Preparing Surface Around Bath for Retiling Advice and information on tiling and fixing tiles to a variety of surfaces

[cath60]

Hi everyone. Complete novice here, would really appreciate any advice you can give. I am looking to retile around my bath, on a tight budget, prior to having an electric shower fitted. The walls are stone (downstairs bathroom in an old cottage) and the tiles will be smallish ceramic. (Either 150 x 75 x 9mm, or 200 x 100 x 7mm). The existing tiles are mosaics on a backing sheet. I have removed a small portion behind the sink. A thin layer of something has come off, adhering to the old adhesive, (a little of which can be seen to the very left of the pic) leaving me with what i think may be the plaster? It is a fairly smooth, very thin, pinkish surface, as in pic (also showing a tiny bit where that too has detached, and there is a rougher surface beneath). Assuming it all comes off like this, can anyone advise please, do i just tile straight onto the exposed plaster(?) surface, or should i treat it in some way first? Many thanks in advance!

[DIYQueen]

Yes, you can tile directly onto plaster but you need to make sure your tiles are not too heavy. Gypsum plaster has a maximum weight tolerance of 20kg/m2. Before you tile remove any damages or flaky plaster and fill. You should also apply a tile primer to the plaster first.