Tiling to Plasterboard V Tiling to Skimmed plasterboard

Salmon

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone knows whether it is better to place tiles on a plasterboard or skimmed plasterboard surface? My plasterer is in the house at the moment and I need to know if its ok to leave plasterboarded walls or do I need to skim it?

coolerhash

yeah you be fine tiling onto the plasterboard without it being skimmed

Finneganjp

It is acceptable to tile directly on to plasterboard. Your tiler will probably score the plasterboard first to give a better bond.

yop

Cheaper to leave them, saves u money in the long run.

Just make sure all the plasterboard screws are in correctly as a protruding screw will shatter the tile.

etcetc

best bet is to use cement based board and tile directly on to it in wet areas if you do have a leak /water penetration thru tiles your covered

plasterboard is pretty much useless once it becomes water damaged

http://www.greenspan.ie/

http://www.knauf.ie/product_range/

311

You wont be able to get the tiles down in the future ,if the wall is not bonded or skimmed.

beldin

What about plywood? Not sure about the thickness or grade. I am halving a room to turn into an ensuite so instead of putting up plasterboard wall I was thinking about a plywood wall. I am tiling anyway so it shouldn't make a difference or should it.

Fr Dougal

_Brian_ wrote:

You wont be able to get the tiles down in the future ,if the wall is not bonded or skimmed.

I'm with Brian on this. If there are any leaks your plasterboard would turn to mush.....Skim it and then seal it with bonding. Might as well, seeing as you have the plasterer on site.

If you decide not to skim it, you should give the wet area's a full layer of adhesive, rather than ridged. (Should be no need to score the plasterboard, there's already enough of a key on it as tiling adhesive is strong, sometimes tilers even tile directly onto old tiles....)

I've never heard of anyone using plywood but if you do this on the bathroom side use at least 12mm marine plywood as 9mm or less would be too flexible and tiles may loosten. Again, you can tile directly onto marine ply.

Anyway, that's my tuppence worth but I'm not a professional, just a keen DIY'er

qazxsw

Water resistant ply (not marine ply unless you own the bank ) is the way to go imho.

I have two upstairs showers and the ply is the same thickness as pasterboard (can't remember exact thickness off the top of my head) bout 40 Eur per sheeet.

the ply will also add more rigidity to a studded partition than plasterboard. and will be a stronger base for shower fittings, gadgets, etc.

311

I put up waterproof ply all round ,in bathrooms that I install myself. I don't tile ,just get the bathroom ready for them.

Never had any trouble with plyed bathrooms.

Have only ever seen one bathroom leak ,the walls were all tiled directly to plasterboard and the ceiling underneath fell down:(