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.

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. Holes or cracked plaster requires patching. If you re not sure if you have lead paint test kits are available. Fresh plaster takes up to 30 days to dry and wooden surfaces can use a layer of polyurethane paint.

Layer newspaper on the floor across the bottom of the tiled wall. Don t try to use the tile setting adhesive or drywall joint compound to patch plaster walls. Follow manufacturer instructions to a tee. 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.

Bear in mind that raw brick blockwork and cement are mostly uneven. Tiling over damp plaster causes the wall to fail because the plaster won t become strong if it can t dry out. Add a diverter and shower line in the wall. Cover with cement board tape off.

Or flatten walls with a latex modified skim coat product. Scrub the wall tiles with diluted degreasing cleaner and a nylon scrub brush. I took a tile scraper the. Firstly check the condition of the plaster skim it should be fully dried out and a light pink colour.

Mix degreasing cleaner with water in a bucket using a dilution recommended by the cleaner manufacturer. You should not tile over wallpaper glossy surfaces lead paint or plywood. Then rinse the wall with a water dampened. Concrete plywood drywall or painted surfaces tiling requires appropriate preparation.

However tiling over tile can add quite a bit of thickness so make sure your wall can handle the weight. You may tile over existing tile painted or unpainted drywall plaster and textured walls.