could someone plz advise me as to tileing on bare plasterboard in a bathroom, can / should it be done or is it better to plaster then tile. if tiles can go direct to board without plastering which adhesive and grout would you recommend, tiles are ceramic.also if secured properly can 12mm ply be used on the floorboards in bathroom for the tileing of the floor.many thanks in advance.

bare plaster board is excellent to tile onto, much better than skim , what size are you wall tiles, as for the floor 18mm ply wbp minimum what size are floor tiles , what material are your tiles, CERAMIC PORCELAIN NATURAL STONE

Wouldn't put plasterboard around main wet areas, ie around the bath and shower area. Water gets to it = problems. Use waterproof boarding in the wet areas. Adhesive depends on the tile type. 30 x 30 and under you will get away with ready mixed tubbed gear, anything over then use a flexible powdered adhesive, as a guidline. Does depend on the type you are using though.

You could tank the areas that are going to get the most water, Round bath & shower.

Minimum over boarding with ply is 15mm.

As for adhesive, i would go for a slow set powder adhesive with a long pot life.

For grout i would use Bal wall grout & Bal superflex floor grout as they are both easy to work with.

frank use waterproof board in the shower area for the floor over board the 12mm with hardiebacker board 6mm bed into flexi adhesive then screw 150mm centres

thanks to everyone for the feedback, floor area is aprox 6ftx6ft square,walls aprox 8ft high,tile size is 31cmx56cm porcelain for wall and floor, tiles will go from floor to ceiling.

Hi Frank.

If you don't mind some pointers from a novice tiler, here's my input.
Most of the pro tilers (the majority of guys on here) would always advise the cement backer boards, it makes sense from their point of view, because they only want to do the job once. It is more expensive, but a more substantial way of doing it.

New plasterboard is a sufficient substrate (other than the potential damage if it gets wet) and I'll stand corrected, but I think it's around 30kg per sqm, for it's weight loading, and less if it's skimmed, so don't skim.

I was in the same position many years ago when renovating my en-suite, I had already put new palsterboard up, only to be told you need to use cement board! I did some research, and came across Tanking Kits. After a few phone calls I ended up with the Mapei Shower Kit.
It's essentially a waterproof paint and flexible sealing tape for the plasterboard joints. It's fairly time consuming, but at that time as a DIY'er I had the time, you simply prime the plasterboard with the primer provided, tape over all the joints, and onto the bath / shower, and then paint 2 coats of the waterproofing on top. I've done several bathrooms now for friends, and as a property developer, and it's a great product, and most prefer the pricing versus cement board. If you can afford it, get cement board, if not, or you aready have the plasterboard up, give it a go. I think their's a few different kits on the market, I did use a Dunlop one many years ago (made by Bal) but I do like the Mapei Kit.

The floor is a different issue, again cement board versus ply is again a preference, with regards to ply, I can speak with some knowledge, and although I have used ply in my own bathroom, it comes with it's risks.
With the huge influx of European and Far Eastern timber over the years (as opposed to American/Canadian) some ply had inherent issues with delaminating, I used some ply for built in cabinets some years ago, only to presented 3 days after with bubbles in it, where the glue had failed! After some research, it turned out to be Far Eastern ply, being marketed as European? Easy enough to replace in my situation, not so easy if you have covered it in adhesive and tile. It sparked off quite a stir in the industry, and as such, the quality of ply is much better.

I won't argue that cement board is better, but their are many tilers still using ply, so don't be concerned to much if that's what you have, but the thicker the better, so 18mm if you can, and make sure it's WBP (Water & Boil Proof)

I use Kerraflex on the walls (good open time, allowing you to mess about a bit) and Kerraquick with latex Plus for floors (the latex is used instead of water, to make it more flexible) fast setting, so don't mess about to much and Ultracolour grout, all good products for DIY

By the way, make sure you don't let your adhesive go out of date, like I did this weekend it's filling up the dustbin now.

Cheers

Jed

thanks once again for the reply very informative and gives me something to go by.