Tiling over the bath

[ripkord]

Hi all, my bathroom tiles are circa 1990, ie horrific so need to go.

Unless times have changed dramatically I'm assuming tile paint is still utter nonsense and doesn't give you a decent finish?

Anyway assuming that is the case I was going to pop down the tile shop get some plain white tiles, some waterproof BAL adhesive and retile the lot. The area I intend to tile is from the bathtop to the ceiling on the 3 sides of the bath (bath is snugly in one side of the bathroom).

The existing tiles are on plasterboard, any tips for getting these off cleanly?

I have done a bit of floor tiling before (which turned out great thanks to you guys) and have successfully tiled a bath panel so - should be OK doing this. Do I need to tank the walls? Also on the gap between the bath and tiles is it best to leave a gap and silicone or grout then silicone (I hate that bit, someone else might be employed to do it lol)

Anything else I should be concerned with?

Many thanks,

 

[peterwhayward]

If your tiles have been half decently fixed, it will be impossible to get them off without damaging the face (paper!) of the existing board. If you are prepared to tile on plasterboard, take the board as well down, it makes it easier anyway to do this. When and if you are going to put plasterboard back up, at least use the green moisture resistant plasterboard, tape the corners and use a suitable adhesive. Most importantly in my opinion use a good quality "flexible" grout to limit any hairline cracks thus avoiding water ingress to the plasterboard. Hope this helps. Oh there will be many that would say don't use plasterboard at all...........you pays yer money....you take yer chances.

 

[jollyroger]

You would only need to tank the walls if you have a shower installed over the bath.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

If the tiles are well fixed and you are going to use a small white tile then tile on top of tiles.
There are issues with this but you can read about that elsewhere.

 

[Rich Midge]

I agree with timeless, just tile over. Make sure your existing wall tiles are spotlessly clean and dry, no soap residue etc. Allow at least 3 days after tiling before you grout and another day before you silicone. Leave the tiles a couple of mm above the bath. Half fill the bath with cold water and silicone. Leave the water in over night.

 

[ripkord]

Thanks for the replies guys. Tiling over isn't an option as the tiling isn't great. I'm in the process of trying to get them off without wrecking the plasterboard but looks like that's going to be impossible. Will most likely have to pay someone to install aqua panel then retile. Think this goes above and beyond my "expertise".

Edit yup looks like water has been getting in behind tiles unsurprisingly. Oh joy. Mushy plasterboard.

 

[Stef]

If it's plasterboard then take down the whole thing (Wall) & buy new plasterboard & fix into existing stud work then tile.
It sounds a major job but isn't really..

 

[TJ Smiler]

If your pretty confident with your tiling then have a go yourself, it's not really a big deal. Take down the old plasterboard and simply screw inn new stuff....... If you have a shower over the bath then i would use standard 12.5 mm wall board, tank the whole area then tile.