Tile bathroom with Travertine

[Peterc2609]

Hi all,

Bought a load of travertine to tile my bathroom Walls and floor.

I've taken all Of the old cheap ceramic tiles of the wall and underneath is the tile adhesive on plasterboard.

In some areas the plasterboard has come away exposing the brick.

If I was to just get a mate to skim the Walls to make them straight and smooth would it be ok for the tiler to tile the travertine straight onto, or would I need to ply the wall or something?

[Sir Ramic]

The travertine will be too heavy for skimmed walls.
Can you gut the room and install tile backerboards ?

[Peterc2609]

Not really an option...

Any other ideas?

[IGTiling]

No, it's no good. Plaster will only take a maximum load of 20kg/m², plasterboard comes in at 32kg/m² and tile backer board at 60kg/m². Tiling the walls with Travertine will come in with a total weight of approx 31kg/m². I would cut out the affected plasterboard to a nice square shape and either: stick in a new square of plasterboard using dri-wall adhesive, or get a sheet of tile backerboard cut it to size and stick that into place with said dri-wall adhesive.

[Bri]

Over board the old walls with cement board, make sure they are stuck with flexible adhesive then screwed all the way into the brick work behind. That's the way I'd go about it if removing the plasterboard is not an option.

[Peterc2609]

If I could get the tile adhesive off the existing plasterboard could they be tiled straight onto that?

[Sir Ramic]

I think you are clutching at straws here. Even if you removed the adhesive I doubt the boards would be in that good of a condition.

[Peterc2609]

Ok thanks... Might have to gut it then....

Suppose might not be too bad.

Can I put the backer boards over the existing plaster boards or do I need to rip all them off? How do I fix them on? Screw? Nail?

I'm doing a stud wall so will be easier on that side.

[Wingn]

Cheapest fix would be to remove and replace the plasterboard. It's only around a fiver a sheet so not really going to break the bank unlike a failed travertine job.

[Martyn Leeds]

have you asked your tiler about the wall prep?
if he knows what he's doing he should be able to reboard your walls quite easily

[Peterc2609]

Ok, bathroom half gutted.

Glad really as the boards were coming off in my hand!

Can I attach backer boards straight onto brick? Do I just screw in with Rawl plugs?

Can I buy backer boards in b&q or somewhere similar? Do they come in different thicknesses?

I'm trying to keep price down so don't want to pay someone for something I can do, I.e. Prep the Walls.

Peter

[PHG Wetrooms]

You could use Marmox boards and stick them straight onto the brick using cement based tile adhesive - easy to apply,fully waterproof, insulating and capable of carrying 62kg per m2

[kilty55]

dot and dab the walls peter with plasterboard is a cheaper option that tile backer boards

however if you havent done it before maybe your tiler could help you out have you discussed any of this prep work with him

[Peterc2609]

I haven't yet no, I wanted to get it all ready myself and get it sorted in a big bang!

I don't want that big bang to be all my travertine in the bath in a few weeks though when it falls off!

So I think I will stick with the backer boards... Just need to make sure the boards go on straight though, or can the tiles be straightened with adhesive when they are put on... The bricks are not exactly tidy.... It's an old house.

[kilty55]

hi peter,if the walls are badly off the tiler with end up using more adhesive....

adhesive is expensive

dot and dab the walls is my option as its a cheaper installation for you and the walls can be striaghtened by doing this method

you cant dot and dab backer boards on im afraid

so imo paying a plasterer or a tiler who are competent in this will actually save you money

its really only a days work to dot and dab a room

or you could of course set a new thread on how to dot and dab a room and im sure you will get lots of good advice on here if you are to do it yourself

[Daz]

I've only skimmed this thread but IMO unskimmed plasterboard will still not be strong enough for natural stone plus 4kg / sqm for adhesive & grout. Overboard with tile backer boards including mechanical fixing before continuing.

Good luck,

Daz

[Peterc2609]

Daz,

Will it be ok putting the backer boards onto uneven brickwork?

What are mechanical fixings?

I did think about plasterboards, but the fact that someone said they could support 32kg and the tiles would be 31kg scared me a bit, so think I would prefer the backer boards.

[Daz]

Hi Peter,

My preference would be to "solid bed" fix the backer boards, i.e. trowel the brickwork with rapid set flexible adhesive using a 12mm square notch trowel and fully bed the backer boards. Then plug and screw the boards at 150mm centres to be sure.

Daz