I have just been to see a job, It's a new kitchen and the customer wants the walls tiling only a very small area just over 2 m2.

The customer told me his plasterer has already sorted the walls for tiling, when I got there today the walls have what looks to me like a browning coat on them.

The plasterer has told the customer any 'decent' tiler will tile on that no problem.

I asked if he was going to put a skim finish on to give a good surface to tile to and he said no because the plasterer had already done his job.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure browning is not a suitable substrate to tile to as it causes a chemical reaction with the addy causing crystallisation and failure?

Could I use some ready mixed plaster skim from a shed to skim this myself before I tile? If so would I need to leave the skim 2 days before tiling?

i would unibond the browning fist ,as it will suck like mad , then skim it , it wont take to long to dry , browning on its own would suck the moisture out of the addy causing tile failure. hope this helps

Tell the plasterer that any "decent plasterer" would leave an acceptable finish.

I would tell the plasterer but I don't know who he is.

Going to tell the customer he will have to get it sorted before I can tile. I'm not going to do the plastering myself but I will put my quote in for the tiling.

the problem is ,ours is a finishing trade, plasterers just say thats ok tiler will get over it.

Originally Posted by nybor62

the problem is ,ours is a finishing trade, plasterers just say thats ok tiler will get over it.

I know what you mean mate

It's hard because it makes us look, to the customer, that we don't know what we are doing when they have already been told that it can be tiled on

Originally Posted by united

I would tell the plasterer but I don't know who he is.

Going to tell the customer he will have to get it sorted before I can tile. I'm not going to do the plastering myself but I will put my quote in for the tiling.

to right i can skim a little , but why should we , some has been paid to do it , i try to help as much as poss , but sometimes they think we are trying to push the price up . what could you charge for such a small amount like that

Originally Posted by nybor62

to right i can skim a little , but why should we , some has been paid to do it , i try to help as much as poss , but sometimes they think we are trying to push the price up . what could you charge for such a small amount like that

Exactly, even for a plasterer its not worth doing as its such a small job

Well I'm just going to put my quote in for the tiling and see what happens

hope you get the job

typical though isn't it!
every trade leaves half done jobs saying the next poor sod will be able to sort it!

hope you get it mate,and i would put in a heavy qoute for the plastering

Base coats/bonding/browning etc are not suitable for tiling to, they are not structurally sound enough to tile to and as mentioned are highly porous.

The surface structure of the base coats will not support tiles and as you say does need a finish coat on it.

Mark, print this thread off or similar pages and give it to your customer. I always carry the 'weight ratio' page with me so the customer knows it's me who has the knowledge and not the plasterer/builder