Tile our bathroom

[AntA]

Hi all,
I'm horribly confused by the vast range of products and conflicting advise out there, so I've landed here.

We have a 1971 house and we've removed the old bathroom and want to tile the walls, full height, for general domestic use incuding an over-bath power shower. The walls are plaster onto typical 1970s block work. No dry lining or plaster board. We've removed all the old grout, and the top skim of plaster came off too. All loose plaster has been removed and I've replastered several patches to varying depths. The walls aren't flat to a paintable standard, but they have a pretty good "rough base plaster" finish. It's all sound and firm, if a bit dusty.

I like the sound of combined adhesive / grout as keeping the adhesive our of the gaps sounds tricky. I also like the sound of cement based rather than water based adhesive and grouts. I don't mind mixing it myself, but won't unless I have to. The new tiles are 25x20cm ceramic. 2mm spacers.

We'd like to keep the cost down, but more importantly we want the tiles to still be on the walls in 20 or 30 years time.


Three questions really:
1) What prep do I need to do to the plaster?
2) What adhesive should I use?
3) What grout?

All help appreciated.

 

[Richardk]

Its difficult to say without seeing the state of the walls. Perhaps you could post a couple of pics. If the walls arent particularly flat, you should use a powdered adhesive as ready-mixed aren't designed to be used to depths much greater than 3mm. The BS for flatness is +/- 3mm over 2 mtrs. Presumably, the worst areas are around the bath/shower. Have you thought of overboarding them using drywall adhesive and mechanical fixings? You will get them flat and be able to tile onto them quicker.