Help please- Advice on tiling onto plywood boxing

[Plumbing Tiler]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of quoting for a job which is a bathroom and along one wall it has boxing built from 18mm exterior ply to hide the plumbing pipework to the bath, basin and wc and the wc and basin will be the wall hung type fixed onto to this boxing, the customer has not yet confirmed the type of tile so I'm afraid I don't know the size or material yet.

My question is what adhesive would you suggest to fix to the ply?, even if the tiles are on the smaller side I am thinking a ready mixed adhesive wouldn't be the best choice and a powder mix would be a superior choice, I am slightly concerned that with the wall hung wc pan there may be some movement when the customer sits on the toilet!, my options are quite limited locally, so my choices are Weber or Granfix, although if I make a bit of a journey I can then get Bal or Mapei, so I will go with whatever you guys recommend?, also what would be the best way to prime the plywood to ensure the best fixing possible?

I have toyed with the idea of fixing some 6mm Hardibacker board onto the ply to tile onto as well, again, what do you all think?

Thanks in advance everyone, any help much appreciated

 

[Alan.P]

Ply can be tiled to although it's not the best substrate, we really need to know the tile type to advise, but looking at the worst case, overboard with a 12mm backerboard, the ply should be primed / sealed on the backside and sides before hand, is this possible, can it be removed ?

 

[Plumbing Tiler]

The customer is selecting tiles today so as soon as I know I will put it up on here, with regard to the ply it has just been built in by the builder onto a frame and fixed back to the solid wall, it would be possible to remove it but obviously the customer has just had it done so unless it really is a no no I would be reluctant to tell her it needs to all come off if you know what I mean?, thanks.

 

[Alan.P]

I know what you mean, it's just that a) it runs the risk of water ingress on the exposed edges and back, and b) cupping 'can' occur, as I've said, we need to know tile types before we can advise really.

 

[Tony73]

mapei keraflex on wall and keraquick on floor

 

[Plumbing Tiler]

Hello again everyone, the customer has now confirmed her choice of tile, they are ceramic 400 x 250 x 8mm in size, so any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Brinkley]

you will be ok over boarding with a 6mm cement board and a cement based flexi adhesive