Standard
Track updates
AS 3958:2023
[Current]Installation of ceramic and stone tiles
AS 3958:2023 provides instructions on the preparation of the background and the bonded fixing and grouting of floor and wall tiles including mosaic tiles and panels
Published: 01/12/2023
Pages: 164
Table of contents
Cited references
Content history
Table of contents
Header
About this publication
Preface
1 Scope and general
1.1 Scope
1.2 Normative references
1.3 Terms and definitions
2 Materials
2.1 Tiles
2.1.1 General
2.1.2 Ceramic tiles
2.1.3 Glass tiles
2.1.4 Porcelain tile panels
2.1.5 Natural stone tiles
2.1.6 Reconstituted stone tiles
2.1.7 Mosaic tiles
2.2 Primers
2.3 Proprietary screed and render
2.4 Adhesives
2.4.1 General
2.4.2 Selection criteria
2.4.3 Cementitious
2.4.4 Reaction resin
2.4.5 Dispersion
2.4.6 Low modulus
2.5 Grouting materials
2.5.1 General
2.5.2 Non-proprietary cementitious grout
2.5.3 Proprietary cementitious grout
2.5.4 Proprietary reaction resin grouts
2.5.5 Proprietary hybrid grouts
2.6 Substrate materials
2.6.1 General
2.6.2 Plywood
2.6.3 Structural particleboard flooring
2.6.4 Fibre-cement sheet
2.6.4.1 General
2.6.4.2 Underlay sheets for floor tiling
2.6.4.3 Fibre-cement wall sheets
2.6.4.4 Fibre-cement ceiling sheets
2.6.5 Compressed and low density fibre-cement sheets
2.6.6 Gypsum plasterboard sheets
2.6.7 Furring and studs
2.6.8 Composite board
2.6.9 Extruded and expanded polystyrene
2.6.10 Autoclaved aerated concrete
2.7 Movement joint materials
2.7.1 General
2.7.2 Prefabricated movement joints
2.7.3 Back-up materials
2.7.4 Pre-formed strips
2.7.5 Sealants
2.8 Slurry bond coat and spatter dash
2.9 Cement, sand and lime
2.9.1 Cement
2.9.2 Sand
2.9.3 Lime
2.10 Water
2.11 Separating layer for unbonded screeds
2.12 Underlays
2.12.1 Acoustic mats
2.12.2 Uncoupling mats
2.12.3 Crack isolation membranes
2.12.4 Radiant heating systems
2.12.5 Drainage mats
2.12.6 Unsuitable underlay material
2.13 Underlayments
2.13.1 Levelling compounds
2.13.2 Feathering compounds
2.14 Waterproof membranes
2.15 Reinforcement
2.15.1 Welded wire mesh
2.15.2 Expanded metal lath
2.16 Storage
3 Tiling systems
3.1 General
3.2 Floors
3.2.1 Drainage of water
3.2.2 Floor tiling systems
3.2.3 Installation selection criteria
3.2.4 Concrete floors
3.2.4.1 Bonded screed
3.2.4.2 Direct adhesive method
3.2.4.3 Unbonded screed over separating layer
3.2.4.4 Screed with in-floor heating element
3.2.4.5 Functional underlayment
3.2.4.6 Roof deck or balcony with drainage mat
3.2.4.7 Roof deck or balcony drainage
3.2.5 Framed floors
3.2.5.1 Fibre-cement sheet flooring installations on joists
3.2.5.2 Timber substrates overlaid with fibre-cement sheet
3.2.5.3 Framed substrates with an unbonded screed and separating layer
3.2.5.4 Framed substrates with screed and in-floor heating
3.3 Walls
3.3.1 General
3.3.2 Masonry or concrete construction
3.3.2.1 Bonded render
3.3.2.2 Direct adhesive method
3.3.2.3 Render over a separating layer
3.3.3 Framed construction
3.3.3.1 Direct adhesive to wall lining board
3.3.3.2 Direct adhesive to wall lining board with support angles
3.3.4 Permanent formwork
3.3.4.1 Unbonded render over separating layer
