Why are tiles soaked in water before use?

When a tile (or a brick for that matter) is too porous, it will suck the water out of the mortar without allowing it to set properly, leaving weak bonds between mortar and tile.

1. For the proper laying of tiles. hire an experienced mason.
2. Before fixing, tiles must be soaked in water for about an hour. Soaking of tiles is not required in case of fixing with chemical adhesive.
3. The wall surface is to be rough plastered using mortar composed of one part cement and two parts sand.
4. On the wall surface, a coat of very thin cement slurry should be applied by brush at the time of fixing the tiles.
5. The mortar is to be spread on the backside of the tile. This should be composed of one part cement and two parts sand.
6. Tiles so placed in the mortar should be gently raped to ensure total mortar contact.
7. Shade and Size variation is an inherent characteristic of ceramic tiles. Before fixing, the tiles should be mixed separate boxes to have random blending and avoid obvious patches.
8. Mixing of time with cement, careless mixing or deliberate use of rich mixes will lead to wall tile failure.

For more information Visit India’s Largest collection store Somany Ceramics.