we have deflection and brought in another person for second opinion. He said our floor support is adequate and offered to write a statement we could use in court if we chose to go that route.