3.3.5 Metal
3.3.5.1 Direct adhesive method
4 Preparation of substrate for tiling
4.1 Determination of suitability
4.1.1 General
4.1.2 Deflection
4.1.3 Flatness, surface profile, levels and falls, and plumbness
4.1.4 Porosity
4.1.5 Unsuitable and problematic substrates
4.1.5.1 General
4.1.5.2 Unsuitable substrates
4.1.5.3 Problematic substrates
4.1.6 Management of substrates unsuitable for direct bonding
4.1.6.1 General
4.1.6.2 Treated concrete surfaces
4.1.6.3 Metallic substrates
4.1.6.4 Resilient flooring
4.1.6.5 Non-structural cracks
4.1.6.6 Structural cracks
4.1.6.7 Treatment of cracks
4.1.7 Moisture content
4.1.8 Maximum dead loads
4.2 Substrate rectification and preparation
4.2.1 Internal and external wet areas
4.2.2 Screeds and renders
4.2.3 Separating layer
4.2.4 Liquid and flexible in situ underlays
4.2.5 Rigid underlays
4.2.6 Underlayments
4.3 Structural considerations for backgrounds
4.3.1 Concrete floors
4.3.1.1 General
4.3.1.2 New concrete floors
4.3.1.3 Existing concrete floors
4.3.1.4 Concrete floors with existing finish
4.3.2 Framed floors
4.3.2.1 General
4.3.2.2 Ventilation of framed subfloor spaces
4.3.2.3 Construction of joist-supported floors
4.3.2.4 Preparation for tiling over timber floors
4.3.2.4.1 General
4.3.2.4.2 Timber tongued and grooved flooring (strip timber)
4.3.2.4.3 Plywood
4.3.2.4.4 Structural particleboard flooring
4.3.2.5 Preparation for tiling on compressed and low-density fibre-cement sheets
4.3.2.6 Subfloor flexural stability
4.3.3 Concrete or masonry walls
4.3.3.1 General
4.3.3.2 New concrete walls
4.3.3.3 Existing concrete or masonry walls
4.3.3.3.1 General
4.3.3.3.2 Procedures
4.3.4 Framed walls
4.3.4.1 General
4.3.4.2 Fixing of plywood substrates
4.3.4.3 Fixing of fibre-cement sheets
4.3.4.4 Fixing of gypsum-plasterboard sheets
4.3.4.5 Fixing of extruded foam sheets
5 Installation of tiles
5.1 Scope of section
5.2 Preliminary considerations
5.2.1 General
5.2.2 Site protection
5.3 Materials
5.4 General criteria for installation of tiles
5.4.1 General
5.4.2 Preparation of natural stone tiles
5.4.3 Preparation of reconstituted stone tiles
5.4.4 Setting out
5.4.4.1 General
5.4.4.2 Floor tiles
5.4.4.3 Wall tiles
5.4.4.4 Placement of cuts
5.4.5 Fitting
5.4.6 Lighting
5.4.7 Movement joints
5.4.7.1 Purpose
5.4.7.2 Design and installation
5.4.7.3 Floors
5.4.7.4 Walls
5.4.7.5 Floor/wall joints
5.4.7.6 Sealants
5.4.7.7 Backup materials
5.4.7.8 Preformed strips
5.4.8 Tile finish and joints
5.4.8.1 Tiling surface flatness
5.4.8.2 Lippage
5.4.8.3 Joint width and alignment
5.4.8.4 Tile spacing inserts
5.4.8.5 Lippage control devices
5.4.9 Bonding
5.5 Installation of tiles with cement mortar
5.5.1 General
5.5.2 Backgrounds
5.5.3 Preparation of tiles
5.5.4 Preparation of ceramic tiles
5.5.5 Non-proprietary mortar mixes
5.5.5.1 General
5.5.5.2 Mixing of mortar
5.5.6 Fixing to floors
5.5.6.1 Bedding in semi-dry mortar bed over concrete (wet bed method)
5.5.6.2 Bedding in semi-dry mortar over a separating layer
5.5.6.3 Bedding in semi-dry mortar over an in situ flexible underlay
5.5.7 Fixing to walls
5.5.7.1 General
5.5.7.2 Buttering method
