Hi, Just finishing a new shower room, wet areas are all Hardibacker, dry areas are plaster board. Is it OK to tile directly on to new plasterboard? It's 12.5mm square edge foil backed and screwed to a stud spacing of 300mm. Should I mist the new plasterboard first with a 3:1 matt-emulsion:water mix?
Adhesive manufacturers often advise tiling straight onto unskimmed plasterboards. It'll hold more weight of tiles per Sq M than skimmed. No need to paint either.
My mate went to some adhesive thing once, they tiled straight onto plasterboard and on to skimmed plasterboard. They tilted the boards facing down slightly and had a machine that vibrated the boards. The tiles fell off the skimmed wall first. The adhesive was set not freshly laid. I always tile straight onto boards never had a problem and I skim loads of bathrooms for bathroom fitters and they always get me to just skim upto where they're tiling.
Agreed straight on to the board, to give you an idea how well it sticks try removing some without damaging the board.
Yeah, so the other school of thought is put a skim on to protect the boards - so if they get fed up with the tiles it won't destroy the walls when they take them off. Open to debate i guess!