I have been asked to tile some toilets for the charity I work for. At the minute the toilets are painted breezeblocks. The tiles are going to be 1.5m high.
The plasterboard that i have found is 9.5mm thick so if i use this its going to leave a big lip. So would it work tiling onto hardboard (i just have images of doors being shut and tiles falling off)
If not any suggestions. it has got to be cheap as the costs are coming out of the charitys money (the toilets are for the service users)
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi Jodie welcome to the forums. In a word, no! It is not the type of products suitable for tiling. Not sure what you mean by a big lip. Where is this lip and how is it going to be there?

Grumpy

Okay thanks grumpy. What i mean by a lip is where the plasterboard and tiles stop, or am i just being really blonde by not knowing that you can get wider trims?

Originally Posted by Jodie1

Okay thanks grumpy. What i mean by a lip is where the plasterboard and tiles stop, or am i just being really blonde by not knowing that you can get wider trims?

Ok, now I know where you are coming from. Are you using plasterbaord for ease of getting a nice surface or for some other reason.?

The alternative is to skim the breeze block with rapidset adhesive to give a smooth surface suitable for tiling on to. I don't know what experience you have regarding tiling so it is just a wee bit difficult to advise.

If you want to use plaster board because it is nice to tile onto, maybe you could finish above the plasterboard/tiles with a nice timber dado rail of some sort.

What size tiles are you fixing and what is your proposed adhesive/grout combination?

It may be a while before I can respond again as I need to go home to my normal office now. Maybe about an hour.

I was going to use plasterboard because someone said that is the best surface.
My tiling experience is minimal, I did one of those week courses about a year and a half ago and nothing since (it hurt my arms!! all credit to you guys) so i'm doing this as a favour (if it all goes terribly wrong i won't feel so bad)
The size of the tiles are 150mm x 150mm.
And i hadn't got as far as planning for grout and adhesive. So i'm open to suggestions.

Can i ask where abouts in the country you are?

Jodie, if you dot n dab plasterboard up it may be the simplest way of getting a flat surface to tile on to. How long is the wall for the tiling?

For that size of tile a dipsersion adhesive like BAL Blue Star, or Green Star would be fine. Green Star gives you a bit longer adjustement time but is probaly a little more expensive.

My earlier suggestion of a nice timber dado rail would finish it off nicely along the top. As for grout, I would advice something like BAL Microflex as it has anti-bacterial properties. I am personally not sure if they actually work but BAL say they (Microban) do and some architects even make it a necessary specification in hygene realted areas.

Sir Ramic - I'm from Harrogate in North Yorkshire
Grumpy Grouter - thank you for all your help, i came across another problem, (disabled handrails that they do not want removing) so the plasterboard is out of the question. i'm sure i will sort something though. Thanks again

A bit far for me or i would have offered help.
Why not remove and refit hand rails?

Give this lad a shout he lives in harrogate...... and might help you out with ideas.. http://www.tilersforums.co.uk/members/holohana.html

Hi jodie,

you can still fix the plasterboard to the wall. you can cut round the rail and if you must, you can cut into more than one peice to fix to wall.
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I would inform the client that not removing the hand rails would mean burrying them under adhesie and tile etc and will makew the finnish far worse.

As an alternative to removing you may be able to loosen them up slip tiles and board behing and then tighten up again. (only if scres are long enough)

Jodie, just been looking at this, pm me if you like, might be able to help.