Bathroom basin splash back tiles on existing MDF

[dandubi]

Hi,

This is my 1st post and would appreciate some advise on my below issue.

The upstairs bathroom in our new home has quite a lot of MDF and from the picture you can see that the MDF is puffing around the basin. The rest of the MDF panelling in the bathroom seems to be fine and I have been told it has been installed for nearly 2.5 years.

I was looking to make a small splash back on the basin to try and stop this becoming more of a problem but after reading through multiple threads on this forum and getting the general idea that MDF is not ideal for bathrooms / tilling. I am not sure how to go about the splash back, some suggested for others touched on putting some backing board on before tiles but I fear this would make the splash back protrude and look odd.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Dan

 

[Jackrae]

Your MDF looks yellow, not green as the water tolerant type is.

Assuming you don't want to undertake a rebuild, I'd trim off the puffiness, seal the MDF where you intend to fit tiles with some form of damp sealer and then tile that area that is liable to be splashed. Ensure you apply a silicone bead to the tile/basin joint to prevent water ingress

 

[dandubi]

Hi thanks for the reply.

After trimming back the puffiness it started to look like the wood has the green tint - would this change on what sealer i should use? and if not what damp sealer would you recommend?

Many thanks,
Dan