tiling-wall strength?

andyhop

Alan_M wrote: »

British Standards were altered in 1998 to specifiy that wooden substrates were unsuitable for tiling when used in wet areas. Building regs on the whole are based on British standards, in this particualr case they are.

It's why Tile backer board exists.

Tanked plasterboard is actually a more suitable substrate than any form of plywood.

:T:T:TFinally someone in the know

Tanking costs pennys compared to having to redo it when it fails,bal wp1 kits cost less than £50 and tanking membrane would be a little less for a shower

hotcookie101

OK, thanks everyone-so does that mean we need to use special boards in the bathroom? The shower will be over-bath, in a corner so 2 walls will be affected. Our friend, a plasterer was going to skim the walls for us after we remove suite and tiles etc, are we better off just boarding? (and what sort of boarding and/or how much work does tanking involve?) Will probably go for ceramic tiles rather than travertine, but there may be a border. We have a professional coming in to tile and fit the suite, but just want to make sure we have everything prepped right for them

Alan_M_2

If you have solid walls, there's no need to board.

If you have stud walls then build with the most suitable product.

Tanking is simply a surface treatment that provides a waterproof coating before the tiling is applied.

If you go with a natural stone (travertine etc) on a skim plastered wall, make sure it's no thicker than 10mm, that's the most weight the skim plaster can hold.

Remember, tiling is not and never has been designed to be a wterproof barrier, it is simply aesthetic and hygenic. If a waterproof barrier is required, that should be formed before the surface finish (the tiles) are fitted...that's where tanking comes in.

We are now, pretty much the only country in Europe where tanking is not standard practice.

usignuolo

A cautionary note. My builder, who installed my new bathroom, popped back to finish a small job the other day and started telling me about a disastrous bathroom he worked on. He was called in to install a new bath and wall and floor tiles in an existing bathroom. Which he did. No expense spared for large brown Italian marble travertine floor and wall tiles, recessed ceiling lights the lot.

Then he was called back after a few months as the wall tiles had started to crack horizontally along the wall. Turned out the previous owners had installed the bathroom by partioning off an existing room by building a brick wall direct onto the floorboards, no extra load bearing precautions taken. New owner did not realise this (don't know what surveyor thought not reported) when called in builder.

Builder assumed it was a pukka bathroom built at same time as house. Sooo, the weight of the Italian marble tiles loaded onto the brick walls merely supported by floorboards was a step too far and without adequate load bearing the whole floor and wall subsided and the wall tiles cracked horizontally right across the wall.

I had my new bathroom taken back to the joist and wall board and replastered and the tiles were stuck to the new walls. So far OK. I have seen a USA technique where they put mesh on the wallboard before tiling but my builder insisted that was unnecessary.