We have an art deco apartment and in the bathroom there are old tiles that come about a third of the way up the wall that we want to remove and plaster over the top of what is underneath. We do not want to retile the walls, but just have plain plaster walls instead. We have removed some of the tiles and the tile adhesive underneath is obviously very old and thickly applied and is more like cement (and also seems quite porous) which has been applied straight onto the brick wall underneath. It seems like it would be a big job to remove that.

Is it possible to remove the tiles and render/plaster over the top of the cement? What would this involve? My concern with this though is that it will then be difficult to level the new plaster/render up with the existing untiled plastered wall as the tiles currently sit out from the wall. Very confused!!

hello,

many years ago the tiles were stuck on with sand and cement mixes, which is most likely what you have

this and the tiles will most come off easily

you then need to apply new coat of sand and cement to level approximatley with plaster you want to leave

then a coat of hard plaster is applied, polished and then painted

a good solid plasterer will allow around a couple of weeks for first coat to fully dry out, it is required

thankyou

myla

Hannah you only have a few options.

The first is as Myla suggested, remove the render that is beneath the tiles, I asume this render protrudes beyond the plaster surface above the tile line. Then redo the render etc as suggested.

The next option is to to stick on plasterboard over the entire wall, see http://www.how2plaster.com/stickonplaster.html . This option is only if there are no tiles. It aslo would mean replacing the cornice if any.

For the information of others reading this post, plasterboard or villaboard where tiles are to be installed have to be attached with screws or nails without adhesive.

The other option is to batten out the wall with a 16mm metal furing channel and clips, and screw fixing plasterboard. This option also means replacing the cornice.

If you patch the render and hard plaster over you may end up being able to notice the diffence in surface texture from the old plaster that has had coats of paint, to the new finished plaster. A fluffy roller to add a slight texture to the entire wall may help with this.

Some of the painting experts might advise on this.

Cheers Rod

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Thankyou both very much for your advice. I don't think the plaster board would work as only part of the wall is to be plastered and on the same wall part of it is tiled and the shower screen joins onto it also.

Myla - the tiles do come off very easily but the sand/cement is very hard to remove. Once the tiles are removed the cement underneath the tiles and the existing plaster above are pretty level. So perhaps the sand/cement could be left and hard plaster applied over the top?

So the hard plastering sounds like the best option. Myla do you know of anyone in Melbourne who could provide us with a quote for this kind of job?

Rod,
Run that past me again, what's the theory behind no glue where tiles are being used?
I don't like plasterboard in wet areas, full stop, so I'm just curious.
Cheers
Bill

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http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com

All Manufacturers of both plasterboard and villaboard, do not allow adhesive's to be used when fixing substrates for tiled areas.

There are several reasons, the weight of the tiles, and shrinkage of the glue.

Like most things these days the manufactures have to cover all bases for their warranties. Particularly in wet areas where product failure can be very expensive.

Plasterboard adhesive is known to shink when it dries, hence popped nails if the nail is too close to a daub of adhesive. If you get a cracked tile they don't want the adhesive to be blamed. It is a matter of eliminating risk of possible failure.

If you get a burst pipe behind the wall the weight of tiles will pull the sheet away from the adhesive, causing failure. This is the same for villaboard and plasterboard.

I hope this helps.

Cheers Rod

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How old is the house is the house built with cement in the brickwork?
my best advise always is to remove all the rendering from the walls and refloat you will get the best results because if you render (float) over existing mortar, it takes longer to dry a lot longer.
You can hire a jackhammer and you will find it quite easy to remove. In fact the time you lose removing all the render (mortar) you save applying a new coat of mortar to the walls

You can hire a jackhammer and you will find it quite easy to remove. In fact the time you lose removing all the render (mortar) you save applying a new coat of mortar to the walls.

Fully agree with the approach but I bought an Ozito rotary hammer drill from Bunnies for $69.00 - lighter, cheaper and easier to use than a demolition or jackhammer. Comes with chisel and point bit and got through the old render and mortar in no time without knocking the %$%^&* out of the old brick walls.

Also got another toy to keep!

Good luck, Ron

Totally agree with Ron. Get one of these little beauties and it will be a piece of cake to remove the old render.

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Juan


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