5.5.7.3 Render and lay method
5.6 Installation of tiles with adhesive
5.6.1 General
5.6.2 Fixing methods for tiles other than panels
5.6.2.1 General
5.6.2.2 Notched trowel method
5.6.2.3 Floating method
5.6.2.4 Buttering method
5.6.3 Panel fixing method
5.6.3.1 General
5.6.3.2 Procedure
5.6.3.3 Perimeter junctions
5.6.4 Spot bonding
5.6.5 Adhesive coverage and distribution
5.6.5.1 General
5.6.5.2 Coverage
5.6.5.3 Distribution
5.6.5.4 Depth
5.6.6 Preparation of tiles
5.6.7 Preparation of adhesive
5.6.8 Fixing tiles
5.7 Grouting
5.7.1 Materials
5.7.2 General procedure
5.7.3 For paper-faced mosaic tiles using render and lay method
5.7.4 Curing
5.8 Cleaning tiles
6 Tile system design
Appendix A
A.1 Methods of screed construction
A.2 Cement and sand or fine concrete screeds
A.2.1 General
A.2.2 Bonding
A.2.3 Thickness
A.2.4 Rigidity
A.2.5 Reinforcement
A.2.6 Framed construction
A.2.7 Pipes and conduits
A.2.8 Screed composition
A.3 Bay sizes
A.4 Use of bonding agents
A.5 Soundness of bonded and unbonded screeds
A.6 Tolerances on levelness and surface finish of screeds
A.6.1 General
A.6.2 Surface finish
A.6.3 Departure from datum
A.7 Susceptibility to cracking of screeds
A.8 Eliminating construction moisture
A.9 Admixtures
Appendix B
B.1 General
B.2 Background preparation
B.2.1 General
B.2.2 Dense and smooth backgrounds
B.2.3 Moderately weak and porous backgrounds
B.2.4 Other backgrounds
B.2.5 Reinforcement
B.3 Application of render
B.3.1 General
B.3.2 Rendering using anchored reinforcement
B.3.2.1 Purpose of reinforcement
B.3.2.2 Method of reinforcement
B.3.2.3 Application of render
B.3.3 Relationship between component materials
B.4 Rendering mixes
B.4.1 General
B.4.2 Dense, strong and smooth or moderately strong and porous backgrounds
B.4.3 Moderately weak and porous backgrounds
B.4.4 Mixed backgrounds
B.4.5 Backgrounds subject to dampness
B.5 Thickness and trueness of rendering
Appendix C
C.1 General
C.2 Tile cleaning during installation
C.3 Tile cleaning at end of installation
C.4 Routine cleaning
C.4.1 General
C.4.2 Efflorescence
C.4.3 Residual cement film
C.4.4 Other residual films
C.5 Tile sealing
Appendix D
D.1 General
D.2 Factors affecting gradients
D.3 Gradients
D.4 Facilitation of drainage
Appendix E
E.1 General
E.1.1 Tiling design factors
E.1.2 Effect of water chemistry on tiling
E.1.3 Cyclic changes on tiling
E.2 Swimming pools of concrete construction (excluding saltwater pools)
E.2.1 General
E.2.2 Minimum curing time between successive tiling stages
E.2.3 Pool surrounds
E.2.4 Walls (rendering)
E.2.5 Floors (screeds)
E.2.6 Cement and sand mixing and curing for floors and walls
E.2.7 Waterproofing
E.2.8 Penetrations
E.2.9 Movement joints
E.2.10 Filling and emptying
E.2.11 Heating
E.3 Saltwater pools, tanks and reservoirs of concrete construction
E.4 Concrete tanks and service reservoirs
E.5 Installation of pool surrounds and adjacent areas
E.5.1 General
E.5.2 Rebated coping tile
E.6 Installation of tiles for immersed conditions (excluding saltwater pools)
E.6.1 General
E.6.2 Ceramic tiles
E.6.3 Glass mosaics
E.6.4 Mosaic mounting systems
E.6.5 Environmental conditions
E.6.6 Surface preparation
