Wall-with-hole-prep two weeks ahead of tiling

[Mirjam]

Hi there all tilers!

My old plastered kitchen wall has two holes in it. The larger one is 5x15cm and goes all the way down to the brick. There are also quite many shallower imperfections in the wall. I wonder what the best way and material would be for fixing this. I must start tiling at the latest in two weeks. I have a tiny bit of experience with plastering and thought of filling up the deep holes with browning and skim the whole wall but I read plastering needs at least 4 weeks before you can tile on it. Can I use light weight compound?

The tiles will be 15x15x0.3cm ceramic ones, the adhesive BAL white star.
This is my first tiling project.

I would be really grateful for your help
Mirjam

 

[Dan]

I'd consider using a cement-based adhesive and scrap tiles to bring it level to the wall. How deep are the holes when they go back to the brickwork? About 20-30mm?

 

[macten]

Like Dan or cut a bit of plasterboard to go in there

 

[Rookery]

I'd also stick some plasterboard in or alternatively, some Bal quick set render.

 

[Mirjam]

Thank you so much for your answers! How quick you are! :smiley2:

The deepest place is 40mm but the rest is mostly 20-30.

We don't have any plaster board at home so I think I'll go with the adhesive + tile option. Would floor adhesive (BAL gold star) do? How long do you reckon it takes to dry? I'll start as late as possible because we'll use the kitchen till then.

There are some other problems with the walls. A large masonry larder was taken out in the past and the material used to fix up the walls must have been unsuitable because these places (3 floor to ceiling 10cm wide strips) are a bit dusty and on some places I can even make a mark with the finger nail. I planned to scrape/brush out what would come loose and then smoothen it over with something. Could I use the adhesive here again? There is a picture of this below. The soft part is to the right of the crack.

What about light weight? Is that at all possible to use beneath tiling? Is a skim plaster coat a bad thing in general (the rest of the walls have small pits as well) or is it just slow drying?

When we took off the previous tiles they fell off very easily. There was only a small blob of adhesive on the back of most tiles and I assumed that was why they didn't stick well. Also, there were big patches of glossy paint beneath the tiles which I thought was another reason. A horror thought came to me now though, what if the walls themselves are not suitable! Apart from the dusty bits I described earlier the walls seem perfectly solid if not always smooth. The skirting boards were in a bad state so the kitchen must at some point (it measures at the most 0.6 now) have been damp... I get more worried the more I think about it..:helpsmilie:

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[White Room]

How old is your property....

 

[Mirjam]

It was built in 1956, a mid terraced brick house.

 

[White Room]

I take it the plaster backing is render ? and as your describing the finish is dusty it mat be a lime finish or an early sirapite finish....

 

[Mirjam]

Thanks whitebeam! The dusty parts are not as old as the house but were made by the previous house owner I guess about 30 years ago. If those bits are lime or sirapite, how can I make them tiling safe then?

I don't know what rendering indoors means.. There is a thick, light grey coat with scratches on and on top is a thin smooth layer in the same colour.