I'm shortly going to start tiling a worksurface with a sink in a utility room (ie not a kitchen - it contains a washing machine and will be used for storage and filling buckets, etc).

Here's where I am at present:



There will eventually be a good 2cm thick wood surround to face (conceal) all the front edges and provide extra support: parts of it are already loosely (and crookedly) in place on the right side and below.

The worksurfaces to be tiled are chipboard. It's the green "exterior" stuff, described here in France as "waterproof" but I rather doubt that it is genuinely waterproof. As a result I'm planning to paint the undersurfaces (in fact, I've just started) with a reasonably waterproof paint, particularly those surfaces round the washing machine. I'll also be painting all the non-tiled areas.

My question is whether I should or shouldn't paint the surface I'll be tiling onto. I've seen discussions about cleaning emulsion of walls that are to be tiled, but I wondered if with a horizontal surface getting it a bit more watertight was worth any loss of adhesion of the cement.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Don't paint it! The chipboard itself is not a good surface to tile on either. Do you have cement boards available to you to over board before tiling?

i believe the green chip board is moisture resistant , and not suitable to tile on ,as above cement boards would be the way to go

Chipboard not ideal at all, you could maybe use a two part adhesive.
Even tank the surface possibly but i would not tile directly onto it.

As above......either tank or use 6mm cement board.

cement sheet first

Thank you all very much. Cement board it will be, just as soon as I find out what to call it in French.

You've stopped me making an annoying mistake (luckily in time to change what I am doing).

Dave - those are very useful videos. Now it's just a matter of doing it the same way!
Thanks very much.
B

I have taken the advice I've been given and I have boarded out the worksurface. I used Wedi board as I couldn't get Hardiebacker, but I think this is suitable. It's now glued in place and ready for tiling. Annoyingly the careful measurements that were supposed to mean that I wouldn't have to cut too many tiles, are all wrong now with the extra thickness of the board on the vertical bits. Can't have everythibng I suppose!

I'm collecting the tiles and the epoxy grout tomorrow.

The epoxy grout is "Starlike", an Italian product I gather, and what I'm concerned about is the short time between putting the grout on and cleaning the surface with the emulsifying pad. I understand this has to be done within 30 minutes?

Trouble is, as a confirmed amateur, and a pretty hamfisted one at that, in 30 minutes I can't put much grout into the joints (it's 10cm tiles so quite a few joints to be done). Presumably I shouldn't mix very much of the product at a time.

A few extra tips would be helpful. For example, after using the emulsifying pad, can I then just leave that area to wash down with a sponge later, and go on and do some more grouting, or does it have to be sponged straight after emulsifying?

If I could leave the sponging off until the whole area is finished (or a large part of it) I think I'd get on more easily.