Why are chunks of plaster and cement coming off with tiles? Advice and information on tiling and fixing tiles to a variety of surfaces

[sykopaul47]

Hello all,

DIY newbie here, I started removing the dated tiles from my kitchen after watching a few Youtube tutorials.

Of course, in these videos every tile comes away cleanly leaving a pristine surface to work with underneath.

Not in my kitchen! As the tiles come away they are bringing chunks of plaster and I think cement with them, as shown.

I would be very grateful for any kind of advice on how to best repair / prepare this damaged surface for re-tiling.

Thank you,

Paul

[stoneyboy]

Sykopaul47,
The hatched areas are base coat plaster the smooth grey is finish coat plaster and the dobs are tile adhesive.
You could skim the walls after cleaning off the adhesive dobs. If the bond between the base and finish plaster is poor you could hack off the finish plaster coat and tile direct on the hatched base coat.
It all depends which is easiest.
Regards S