Pay attention to the influence of temperature on tile adhesive During winter construction

As we all know, tile glue is generally made of cement and mixed with various additives. It is mixed and stirred with water on the construction site during use, and then applied to the wall or floor. Generally, it has a certain initial strength about 12 hours after construction. As time goes by, the intensity is also increasing, generally the intensity is basically stable after 28 days.

This change process of tile glue is a very complicated physical and chemical reaction process. The change of the external environment temperature directly affects the speed of the reaction process. The reasonable use temperature of tile glue is 5°C to 35°C,  beyond this temperature range. The quality of the mortar cannot be guaranteed because the temperature is too high and the moisture inside the mortar evaporates quickly, which cannot guarantee the normal hydration and hardening of the cement in the mortar. When the temperature is lower than 5°C, the hydration process of the cement becomes very slow.

The cement hydration process is basically stopped below 0 degrees Celsius, and the strength development of the mortar may be seriously affected by freezing. Therefore, tile glue should be used correctly within the range of 5°C to 35°C, and at the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the curing temperature of the glue before reaching the initial strength is also within the range of 5°C to 35°C. Therefore, when using tile glue in autumn and winter, we must pay special attention to the minimum temperature changes in the weather forecast.

In the range of 5°C to 35°C, the temperature change mainly affects the setting and hardening rate of the cement, but has no serious effect on the final strength. Generally, we can perceive the reduction in the setting and hardening rate of tile adhesive below 15°C.

Therefore, during this period of time, if it is found that the cementing and hardening rate of the tiles we use is not as good as before, it is a normal phenomenon and will not have a serious impact on the final strength, but it is necessary to ensure that the glue is at 5°C before reaching the initial strength Curing and hardening above the temperature. In addition, at about 8°C, the lag time of this kind of condensation and hardening may be about 2 days, and the lower the temperature, the longer the lag time. The above picture shows that when the vitrified tiles were laid for 5 days in the early winter of a certain project, the tiles were opened to check that the internal tile adhesive was still not dry and the strength was low.

For example, when laying ceramic tiles, since the moisture in the tile adhesive on the back of the tiles evaporates slowly, the curing rate of the tile adhesive will be relatively long; other fast-hardening tile adhesive products have relatively high heat release due to their own fast curing speed. So the influence of 15℃ is less.

Tile paving is generally at the end of the project schedule. For some projects that need to grab the construction period, you can choose a fast-hardening tile glue according to the situation, which can greatly reduce the waiting time between procedures.