I have to say that's one of the worst excuses to cover up a bodge job i've ever heard..........it's even worse than a 'decorator' plastering a ceiling with easi-fill joint cement i saw recently.

How do these people sleep at night?

Report your 'tiler' to Trading Standards and try and get your money back.

If he refuses,take him through the small claims court.

Good luck with everything.

Carl.

This is certainly not a common practice, this guy is a cowboy, and its people like him that give good honest tradesmen a bad name.
I would ask for the money back, ( I expect she paid more for a bodge job than what a good tiler on this site would charge)
It wont be long before those tiles are falling of, he should have stripped the old ones of first, cleaned the walls, repair and plaster damage before tiling using a good water proof tile adhesive.

hi. Im a bathroom installer. Yes you can tile on top of existing tiles, But never heard of using silicone? Did the guy have trouble leaving his horse outside?
Graham

that is a complete cowboy job you want to report the builder to rogue traders !!! always use rapid set adhesive on floor tiling

the tiler{ bodger} is talking poo ..if the whole area of tile is not adhered and the grouting fails the water will just get behind the tiles and cause problems ..you can tile over existing tiles if there sound{stuck firmly to wall} but you need to key up old tiles ,then pva seal then fit new ones with a good adhesive and grout ...he is not a tiler ..yyyeeeehhhhhaaaaaa ride them cowboy .......

Hi mate,NO this is not common practice & if i was you i would demand my money back & report him to either trading standards or the site you hired him from.As things like this give us trustworty tilers a bad name.Its fine to tile over old tiles but tiles should always be put up or laid using appropiate adhesive.
Thanks Steve.

You shouldn't be using PVA when overtiling! what happens to PVA when it gets wet? It breaks down and causes a weak bond between the two. Proper cleaning, and then priming with a branded tile primer, ideally from a proper adhesive maker..Mapei,Weber, Bal etc.... dont unibond!!! :(

hi no.do not use silicone.there is a tile on tile adshive you can buy.

Where to start with an answer to your question. Wrong. wrong wrong. and the news doesn't get any better.
Between the adhesive quality and the suction from a notched trowel application you have a good stick. You can tile on tiles, If the original tiles are cleaned and a high quality adhesive is used. domestic grout is only water resistant. so as moisture gets behind your sisters tiles.The silicone will separate from the tiles and the wall will become live. Only the grout holding the tiles together but, not to the wall.
It will need to be redone at some stage soon.
I'm sorry for the bad news.
Peter

hi,

If it is I am sorry I have not come across it and having recently completed an NVQ in tiling I'm sure I am correct in saying it was wrong of him to do this and it is not best practice or even recommended.

Richard
A&R Ground works

no a tiler should never put tiles on a wall using anything other than tile adhesive

hi,check the wallpapers not held on with blutac, enough said!!!

In fairness to the tiling operative,using silicone will be more effective than several of the methods listed in the given answers,firstly unibond is a water based adhesive,of course it does dry alas when a water based adhesive is applied on top the pva will reactivate and serve no useful purpose,secondly,water based adhesives rely on a permeable substrate to absorb the water within the adhesive in order to cure,tiling on to a non permeable substrate such as tiles is pointless with a water based adhesive,an adhesive with a chemical curing agent is required,nuff said!

it is ok to tile on old tiles as long as the old tiles are not loose.
tiles should only be fixed with tile adhesive.
it is certainly not common practice to use silicone to stick tiles anywhere.

It depends what you want. but never seen some one tiling over the old ones with silicone before. normally he should remove the old ones and put the new ones on.probably he was tryig to make life easy for himself.

Hi, this is not common practice and in my opinion they should of initially tried to get the old tiles off, however if this was impractical then the existing tiles should of been trated with a PVA solution and then overtiled using an appropriate adhesive. Hope this helps, Regards Kevin

Sorry my freind what a cowboy this bloke is X10 THE WALLS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRIMED FIRST THEN IF TILING WITH CERAMIC A NORMAL ADHESIVE MAY BE USED ,BUT IF TILING IN PORCELAIN ,NATURAL STONE ETC A FLEXABLE ADHESIVE MUST BE USED

No sorry its not and neither is tiling on top of tiles very sorry about that....kevin

Silicone?? most definately not what a trade professional would do... tiling on tiles can be done but the old tiles need to be keyed first, but sticking them on with silicone is a no - no

no its not right to stick them on with silicone it should have been done with addisive hope this helps

no way is that common practice, he is a cowboy. you can however tile on top of old tiles,but tile adhesive should be used. although i would rather take all old tiles off

HELLO
THIS BLOKES HAVING A LAUGH SURELY ? IF THE OLD TILES ARE FIRMLY STUCK
THEN YOU COULD UNIBOND THE OLD TILES THEN RETILE WITH WATERPROOF ADHEASIVE . REGARDS ROB.

youll find out not in about 2 -3months when they start popping off

I've been in the building trade for over 20 years and never seen this done! But having said that, I see no reason why this wouldn't work.
Silicone will pretty much stick anything... wait and see if they drop off, I'm guessing you could be there a long time!

no it not the right way to do the tiling with silicone; on top of old tiles put if you put downp/v/a adhesive, and then put down the tile by useing flexible extra strong tile eadhesive, no it is not common practice in the trade. no it not the right way to put done tile on top of old tile by useing silicone,

no he shouldn't have used silicone you can get specialist tile adhesive for tiling on top of tiles i would advise it is redone

no its not right. you can tile over existing tiles as a last option, but we never do. always best to remove, prep the walls and re tile. if he did use silicone then i wouldn't expect it to last too long!

he should have primed the tiles and also used the correct adhesive.

tut tut!!!!

Not the absolute best way of completing this kind of job; can be acceptable to a limit but, in my experience, removal of old tiles and making good wall surfaces and retiling accordingly is the better standard.

Is this a joke?
This so called tiler you hired
did he arrive by car or by horse
this would be frowned upon and is never common practice

Did you have a rail put up so he could tie his hourse to it. Tile on top of tile yes NOT with mastic though.
Regards Roger

Good god..i have just seen this post and had to reply.

the (so called-tiler) how can he even use the name "tiler" he is no tradesman, just a cowboy when i trained a collage i used to watch the tilers learning the job "its a true skill"
Like all materials we use in building trade they need a key first to even stick to the wall, I'm no tiler but even i know to use silicone to stick tiles on a wall is just bad, as silicone always separates over time