Tiling a bathroom dilemma…do i rip the walls down…??

Having a major loft conversion/building works done on Maison Du P..
Obviously all new walls created upstairs, nicely skimmed smooth..

We had the tiler round to quote for the bathroom, and he raised reservations over using the porcelain tiles we’d (spent hours….) chosen, as they are heavy and he said the plaster will only support ceramic.

Reading up on it all, this would seem to be true – 20kg/m2 for plaster, 32 for plasterboard.
The tiles and grout ill probably be about 25kg/m2.

This is a major pain in the A, as
– LadyDrpP REALY likes these tiles
– It seems the majority of tiles are porcelain nowadays…

So it’s an error having had the bathroom plastered (At one point we were going to half tile/paint, hence the plaster).

Pants.

Ways forward include:
-going for it with these tiles. Will I die.
-Convincing the missus to get other tiles (which easy as it sounds, I agree these are nice tiles, and the ceramics don’t seem as nice). Will I die.
-Bite the bullet, rip the plaster/board off the wall (or just the full height walls) and simply re-plasterboard without plastering. Biggest amount of work (=£). Will I die…

DrP

Go with the advice of your tiler. You might not have a problem, but if you do, you’ll feel pretty stupid and it will cost much more in the long run. After all, that’s why you chose a professional to begin with?
There is a million and one tiles to choose from including ceramic. There has to be at least one you can agree on.

There has to be at least one you can agree on.

I think that’s the route i’d like to go down…

Ho hum…

DrP

I’m not saying yours will be OK but we have limestone tiles on both plasterboard/skim and straight plaster walls in our bathroom with no issues – not sure how heavy they are though.
But if you’re only talking about replacing plasterboard maybe that would be the way to go for peace of mind. Don’t change tiles as Mrs P will never like the new ones.

Do it right do it once.

But if you’re only talking about replacing plasterboard maybe that would be the way to go for peace of mind. Don’t change tiles as Mrs P will never like the new ones.

I think that’s the route she’d like to go down….!

WIll chat to the builder!

DrP

Could you overboard the existing skimmed finish with another sheet of plasterboard/tilebacker board?

I thought that – or a mesh type thing.. But it’ll add another 12mm or so to the wall, and the door frames/architraves are in already.

I need my retrospectoscope…
Oh well, no-one’s died.

I shan’t event talk about how I’ve messed up 3 oak doors with a poor choice of varnish. That’s a sore point!!

DrP

Reading up on it all, this would seem to be true – 20kg/m2 for plaster, 32 for plasterboard.
The tiles and grout ill probably be about 25kg/m2.

I’m quit surprise, I’d have thought plaster over render would be way stronger than plaster board.

I’d take it down as plasterboard is not suitable to tile on at all. You need a proper backer board.

+1 Backer board.

Plasterboard is fine to tile onto as long as it’s suitably attached to whatever is behind it and you’re not above the weight limit. I.e. Dot and dab following regs with nailable plugs onto masonry. Plasterboard should be tanked if in a wet area and primed everywhere else. Never use PVA to prime for tiling especially in a wet area. However I am not a tiler/plasterer… 32 kg per sq m is for plasterboard and less for skimmed as noted above. The British Gypsum, Mapei, etc. hotlines are very helpful for this type of thing (I rang them a few times during my bathroom project)

Nickewan is spot on, I do tile for a living and to say you can’t tile to plasterboard is cobblers TBH. Yes, ideally you’d board out with cement board everywhere, but in reality, very few people will as it’s very expensive and difficult to work with.

Ideally you’d have left the plasterboard unskimmed as the skim has taken away some of your weight allowance. prime it and you’d be fine to tile with most tiles.

Unless they are tile monsters they weight hugely (say over 600mm), then I’d prime the walls properly and use a good quality adhesive and crack on.

Grout is not waterproof, never ever tile on plasterboard in a wet environment like a shower.

DrP get it priced for 12mm cement board, as stated above,this is the ideal substrate, you will then be able to make a budget based decision,simples.Usually 1200 x 800 @ around £10 each.

Agreed, Grout isn’t waterproof, neither are tiles 100% but very little gets through. I always spec either cement board or use a paint on tanking system to a wet environment (shower enclosure) given the choice, but to use cement board for a whole bathroom is overkill (and expensive)

Most failures I see are from using the wrong adhesive/grout or from bad setting out (small cuts to bottom of shower tray) rather than water seepage. I only ever use cement based powder adhesives, NEVER ready mix buckets.

I totally agree that backer board or tanked moisture resistant plasterboard is the right move for the shower.
I also agree with Blazin-saddles that to use it for the whole bathroom is unnecessary.

From op the current skim would be over its limit,so needs to be replaced, if it is being stripped what is the harm in getting a price to replace with backer?
We have no idea what size the room is, its all options, hence the part where the op gets to choose what he can afford.
Apart from cost,are there any negatives?

I shan’t event talk about how I’ve messed up 3 oak doors with a poor choice of varnish. That’s a sore point!!

Get them dipped! About £25 per door.

Err…. so if you buy a brand new house – untiled and it has a shower bit in it.

Is it bad that I tiled directly onto what I think is plaster board?

A little bit, yes.
Over time the moisture will soak into the plasterboard and soften the adheshive causing the tiles to loosen and (maybe) fall off.
Or….you might be lucky and have no problems at all.
If the plasterboard was green it’s moisture resistant which might be marginally better?

You could fly some 6mm tile board over the top of the plasterboard.

Bear – Member

Grout is not waterproof, never ever tile on plasterboard in a wet environment like a shower.
Amazing! how many millions of homes are living examples this is total BS?

Bear – Member

You could fly some 6mm tile board over the top of the plasterboard.
This one must be some kind of Air sea tile rescue service.

Wow. Going to put the kettle on. I know what I would do.

GS – Apologies for offending you. I’m jut going on my experience, if you know differently then please continue. But please could you show me where it recommends tiling on standard plasterboard as I am not aware of it.

I meant to type fix instead of fly, apologies if I have caused major offence to all the pilots, birds, insects and anything else that can genuinely fly. I thought it was only spelling and grammatical errors that were so harshly dealt with.