Have read not to tile onto hardwall - what alternatives?

[rupert]

Hi All,

Re-doing a shower room. All other walls are stud wall's covered with aquapanel.

However the back external facing wall is breeze block with hardwall finish.

The old tiler tiled small format tiles on these 7 years ago and they held up pretty well. However I've been reading around on the forum and people are saying it is not a suitable substrate, even the manufacturer is saying the same.

Now i'm going to be using large format porcelain tiles , 600*300, so skimming the wall is out of the question as I believe the skim will not support these tiles.

So what are the alternatives? Space is tight so I dont want to place aquapanel ontop of the hardwall. Should I take off all the hardwall to the breeze block then mechanically fix aquapanel onto it?

I'd like to avoid rendering the breeze block if possible, as I've seen it crack due to not controlling moisture properly, even when done by a pro. So dont want it cracking after its been tiled and then risk cracking the tiles.

Cheers.

 

[Martino]

Why wont plaster hold those tiles? people tile onto plaster all the time? just prime it first?....i have done this many times with no issues and gone back for more work too?

 

[White Room]

But not the base coat....

 

[rupert]

I've read a skimmed wall will only take 20kg per square meter. The tiles i'm using as large format and would exceed this max weight limit. I don't want to risk them falling off at some point in the future.