Tiling direct to plasterboard, plywood and solid walls.

Yes you can tile straight over new plasterboard providing you put a good coating of pva on the new surface Yes you can tile over uneven surfaces but not too uneven otherwise you will have problems lining the tiles up and again the walls need to be treated with pva. Yes you can plasterboard wet areas there is a plasterboard with a green surface for that type of bathroom area again has to be treated with pva

Hi Lee, Really in wet areas you should be using something like aqua panels that are cement based to tile on. Because they are cement based they do not fall apart like plasterboard if affected by water so much more suited to shower areas. If out of wet areas and tiling straight onto plasterboard you would need to prime the plasterboard beforehand not with PVA like a lot of people still do but actual primer like Bal primer or something similar. If tiling a very uneven wall that will be staying as it is with no prep work to make it better I would recommend buying a bag of rapid set adhesive and using it before tiling to fill any deeper holes and smooth the wall off as much as you can. If the walls prepared properly it will make your job of tiling a lot easier! Again for your last question I would never really use plasterboard in wet area way to risky but if you are using it for whatever reason I would definately recommend tanking it in wet areas, you can buy tanking kits these days with everything in it ready for you. I hope this helps, Many thanks Scott

Yes, you can tile directly to plasterboard, cement board, and marine ply. General builders will use PVA and think it’s okay to use PVA. It’s the same stuff you made crafts out of as child, crumbles in your hand. Yes, you can seal items with multi purpose PVA, but PVA is NOT formulated to work with tile adhesives! When you spread your adhesive across something sealed in PVA, the wall would become LIVE, imagine, something in a thin questionable layer, sitting on your substrate, just holding all that weight, adhesive, grout and all your expensive tiles. For every substrate, there is an appropriate tile primer. ( acrylic, synthetic resin, etc. ) That will penetrate your substrate. And for every substrate there is the proper preparation. Cement board needs to be primed on both sides adhered and fixed every 300mm, green plaster can sadly be used by some in wet areas, but I prefer aquaboard, cement board and use of the proper thickness of marine ply. I do give my customers the option of adding a waterproof versabond wet room system. Joist and floor support must be 400mm apart. If joists are 600mm apart, overboard! DMats/decoupling Mats are great for lateral movement but do not protect you from up down movement. If there is movement, overboard, and mechanically fix every 300mm. Working with thicker tiles/natural stone and or large format, walls should be boarded with cement board to take the weight and to prevent movement especially if timber frame. Last thing you need is bunch of cracks across your finish. Tiling across an uneven substrate, well... make it easier, by priming, marking out, and filling the low spots with rapid set, re prime, levelling compound if needed, re prime, then prep and tile. Another easy approach is to use a leveling clip and wedge system. Make sure your tiles are laid on a thick bed of adhesive and pick yourself up a leveling system of clips and wedges from a tile specialist store, proper clips should have a flat bottom, not the anchor style ones from B&Q. These can be used on floors and walls and especially handy on uneven surfaces.

If you removing old tiles and replaster wall I would use primer instead of PVA. For wet places I wouldn't not use PVA but SBR. SBR Bond is a latex based, water resistant bonding agent and admixture for use in areas subject to humidity, dampness and continuous water contact. Would recommend use cement board instead of plasterboard. If its wet room then sure you need to tank all area. When you tiling uneven wall you can always spread extra adhesive to even. Depending how bad is wall.there is all the way how to correct. You would use primer for any surface before you tile its gives protection and guarantee tile stick better to the surface. There is different primers for porcelain and ceramic tiles. Kristine

The best way to overcome a badly damaged old plaster board wall or uneven wall is to use Moisture resistant plaster board which is green in colour. You can tile directly onto this. If your building a wet room or worried about a shower area then the blue marine grade plasterboard can be used which again does not need a skim. Look up classi seal for baths and showers for additional water resistance and use waterproof grout and adhesive. I rarely skim walls in bathrooms unless they are being painted. Regards Gareth

Hi. Yes would should always prep and primer most new surfaces including plaster boards. Skimmed or not skimmed always prime . Cheers

1)Yes you can tile straight over new plasterboard 2)Yes you can 3)Yes you can You need to be sure plasterboard is green and you need to put coat pva