Tiling Bathroom walls Advice and information on tiling and fixing tiles to a variety of surfaces

[refurbish18]

Learned a lot from this Forum so far, but I still need to ask to ask a question that may start another round of Oh yes it is/Oh no it isn't.

I am getting ready to tile a Bathroom that has new plasterboard walls as well as old painted ones. Should I or should I not seal the plasterboard before tiling and, if so, what with?

I intend to rub down the painted walls to remove the old paint. Do I need any other preparation and, again, should I seal them before tiling and, if so, What with?

[Dan the man]

Tile straight onto the plasterboard and dont seal it with anything, as for the painted walls ye just rub them down and tile straight on. I sometimes use "Thistle bond it" Its kind of a gritty sealant that you roll on to shiny surfaces to form a key. I'm not a tiler I'm a plasterer but thats what I would do.

[chris_on_tour2002]

no debate to be had here - plasterboard should NOT be sealed. it is engineered to be a finished substrate ready to take whatever is going onto it.

personally i'd try to remove the paint, you can tile on it if it's sound though you are asking for the paint to bear the weight of the tiles. whichever you do you will need to seal with a tiler's primer, either latex (SBR) or acrylic based. don't use PVA.