Can I put tiles over lime mortar

tinaandclaire

Hi folks.
Thanks in advance for any good tips.

We're in the process of rendering and repointing an old farmhouse in Spain. We're using lime mortar for most of the walls - inside and out.

A friend mentioned to me that I shouldn't use lime mortar for the interior walls of the room that will be the bathroom, because tile adhesive won't stick properly to lime mortar.
Is this true?
Should we use a different finish for the bathroom area, or a special adhesive for tiling the area?

I will be using limewash for some of the space, but might want tiles around certain bits.

Cheers.
Tina

Nile

Hello tinaandclaire

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

Regards

Nile

ormus

afaik tile adhesive sticks to just about anything.
use waterproof adhesive in bathrooms, and flexible adhesive on wooden panels & floors.

Alan_M_2

You'll either need a suitable primer over the mortar (not PVA) - you'll need an acrylic polymer dispersant (APD).

Or select a powder based adhesive which is designed to avoid ettringite reaction (ask at a specialist tiling distributor).

Also, use thin tiles, there's not going to be a great deal of weight capacity that a lime mortar can hold.