Tiling onto old tiles??

[John the tile]

Hey up.

Can you tile directly onto ceramic bathroom wall tiles? If so whats the prep situation?

thanks

[Scott]

You can do it but its not advisable. Weight issues are almost always exceeded in this situation.
What tiles are up and what do you want to put over the top?

[whitebeam]

As above, whats the substrate.

[Alan.P]

I almost did this for a mate last year, the tiles seemed soundly fixed onto brick walls, I don't remember what it was, some small thing that led me to push a tile, it collapsed, nothing but grout holding it together, from there it was like dominoes, we ended up stripping all 4 walls back to brick as it was all definitely NOT sound, after that, I would probably walk from any job where I couldn't strip off the old tiles, not worth it.

[aph257]

a mate got asked to T on T but on closer inspection it had already been T on T.

[timeless john]

Best to take them all off.

[YourTiler]

Not only a weight issue but surely an adhesion issue to...Wall AND/OR Floor adhesive onto a nice, shiny smooth (sometimes) surface?

Just asking for trouble

[jay]

think you will find most adh specify that the glaze has to be removed before tiling over tiles

[jonboythetiler]

I must admit that its not always advisable to tile on existing tiles, but its reasonably common to do it now-a-days, as long as the old tiles are on a sound fixing there shouldn't be any problems. i believe "bal white star" allows to fix tile on tile, which is in a tub, or most flexible powered adhesive also capable of doing it. oh, make sure you prime all walls up first!

[Dave]

I must admit that its not always advisable to tile on existing tiles, but its reasonably common to do it now-a-days, as long as the old tiles are on a sound fixing there shouldn't be any problems. i believe "bal white star" allows to fix tile on tile, which is in a tub, or most flexible powered adhesive also capable of doing it. oh, make sure you prime all walls up first!

What about substrate weight issues..?

[jonboythetiler]

Like i said, as long as the tiles are not loose or blown, i don't really see weight as an issue. Obviously you've got to use common sense, but i've done loads of tile on tile,and never had any come-backs. I always advice the customer that its not recommended, as the tiles i lay are only as good as the surface i work on.

I've seen tiles 4 or 5 deep before, not that i would go that far!

[steve187]

Always best to strip off, but if quality of existing tiles is known to be sound, and both are a thin light material, then it could be done, but they could fail.

[Gazrus]

K this is an old issue, that has been discussed many times.
You are relying on the original adhesive to keep everything on the wall, hence the weight issue.
Its best to strip the old tiles off, that way you can ensure the substrate is sound for tiling to.
I recently turned down a job because the customer was adamant about T over T, someone else did the job & some tiles fell off.
Therefore stripping old tiles off would be my recommendation