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Tiling on plasterboard


Lindnarden
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The never ending saga of the en suite bathroom goes on apace..... the whole room is now boarded ou tin green plasterbboard including a large shower cubicle area. Today the deep joy of tape jointing the boards comences.

subsequent to this my plan was to skim the whole room BUT should I skim over the boards in the shower cubicle area or should I leave them green and au naturel (bar the tape jointing) and tile over that surface - my innate feeling is that the board is going to be a smoother surface than my skimmed effort on which to tile.......???

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There is a UK based tiling forum, which I found very helpful, a quick google search should find it. I would suggest "TANKING" the shower area, I've just finished refitting my shower/bathroom and found the plasterboard behind the shower area tiles was in very bad condition.

If you like I can send you info on the products I used, the manufacturers website is also very good.

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there is a proper sealer even for water resistant boards do not use pva as this will reactivate even with moisture leaving tiles hanging on by sheer weight without sealing board it can dry out adhesive to quick as advice follow last sugestion and contact technical dept

you never be wrong then

pete

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It might be too late for you, but a tip I picked up a while ago was not to use plasterboard at all in a shower area. There are waterproof plywood panels going under the name of Aqua Panel (or something like that) with one side a shiny coloured finish. Some even have a mock tile effect. The advantage is that you just fix the boards to the walls where you plan to fit the shower and apart from the obvious sealing at the tray junction - that's it. The joint between the plasterboard on the walls and the panel in the shower is hidden by the shower cubicle frame.Waterproof and easy to clean.

I've no idea where to get them or what they are called in France.

In your case, if you don't plaster skim the boards first, remember you'll never get the tiles off again without wrecking the board.

Well, that's the theory anyway - if I don't find a plumber in France (and I've been looking a while), I might never actually find out how this solution works.

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[quote user="gers32"]

there is a proper sealer even for water resistant boards do not use pva as this will reactivate even with moisture leaving tiles hanging on by sheer weight without sealing board it can dry out adhesive to quick as advice follow last sugestion and contact technical dept

you never be wrong then

pete

[/quote]

hi

 ok this quote is spot on , if you use pva to seal the walls  ,your high tech ,dogs bees ,water proof tile adhesive will just be stuck to low tech pva glue, and when wet will fall off

 dave

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Seconded,

  I would be interested if anyone has used 'waterproof' adhesive, as I spent a long time searching / researching but only found that all the claimed 'waterproof' were only water resistant ie did not degrade in the presence of water. I did find and try to use a truly waterproof grout, epoxy based, which was not only expensive but a pig to use. 

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[quote user="expat paul"]

but only found that all the claimed 'waterproof' were only water resistant ie did not degrade in the presence of water.

[/quote]

Paul, I may have this by the wrong end of the stick, but my take on it is, to keep in mind that manufacturers are (sometimes) wary about making promises on labels. For example, I just looked at two wristwatches  and despite one being a timex, they both say  "Water resistant to 50m" Now if a 14 quid watch lets me stick my hands in buckets of water all day with no problems, then it's pretty 'proof' in my opinion.

You may find that while many adhesives are perfectly ok, no one is brave enough to say "This product is you-beaut 100% waterproof, like what you get  for the tiles in your local public swimming pool" for fear that you may do something silly like, um,  tile a pool, then sue when it does eventually deteriorate. [:)]

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Up to the time I ripped the old tiles out of my shower area and saw the water damage I would have been in 100% total agreement with you. However, now I'm of the mind to try to make it 'really proof', possibly a bit OTT, but with the time and trouble, and with MOH choice in tiles and fixtures, not insignificant expence, I think / hope its worth it.

As I said I spent a long time doing web searches looking for the best / recommended practice and products for showers, everybody would agree aqua-panels, or the like, are the best must have if possible base, but after that I found many people ( "experts" ) had different ideas. One source claimed it doesn't matter what backing is used, plasterboard, green plasterboard or plywood as long as it was stable and strong enough to support the weight of the tiles, and all that is needed to to fully proof it against water [8-)]

 A common practice I found is to "tank" behind the tiles with a 'waterproof' layer  ( a membrane or impervious coating ) so if / when water does get behind the tiles is does no damage to the substrait, what ever it may be. This is because "it is claimed" that even with the "waterproof bathroom tile adhesive and grout" water will, after 1 minute or so, have started to penetrated behind the tiles.

So IMHO now its best to form as many barriers again water ingress as possible, within reason. As you said , and no one I found is brave enough to claim 100% for adhesives but they do for the other products, backing boards, tanking products and grouts.

I hope to OP does not think his post has been hijacked, I think its roughly in-line with the question.

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Paul, No, were still talking about tile and showing more courtesy than some [:D]

I agree about the membpane and if you pm me or email your email address I'm happy to scan & email you an article from the US magazine 'Fine Homebuilding' that deals with this. It's quite good. The article is also in  from a book called "Setting Tile" (Michael Byrne) from the same publishers.

There are some voice that say the membrane is bad because it doesn't allow moisture out again, but most people (with an opinion on the subject)  seem to like the idea of a membrane.

BTW, There are some good videos on the FHB site.

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/fh_feat_video.asp

Cheers

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Thanks all for the sage if somewhat complicated advice..... My solution is to buy enormous tiles thereby reducing the surface area under which water can seep....

I am banking on the green plasterboard doing the job for at least a few years at which point the good lady wife will decide the en suite needs a complete redesign anyway.....

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I would highly recommend using some form of 'tanking' before you tile, something like 'CERMICRYL' range of products,

http://www.desvres-colles.com/UK/categorie.asp?cat=preparation      I have seen it in Leroy Merlin.

Its easy to apply, basically its a paint on  primer / sealer, then a paint on membrane with some fabric to reinforce the corners and the overlap on to the shower tray or whatever. You then tile straight on top, couldn't be easier.

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[quote user="cooperlola"]Let me know how it goes, Linnnarden, then I'll do the same if it worked!  Great to have a guineau pig about.[:D][/quote]

Coops we are at 3+ years and no problems whatsoever with green plasterboard board under tiles, with no extra measures.[:)]

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Tresco,  I've seen the green board last for years. It is often the 'sealing' of the joints that fails and not the board itself. When water gets in, it causes s-l-o-w damage.

Here is a comparison of backerboard - from the completley impartial view of James Hardie (Manufactureres of cements based boards[:P])

http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/comp_backer_half.pdf

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I always use pva on plaster finished walls to be tiled with no effect to walls due to the pva  and moisture, as said damage is usually due to bad finish or grouting, plaster will soak up water as quikley as boards, I have recently seen 'water proof' pva but as yet, not tried it to see if it is any better but as I havent had a problem up to now with the old stuff I may not know for a long time.

Dave

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[quote user="Collywobble"]Tresco,  I've seen the green board last for years. It is often the 'sealing' of the joints that fails and not the board itself. When water gets in, it causes s-l-o-w damage.

[/quote]

No argument from me there. I checked every last inch. And all the interminable parts of inches too.[:)]

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