Removing tile cement

nshackle

I purchased a property a couple of months ago and the time has come to renovate the bathroom.

I have stripped all the tiles (ceiling to floor) but a large amount of tile cement was left on the walls.

I have stripped the bulk of the cement off the two outer walls with the combination of a chisel, scraper and detail sander. They are pretty smooth and should be ok for tiling over.

The problem lies with the two inner (stud) walls which are plasterboard and are caked in the tile cement. They seem very resistant to any kind of scraping, and appear to tear in places where pressure is applied with the scraper.

I am starting to wonder if it might be more time/cost effective to just replace the plasterboard ? Aleternatively would it be possible for a plasterer to skim over the cement ? The bathroom is approximately 2 sq metres in size.

Any suggestions ?

mikeywills

I have just finished doing our bathroom which took me longer than hoped, but was less hassle than expected.

Personally I would take the plasterboard off and reboard, this would take you a few hours to a day tops.

It might not be most cost effective way, but time is money as they say, and plasterboard is quite cheap, a couple of 8 x 4 boards should cover it.

Alternatively Warm water can help loosen adhesive, so you could try that in a squirty bottle first, or with a rag and see how you get on.

We have used this technique to remove cement from the backs of tiles to refit them.

Hizz

Having done A LOT of tiling on both restorations and new build apartments, I would suggest the following:-

Warm soapy water will ease off the tile adhesive BUT is also likely to undermine the composition of the plasterboard and you'll have a far bigger problem to resolve.

Depending how big the walls are, skimming may work out costly.

If you are tiling the whole walls, personally I would kock out the lumps with hardened adhesive on (even if this leaves big holes) and OVERBOARD with either half inch or three eights plaster board. You would be best advised to screw / nail through to the wooden framework OR if you're more confident dot and dab the boards on. I would personally screw or nail that will give a better fix for any fittings you may be putting upr after tiling.

You could remove the original boards if you wish but this is isn't neccessary, will take more time, make more mess, and at the end of the job, you will not see what's behind the tiles anyway.

MAKE SURE before re-tiling that you fully coat any new boards thoroughly with PVA to asssist tile adhesive bonding. If you don't, you'll be picking the tiles up off the floor when moisture gets behind.

mikeywills

If the tiling is going to be in a wet area, i.e a shower area consider using wediboard instead, this is a compound board specially designed for wet areas, it costs about the same as marine ply, but does not suffer from shrinkage.

Hizz

You're very lucky to even find timber merchants selling marine ply these days, and when you do it's VERY VERY expensive. I agree, use WDBA /wediboard if you are stripping back to board the shower area.

BobProperty

Hizz wrote:

.....MAKE SURE before re-tiling that you fully coat any new boards thoroughly with PVA to asssist tile adhesive bonding. If you don't, you'll be picking the tiles up off the floor when moisture gets behind.

Don't use PVA before you tile or you will be picking the tiles off the floor at some point in the future. You also don't need marine quality ply, just WPB. And the shower area should be in Aquapanel or similar as already suggested.
See http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/tiling/diy_Tiling_Why_not_to_use_pva.htm