Tiling Over Old Plaster Walls
Fresh plaster whether applied as a patch or to the entire wall must dry completely before tile is applied.
Tiling over old plaster walls. You should not tile over wallpaper glossy surfaces lead paint or plywood. Fresh plaster takes up to 30 days to dry and wooden surfaces can use a layer of polyurethane paint. If you have a tiling job to do in your bathroom and the walls have been skimmed with plaster you have to follow a few guidelines when installing tile to make sure you do not have a failure resulting in all the tiles coming off the wall. Layer newspaper on the floor across the bottom of the tiled wall.
Scrub the wall tiles with diluted degreasing cleaner and a nylon scrub brush. Tiling over damp plaster causes the wall to fail because the plaster won t become strong if it can t dry out. Cover with cement board tape off. Firstly check the condition of the plaster skim it should be fully dried out and a light pink colour.
Or flatten walls with a latex modified skim coat product. Mix degreasing cleaner with water in a bucket using a dilution recommended by the cleaner manufacturer. If plaster is any way compromised you should tear out to studs and start over. Concrete plywood drywall or painted surfaces tiling requires appropriate preparation.
If you re tiling the wall doesn t need to be super smooth it just needs to be smooth enough that it won t interfere with the tiles as you site them on into the adhesive. I took a tile scraper the. Bear in mind that raw brick blockwork and cement are mostly uneven. Don t try to use the tile setting adhesive or drywall joint compound to patch plaster walls.
Bring plumbing to code. If you re not sure if you have lead paint test kits are available. However tiling over tile can add quite a bit of thickness so make sure your wall can handle the weight. The adhesive and tile will block moisture from evaporating.
Then rinse the wall with a water dampened. Follow manufacturer instructions to a tee.