Wooden wall tile adhesive

[Zeesh]

I have a bathroom wall that I need to tile. Its a plywood sheet wall encasing plumbing and electrical lines.

The tile on wood adhesive I have seen in the stores is for floors only and can't be used on walls because it doesn't have instant grab quality so the tile wont stay up on the wall.

Can anyone please advise what type of adhesive or which one from the market should I use?

Waterproof is a must as its a shower wall. Usual tile adhesives have bad bonding properties for wooden walls and therefore I can't use those.

Thanks.

 

[vinn]

Why not remove the ply and replace with backer boards. You will then, at a small expense, have removed a number of issues that ply on a wet wall could bring.

 

[chappers]

any flexible powdered adhesive such as fastflex should be fine, prime the wood first with SBR, but you are right some of the flexible adhesives don't have high initial grab. just tile from second tile up off of a batten.

 

[Paul C.]

Why not remove the ply and replace with backer boards. You will then, at a small expense, have removed a number of issues that ply on a wet wall could bring.

Vs.

any flexible powdered adhesive such as fastflex should be fine, prime the wood first with SBR, but you are right some of the flexible adhesives don't have high initial grab. just tile from second tile up off of a batten.

I'm with Vinn on this one. Just priming a wooden wall with SBR in a shower is a silly suggestion as it is nowhere near sufficient. At the very least it will need tanking, but even then it can be affected by atmospheric humidity. It simply can't be trusted and in my opinion, plywood has no place in tiling.

But what he said. Backer board is the way to go. You can either use Hardi-Backer with a tanking system (because its water resistant, not waterproof) or a fully waterproof board like Wedi or Marmox.

As for adhesive, any singlepart flexi cement based will be good enough.

 

[chappers]

You say that but back in 1999 before I knew any better I tiled the back of our shower onto a sheet of ply without even priming it and even just used a dispersion adhesive straight out of a tub. earlier this year I gutted the bathroom I really struggled to get some of the tiles off, whilst admittedly some came off quite easily. However the ply underneath was absolutely perfect apart from the bottom 3 or 4 inches which were watermarked from where the silicone had failed about 5 years ago.
I hold my hands up though I hadn't read the post properly and didn't realise the OP was actually tiling directly in the shower as nowadays I would always use a backer board.

 

[L95]

If you haven't primed the back and sides then rip it out and put Hardie in as Vinn suggested as it's waterproof. Skip cheap tubbed gear and use powder adhesive and a decent grout.