Solve backwards
How much wall tile will my tile adhesive fix?
- 50 lbThe example worked below
- Tile Adhesive CalculatorEvery figure is its own
You have
How much tile adhesive?
That is 50 lb(22.7 kg). Worked by the Tile Adhesive Calculator at the settings below.
The settings it uses
- Trowel notch size
- 6 mm — wall tile up to about 300 mm
- Bedding method
- Combed bed, floor or wall
- Waste allowance
- 10
What it will do
74 sq ft of tiled wall
6.87 m²
One tiled wall. Enough for a tiled wall 9.2 ft long and 8 ft high.
Or several. Less than one tiled wall of the size the Tile Adhesive Calculator opens on (a tiled wall 27.5 ft long and 8 ft high).
Check it forwards
- Area to tile
- 74 sq ft
- It asks for
- 50 lb
- You have
- 50 lb
The Tile Adhesive Calculator asks for 50 lb at that size.
If you had more, or less
Around your amount
Each worked by the Tile Adhesive Calculator at the same settings.
Half
25 lb
37 sq ft
a tiled wall 4.6 ft long and 8 ft high
Yours
50 lb
74 sq ft
a tiled wall 9.2 ft long and 8 ft high
Half as much again
75 lb
111 sq ft
a tiled wall 13.9 ft long and 8 ft high
Double
100 lb
148 sq ft
a tiled wall 18.5 ft long and 8 ft high
Common amounts
What each amount of tile adhesive covers
The sizes it is usually sold in, each worked by the Tile Adhesive Calculator at the settings above.
| You have | It covers | As one tiled wall | Average tiled walls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 lb(11.3 kg) | 37 sq ft(3.44 m²) | a tiled wall 4.6 ft long and 8 ft high | under 1 |
| 50 lb(22.7 kg) | 74 sq ft(6.87 m²) | a tiled wall 9.2 ft long and 8 ft high | under 1 |
| 100 lb(45.4 kg) | 148 sq ft(13.7 m²) | a tiled wall 18.5 ft long and 8 ft high | under 1 |
| 200 lb(90.7 kg) | 296 sq ft(27.5 m²) | a tiled wall 37 ft long and 8 ft high | 1 |
Half the notch, at the data sheet's rate
A square-notch trowel leaves ridges covering about half the surface at full notch depth, so the mean bed is half the notch, and adhesive data sheets put cement-based powder at about 1.0 kg per square metre per millimetre of bed. A 6 mm notch therefore uses about 3 kg/m², and a 10 mm notch about 5 — the same rates as the site's thinset page. That is on one maker's data-sheet line and a little above another's bag coverage, so it errs toward a spare bag rather than a short one.
Pot life is where the ten per cent goes
Cement-based adhesive has a working time, so a batch that stiffens before it is used is thrown rather than retempered. The calculator carries ten per cent for it, and read backwards that tenth comes off what you have. Small, intricate areas mixed in part-used batches lose more.
Wet areas want a solid bed
Back-buttering adds a skim to the back of each tile, which large-format work and most wall tiling over 300 mm require, and a solid bed that fills the ridges completely is normally mandatory in wet areas and outside. Either multiplies the adhesive, so a shower wall takes far more per square metre than the answer here.
How the answer is worked
Nothing here is a second formula. The Tile Adhesive Calculator runs forwards — a size in, a quantity out — and this page grows its own starting tiled wall in proportion until the quantity it asks for is what you have. Where it rounds up to whole containers, the answer is the largest size before the next one would be needed.
Where the calculator adds an allowance for cuts or breakage when you order, the same allowance comes off here, because it is the same calculator: a stack you already own finishes less than its face value. Where it adds none, neither does this page — the settings beside the answer say which.
Tile Adhesive Calculator
runs it forwardsWork out how much tile adhesive an area needs from the trowel notch size and the bedding method, and how many bags that is.
Work out what to buy insteadSolve backwards
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Solve backwards
Start from what is already in the yard
Paint, sheets, rolls, bags and pieces, each read the other way by the calculator that orders it.
The calculator's own figures
Nothing is estimated twice: the page runs the same calculator you would order with.
The largest size that fits
Where a calculator rounds up to whole containers, the answer stops before the next one.
Both unit systems
Gallons and litres, square feet and square metres, side by side.
Frequently asked questions
- How much tiled wall does 50 lb of tile adhesive cover?
- At the Tile Adhesive Calculator's own settings, 74 sq ft (6.87 m²) — a tiled wall 9.2 ft long and 8 ft high. Every figure follows the settings, which you can change in the calculator.
- How much tiled wall does 20 kg of tile adhesive cover?
- At the Tile Adhesive Calculator's own settings, 6.06 m² (65.2 sq ft) — a tiled wall 2.5 m long and 2.4 m high. Every figure follows the settings, which you can change in the calculator.
- How many square metres does a 20 kg bag of tile adhesive cover?
- With a 6 mm notch for wall tile, about 6 m² (65 square feet) once ten per cent is lost to pot life; with a 10 mm notch for floor tile, about 3.6 m² (39 square feet). Back-buttering or a solid bed reduces it considerably. The bag's own coverage table is the figure for that product.
- How much adhesive do I need per square metre of tiles?
- About 1.0 kg of powder per square metre for each millimetre of bed, and a square-notch trowel leaves a bed about half its notch deep. So a 6 mm notch uses around 3 kg/m² (roughly 0.61 lb per square foot) and a 10 mm notch around 5 kg/m² (roughly 1.02 lb per square foot), before any waste.
- Is ready-mixed tile adhesive the same as powder?
- No. Ready-mixed tub adhesives are rated by volume and have their own coverage, and they suit dry wall areas rather than floors or wet rooms. The weights on this page are for cement-based powder adhesive mixed with water.