tiling

[punchjoshua]

want to retile bathroom,.;tiles on wall are sound,.;
ok to drill some thin mdf/ply over the existing tiles and then tile on top?

 

[AdamW]

You can tile straight onto the old tiles if they are sound, no need for boarding. Most walls will take a double thickness of tiles. If you already have two layers on there you should remove the old tiles.

Clean the old tiles thoroughly with a degreaser such as sugar soap. Rinse them thoroughly. Then when dry you can start to tile over them.

Sanding the old tiles slightly (then washing off the dust) to remove the gloss may help the adhesive to stick better, but I don't believe it is a necessity and it does create potentially dangerous dust. So I wouldn't bother doing that if I were you!

 

[punchjoshua]

cheers great reply..
me thinks you can brew your own sugar soap is it sugar and washing up liquid mixed?

 

[AdamW]

I'm not sure, the stuff I bought comes as a bag of crystals. You dissolve them in water to make your solution. It is only a pound or two, from any DIY shed or independent DIY store. No need to buy the ready mixed stuff in a bottle.

It is always important to rinse thoroughly. I don't know what effect it has on tile adhesive, but painting over sugar soap leaves an "interesting" texture on the paint!

 

[AFH Dan]

I agree with Adam.

Be careful of the weight. If the tiles that are on have been fixed to plaster, you can only go to 20kg per sqm, if they have been fixed to plasterboard, they can go to 32kg per sq m. That's not the actual 'fall off the wall' weight, it's BS or Gypsum's statement. So you (probably) could go over them.

Personally I would pull them off and sort the wall out then tile it knowing they are fixed for life.

As to the tiling over them, again, I agree with Adam. They need to be very very free from dust, grease and dirt. Sugar soap is a good option but a good warm water wash down and a good wash down again and then again and then....


....................ain and then again. I'm sure you get the picture.

 

[punchjoshua]

thanks for the advice me thinks i will pull all the tiles of and start again /'#]

 

[AFH Dan]

Wiseman.