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We want to renovate our bathroom and have been told it is possible to tile over tiles. At the moment we have floor to ceiling "chicken" tiles from the 70s which are rock solid on the walls. Has anyone tiled over tiles and has it worked ok?

Yes, I have and it worked fine. To prep I washed them down really well with sugar soap and then scratched them up with a block of wood with nails through it The screeching noise sets you teeth on edge Plan your runs to overlap the existing joins and use a good adhesive. You have to figure out skirting boards and radiators which can present problems.

I must say that I would not do it again and I would chop them off, skim if required and do it right.

DWD

Thanks for your prompt reply! That's really helpful advice.

Make sure you use a powder based single part adhesive ( Not ready made bucket mix ) as it hasn't got enough mechanical fix to it, the old tiles as DWD says need scoring / scartching to create a better bond, also don't grout the same day, as you really need to let the adhesive cure properly, to be honest it would be better to remove the existing tiles if at all possible..

Thanks for the further advice! Ideally we'd like to remove the existing tiles and start afresh but we'd have to replaster the bathroom completely if we removed the old tiles - they're so securely fixed and the damn things cover every inch of wall! But cheers guys!

I think that you will always wish that you had chopped them off. I use a cheap SDS drill with wide chisel. As long as you do not go mad and dig in the wall you wil find that they will probably come off a lot easier than you think. I hit the side of the tile rather than go behind it. Use gloves, glasses and a mask and a thick top as shards of ceramic are bloody sharp.

Making good does not have to be a masterpiece and you can patch up amd level fairly easy. It will make the job easier in my opinion.

DWD

You're right - there's no good substitute for taking the old tiles off so that's what we'll do. Thanks for all your really helful advice.