Tile Adhesive - Where to buy at best price?

Fredser

Hi all,

Am in the market for a rather large quantity of floor tile adhesive and powdered adhesive for heavy porcelain wall-tiles ....

Tile shops (I've been to basically every one of them) are the most expensive followed closely by building suppliers and finally by DIY stores.

Yes unbelievably the cheapest adhesive I found was in B&Q. Anybody know of anywhere else at better prices?

Cheers

Fredser

davidoco

For what's it worth I agree that B&Q are the cheapest I've found for durabond adhesive and grout.

I have a brother who works in a tile shop and they make, I think, about 300% on adhesive, that's why they can sometimes do "free adhesive" but they never sell it cheap.

JohnDigital

I found Lucretia Tiles the cheapest by a long shot. I laid 68 SQM of polished porcelain tiles in my house and the place I got the tiels wanted €650 for the adheasive and grout, Lucretia I got the same stuff for €250 http://www.lucretiatiles.com/

positron

Sorry this is slightly off topic, JohnDigital, I am thinking of laying polished porcelain tiles most of the ground floor (hall, kitchen & dining), but I am getting mixed reports about its practicality - sure it would look great, but is it very slippery?

thanks,

Pos.

JohnDigital

They are not slippery really, but they always look like they are. Ok if you were in a pair of socks legging it across the floor you might feel a bit un easy but not much more than any other tiled floor. The area I did was just the kitchen, pantry and loo, I laid semi solid wood floors on the rest of the downstairs of the house and really the wood floor is more slippery. One tip I will give you is laying polished porcelain tiles you really need to be good, particularly if the tiles are large (mine are 500x500) as they are unforgiving if the laying surface isn’t perfect as the edges of the tiles are not bevelled like a regular tile so a difference of even 1mm-2mm is really noticeable. They are expensive tiles so getting a pro in is a worthwhile investment. Preparation is key too, I laid 12mm ply on the floorboards and secured each with about 100 screws and the floor is rock solid, if laying on concrete you don’t have that to worry about.

They do look wonderful though as the floor always looks just like it has been washed and is still wet. Make sure to shop around; the price of the same tiles varies hugely from store to store. I eventually got mine in Tile Savers in Bray for €24 a sq yard, the exact same tiles were as much as €59 in another place, (as I mentioned above shop around for the adhesive too!). Admittedly the Bray store had a sale on and they were 50% off but even without that €48 to €59 is a big difference when you are buying a lot. Full credit to Tile savers my full load didn’t even have one damaged tile, I will be shopping there again.

positron

thanks a mil, JohnDigital, excellent info there.

I am being warned over and again by parents and the like about the glossy type, and to go for the matt finish, which ofcourse is way too dull compared to the glossy one which I like.

thanks again and sorry to OP for the little hijack!