I'm having to replace some tiles in my shower unit. When I took the damaged tiles off, they had been put on to plywood. Now I need to replace but not sure what is best to stick them back on and if I need to do anything to the wood beforehand? The previous adhesive looks as though it had adhered very well, but no idea whagt it was? There is also one tile that needs replacing against a 'normal' plastered wall...is there anything that can be used for both walls?
Can you not remove plywood and replace with Hardibacker. (Cement board) Plywood isn't really suitable for a shower enclosure.
Not really, I'd have to take all tiles an the shower off and then start again, I'm afraid I'm not that handy! I've just got a smallish area to fix, so didnt want it to turn into a massive job. The rest of the tiles seem fine and have been up there for years, so hopefully its all ok!
Apparantly modern plywood has something in it which affects the tile cement ( i know from experience as i put on approx 10m2 of tiles before i discovered that they wouldnt stick to plywood), however you can buy sealer which can be painted onto the plywood that makes the tiles stick on OK. My bathroom was tiled onto plywood 10 years ago and none of the tiles have dropped off, i just used standard bathroom tile cement at the time and didnt even PVA the surface. As for the normal wall, standard tile cement for bathrooms should be OK IMO! Hope this helps but apologies if any Tilers out there no better!
I would tank the shower area......then use a cement based adhesive. Prime the ply first with acrylic primer. NOT PVA.