Tiing advice

avstar

Hello all

Me and the b/f are doing a bathroom refit ourselves this weekend - and we've been told that we'd be better off not removing the old tiles and just tiling over them, as they are just a horrrible pattern but not cracked or anything.
Anyone else think this is a good idea ? It would save a lot of time and mess !
Cheers
avstar

CL

I wouldn't recommend it, the extra weight of the new tile will put additional pressure on the original adhesive and they might start falling off. Better to do the work now than have to do it later and waste your new tiles.

hum_lovely

I am not an expert (my husband is an electrician who thinks he is a builder/tiler etc - but only in our house I hasten to add!) but I do know that in two of our houses we have tiled over tiles in the bathroom with no problems. The first bathroom was done for us by a tiler who was happy to do it so long as he used his own industrial adhesive (not the Wickes stuff we had bought). If you take tiles off I understand that you are likely to need to replaster as the adhesive that stays on could mean that that the new tiles don't lie flat (?). One piece of advice I can give is that if you are tiling, get on with it. My husband started to do the first bathroom agonising over a few tiles a day before we got a tiler in. He just wiped the wall enough for about 6 tiles at a go and slapped them on. My husband tried this method when we did our second bathroom and it took a lot less time and looked just as good as the professionals!

lightspeed

I have just refurbed our bathroom which was tiled throughout in the old style chicken tiles. I decided that i didnt want the whole bathroom tiled and instead i chose half tiles and half plaster (to be painted of course).

We tiled over the old tiles because they provided a very flat surface to work from and have so far had no problems. Removing the other half of the tiles was a real pain - i strongly urge you to by a pair of safety goggles, hardwearing gloves, a chisel and wide headed hammer.

Be warned that removing tiles from plaster is a very messy and hard grafting task and as DIYers i wouldnt expect to get much further than removing the old tiles and starting to prepare the surface underneath over a weekend.

Personally, i would tile over the old ones providing that they give a sound base to work from, i have known lots of people that have done this without any problems.

plumb1_2

As long, as you use tile primer you will be ok to tile over the old tiles.
Dont be tempted to use Pva, also make sure you de-grease the tiles first.

griff.

If you want to remove the tiles, then it is a bit of hard work, but it depends what their coverage is already, and whether you want to change that coverage with your new tiles.

I'd recommend taking them off and relining the walls with new plasterboard - than you have no fears about them falling off. New plasterboard panels are dead cheap at B & Q - easily applied with adhesive and nails, and give you smooth surfaces if you want to paint, rather than tile, some parts.

robwend

cover your bath before removing any tiles!! my dumb !!! hubby didnt, result........ hole in bath!! water through ceiling ect ect lol

plumb1_2

robwend wrote:

please do not get confused by the name, im all woman! <last time i checked>

Is that so Wendy;)

almahadeus

I agree with the others who have said that as long as your old tiles are laid flat and the surface is level etc, you should be fine tiling over the old tiles. I'm no expert but the tiler has just done this in my flat this last week, and it's absolutely fine, you can't tell at all that there are tiles underneath and not plaster. We were advised to do this as they thought if the old tiles were removed a lot of plaster would come off with the tiles, and therefore would need replastering. Good luck

Sootzer

Knock on the old tiles with your knuckles to check for hollow sounds.........you'll be more sure the tiles you are about to cover up are sound and they havnt been spot adhesived and are well stuck.

avstar

Thanks everyone

Haven't replied till now as I've been removing the bathroom all weekend !
Its going Ok - lots of tiles had to come off as we removed the old bathroom suite anyway. So I have 2 walls with tiles removed and 2 walls with tiles still on, they seem well stuck on. The tiler is coming out later in the week so I'll see what he says - hopefully we won't have to remove the tiles that are still stuck on.
And yes - it was a very messy job. Toilet and sink are in and done, but bath and shower still to do. Was so glad to see the back of the avocado green bathroom suite !
Cheers
avstar