Hi all, advice would be appreciated on prepping our walls for retiling.... I recently stripped back the bathroom tiles and plaster as it was all ancient, soaking wet and blown and now I'm back to the concrete scratch coat over the blockwork. As the plaster basically just fell off, the walls left behind are pretty good in terms of level and fairly flat. We also have a concrete floor which seems pretty flat. I've had a heater in there and now the concrete is all nice and dry. My question is that i'm planning on tiling straight onto the concrete (I assume this is ok?) but its quite dusty so am wondering if applying a coat of sbr to the walls and floor would be beneficial in terms of stabilising the surface and reducing the dustiness for better adhesion? Would I do this now and leave to dry and then tile or would I do a second coat just prior to tiling and tile whilst tacky? Second question is we have put up new plaster board ceiling and I'm wanting to seal it to give some protection against condensation, obviously it wont have any direct contact with water! We've taped and skimmed over joints so its all quite smooth and so I'm just planning on painting after sealing rather than plastering, can I use sbr for this too? is it over-paintable? ive looked at drywall sealers but they seem to be more to prevent paint soaking in and giving an uneven finish rather than for damp proofing.... Thanks in advance
i'd say pretty flat, as in it is on the whole flat against a long piece of timber but there are a few lumps and bumps from using the sds drill and loads of old drill holes tiles are 25x40cm ceramic
It's your call really. My rule of thumb is bigger the tile, the flatter the wall required. If in doubt, dab plasterboard over existing to get a flat service or level with a bit of tile adhesive here and there Anyway, use SBR...couple of coats. Use minimum 8mm notch trowel and bagged adhesive.
thanks cgn, I had thought about boarding with something like hardie backer as previously we've had quite a lot of condensation but wasn't too sure if those boards can be placed straight onto solid walls or if i'd need to do some sort of waterproofing membrane or tanking behind them. mostly I seem to read that they're best attached to studs but the room is quite small already so I don't really want to lose any space...
it will have a shower over bath but at the moment is totally empty so I'm thinking I have the perfect opportunity to try and get it right!
as you can see we have a way to go! it was a total s-hole when we moved in! the window in the wall is being blocked up and tiled over as we've had velux installed....
I would stick tile backer boards on to those walls and tile over them, win win, flat walls and waterproof to boot.
can I literally just stick them on? I read they cant be dot and dabbed so I suppose some sort of adhesive? and I'm guessing they'd also need anchors of some kind as well as glue?
I'd be tempted to dab it out tbh. If you haven't done much tiling, its tedious and frustrating levelling up tiles on the fly, and even if you have...it's still tedious The problem with large tiles is lippage and your walls don't have to be that uneven before you're crying in your adhesive half way up the wall. Everyone on here loves hardibscker, but for a shower over bath, I'd just use plasterboard and brush on a waterproof tanking, in the shower area, about £35 off amazon etc.
I have also been considering just doing the prep work myself and then getting a tiler in to make it as neat a job as possible, would a pro tiler bother boarding it out do you reckon? if they would I may as well crack on and board it before I get someone
Is dot and dab PB able to take that much weight? If it's first time tiling, I would agree with CGN, a large flat surface is what you need.
Yes, will be fine. I'd get those girls in, in fact I'm going to get them into finish my job off...money well spent
As for the ceiling, acrylic eggshell is the best paint for bathrooms / kitchens as it resists steam and is wipeable As you've skimmed joints, mist coat the ceiling first as this will seal the plaster / filler The mist coat will also show up any filled areas that may need a rub down or a touch up Again, mist coat any new areas of filler Then 2 full coats of acrylic eggshell and job done