A Practical Guide to Tiling with Plastic
Plastic tiles are a great beginner plastics recycling project. Tile molds are straight-forward to manufacture, and models are widely available for purchase. They’re also simple enough to make with everyday tools, like a toaster oven! However, even though practically everyone that starts recycling plastic starts with tile production, we had never seen anyone actually TILE anything with them. So we gave it a try ourselves! As always, there’s more research to do, but the initial results are very promising, and we’re looking forward to making more installations!
Check out this video montage of our process.
a Brief How-To Guide:
BEFORE YOU TILE - Keep in mind that plastic has a much lower melting temperature than ceramics, stone, or masonry. Any surface that could get hot (such as a kitchen countertop) is not suitable for plastic tiles.
Collect enough of your plastic tile to cover the surface you intend to tile plus 10-15% extra for tiling edges.
Spread your tile adhesive on your surface using a notched trowel working in small sections. See the note below on adhesive selection. If you are using liquid nails or similar, spread your adhesive on the back of your tile.
Place your plastic tile and firmly press them it into place. Use tile spacers for even grout spacing.
Once your adhesive has completely set, spray your tile with a UV resistant clear coat (such as Krylon K01305). In addition to adding some shine to your tile, this clear coat will prevent your colors from fading resist scratching. We recommend two coats.
Spread your grout! Depending on your tile spacing, you may use a sanded or un-sanded grout. The clear coat applied in the previous step should prevent most scratching it you are electing to you a sanded grout.
Notes
BEFORE YOU TILE - Keep in mind that plastic has a much lower melting temperature than ceramics, stone, or masonry. Any surface that could get hot (such as a kitchen countertop) is not suitable for plastic tiles.
UNCOMMITTED? - If you’re not sure that plastic tile will stand-up to your application, try tiling on plywood or structurally-reinforced MDF! For smaller installations (like a backsplash) you can hang your tiled surface like a picture. Adding a trim makes it beautiful and seamless!
TILE ADHESIVE - Traditional tile adhesives, such as thinsets and mastics, I have experimented with a few common tile adhesives to find a solution suitable for Polypropelene and HDPE
Liquid Nails - Though not a typical tile adhesive, Liquid Nails does an exceptional job at adhering to chemically resistant
Mastics - These tend to have poor adhesion with plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene
Thinsets - Some thinsets are better suited for plastic tiling than others. Test out your adhesive with a sample of your tile before committing to the full surface!