Hi there

I'm a first time poster so please be gentle........I did do a search but nearly all the responses I found related to tiling the walls in wet rooms.

I'm about to tile the walls in our downstairs loo. The room is tiny and is dry (just a loo and sink in there) and the walls are plasterboard with emulsion paint on them (the paint is what was on from new ie very thin and probably watered down also).

I thought it would be easy to choose some tile adhesive from previous experience of floor tiling, but to my surprise B&Q left me totally confused......I expected to pick up a bag of powder which I would then mix myself, but they only seemed to have the premixed stuff (this works out miles more expensive I think?).

I suppose what I'm asking is whether you can buy wall tile adhesive that isn't ready mixed, and if so is it best to buy this rather than the ready mixed stuff?

I'd also be really grateful for any recommendations of good adhesive to use........the tiles are bog standard ceramic tiles 330x200x8mm. Are there better places to buy from than B&Q (I recall when I've done floor tiling in the past that B&Q were miles cheaper than Topps Tiles......not sure where else to look?)

Will I need to remove the emulsion from the walls before I put the tiles on?

I assume that once the tiles are on then I would just need to grout and then no further treatments would be required as the room is dry?

NB As far as grout is concerned, could I just use the same grout that I use for the floor tiles?

Many thanks for any help you are able to offer me!!

would recommend using bagged adhesive,but the size of the tile allows you to use tubbed gear,if your buying bagged adhesive and your not that fast maybe look for something that isn't a rapid set giving you a bit of time to work with,b&q sell buildfix which is made by mapei so that is quality stuff,you probably won't find much difference in price unless you have access to a trade account!

Stuart.

Some end of aisle tiles are cheaper but they usually make up for this with the extras!
Try a retail counter at a tile distributor (ctd) and you can pick up a 10litre ready mixed adhesive that will do the trick.
Wall and floor grouts have different properties so get a wall grout its usually smoother.
Always scratch and prime emulsion walls back to the plaster or you'll find in a few months when it dries out the tiles might become loose as the adhesive just sticks to the water based emulsion.
John.

Originally Posted by timeless john

Stuart.

Some end of aisle tiles are cheaper but they usually make up for this with the extras!
Try a retail counter at a tile distributor (ctd) and you can pick up a 10litre ready mixed adhesive that will do the trick.
Wall and floor grouts have different properties so get a wall grout its usually smoother.
Always scratch and prime emulsion walls back to the plaster or you'll find in a few months when it dries out the tiles might become loose as the adhesive just sticks to the water based emulsion.
John.

Thanks for this.

When you say scratch and prime, do you mean just to remove the paint? Or is there a 'primer' that I then need to apply to the plasterboard before the adhesive?

Cheers

would give it a good rub with some course sandpaper to remove most of the emulsion,will need to prime if using bagged adhesive but most tubbed gear has built in primer!