E.6.7 Adhesives
E.6.8 Grouts
E.6.9 Curing times
Appendix F
F.1 Design process
F.1.1 Selection factors
F.1.2 Planning of the system
F.2 Analysis of the project data
F.2.1 General
F.2.2 Environment and performance
F.2.3 Base structure
F.2.4 Substrate geometry
F.2.5 Construction schedule
F.3 Planning and design
F.3.1 General
F.3.1.1 Tiling system
F.3.1.2 Classification
F.3.1.3 Modular installations
F.3.2 Choice of materials
F.3.2.1 General
F.3.2.2 Tiles and mosaics
F.3.2.2.1 General considerations
F.3.2.2.2 Aesthetic considerations
F.3.2.2.3 Functional considerations
F.3.2.3 Bond coats
F.3.2.3.1 General
F.3.2.3.2 Cement mortar
F.3.2.3.3 Modified mortar
F.3.2.3.4 Cementitious adhesive
F.3.2.3.5 Dispersion adhesive
F.3.2.3.6 Reaction resin adhesive
F.3.2.3.7 Low modulus adhesive
F.3.2.4 Joints
F.3.2.4.1 General
F.3.2.4.2 Joint widths
F.3.2.4.3 Grouting materials
F.3.2.5 Backgrounds
F.3.2.5.1 General
F.3.2.5.2 Backgrounds for external wall tiling
F.3.2.5.3 Classes of backgrounds
F.3.2.5.4 Properties of backgrounds
F.3.3 Choice of bedding systems
F.3.3.1 General
F.3.3.2 Special considerations for floors
F.3.3.2.1 General
F.3.3.2.2 Load considerations
F.3.3.2.3 Variations in moisture content and temperature in a floor
F.3.3.2.4 Separating layer
F.3.3.2.5 Underlays
F.3.3.3 Passage of water
F.3.3.4 Preparation of backgrounds
F.3.3.5 Wet areas
F.3.3.6 Bedding system
F.3.3.6.1 General
F.3.3.6.2 Floors
F.3.3.6.3 Walls
F.3.3.7 Grouts for joints
F.3.4 Detailing of movement joints
F.3.5 Verification of the tiling system
F.3.5.1 General
F.3.5.2 External installation
F.3.6 Preparation of specifications and drawings
F.3.7 Preparation of instructions
F.3.7.1 General
F.3.7.2 Protection of completed work
Appendix G
G.1 General
G.2 Chemical attack
G.3 Electrostatic conditions
G.4 Movement
G.4.1 General
G.4.2 Drying shrinkage
G.4.3 Wetting and drying
G.4.4 Thermal movement
G.4.5 Soluble salts
G.5 Radioactivity
G.6 Sound and thermal insulation
G.6.1 Sound insulation
G.6.2 Thermal insulation
G.7 Sterile conditions
G.8 Thermal effects
G.8.1 Climatic effects during installation
G.8.2 Temperature of background
G.9 Traffic and load conditions
G.10 Damp and intermittently wet conditions
G.11 Wet conditions
Appendix H
H.1 General
H.2 Electrical heating systems
H.3 Hydronic systems
H.4 Movement joints
H.5 Variation in tile installation systems
Appendix I
I.1 Background
I.2 Testing procedures
I.2.1 General
I.2.2 Concrete subfloors
I.2.2.1 Relative humidity (RH) in situ probe test (primary test method)
I.2.2.2 Moisture vapour emission rate surface test (secondary test method)
I.2.3 Timber and plywood membrane substrates
I.3 Test report
Appendix J
Appendix K
K.1 General
K.2 Marking
K.3 Performance characteristics tests
Appendix L
L.1 General
L.2 Marking
L.3 Performance characteristics tests
Appendix M
M.1 General
M.2 Marking
M.3 Performance characteristics tests
Appendix N
N.1 General
N.2 Marking
N.3 Performance characteristics tests
Bibliography
Cited references in this standard
Content history
[Superseded]
[Current]
[Superseded]
DR AS 3958:2023
AS 3958.1:2007
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