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How successful is tiling over existing tiles? I am re-tiling my bathroom and was planning to take off all the old tiles but one wall is stud construction with tiles on the other side (the bathroom adjoins an en-suite shower room). I'm worried that knocking off the tiles may cause damage to the tiles in the en-suite. The alternative, for that one wall only is to tile over the existing tiles. The new tiles are considerably bigger than the existing ones so there won't be a problem with grout lines coinciding. Is any particular preparation of the old tiles needed?
Thanks in advance.

johnM20 wrote:How successful is tiling over existing tiles? I am re-tiling my bathroom and was planning to take off all the old tiles but one wall is stud construction with tiles on the other side (the bathroom adjoins an en-suite shower room). I'm worried that knocking off the tiles may cause damage to the tiles in the en-suite. The alternative, for that one wall only is to tile over the existing tiles. The new tiles are considerably bigger than the existing ones so there won't be a problem with grout lines coinciding. Is any particular preparation of the old tiles needed?
Thanks in advance.

There's a limit to how much weight you can hang on p/b when it comes to tiles. Two layers of tiles may well exceed that limit.

There may be other considerations to take into account - a tiler should know if that's the case, (I'm just a wood butcher).

Wall Substrates .............................................................Maximum Weight of Tiling per m²
Gypsum Plaster ........................................................20Kg/m²
Gypsum Plasterboard Direct (without a plaster skim)......32Kg/m²
Plywood (WBP) ........................................................Up to 30Kg/m²
Lightweight Tilebacking Boards* ................................Up to 40Kg/m². Dependant upon the type and thickness of the board.
Glass reinforced Cement Sheets ................................Up to 50kg/m², Dependant upon the type and thickness of the board.
Gypsum Fibre boards ....................................................Approximately 35- 40Kg/m²

Many thanks. Weight loading isn't something I'd considered. The stud wall is skimmed plasterboard. I think I'll have to find a way of very carefully and slowly removing the tiles and the old plasterboard. The original plan was to do this and then use Aquapanel.

I think tiling over old tiles is going to end badly. You need to find a way to remove them. I reckon I would chisel them off, but lightly.

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You can tile over tiles if they are very firmly fixed but it's not recommended.

It maybe easier to remove both the tiles and plasterboard and then start again.

Use an SDS Drill with a specialist tile remover......if you carefully do this, it will not take you long.

You must wear gloves and eye protection.......tiles are as dangerous as glass to remove ......those shards are sharp !

Took me one hour to do an average bathroom.....start to finish.

I looked into this when I re-did my bathroom, I called the BAL technical helpline and they said it wouldn't be a problem if I made sure there was no soap residue left and if I scored the old tiles thoroughly - the guy I spoke to suggested using an angle grinder to do this.

In the end I decided against it and hacked it all off, mine was on brick though.

I did one of my bathroom this way and I have always regretted it.

Get an SDS with a chisel action and the old tiles will be off in minutes. Replace the plasterboard and start clean This is what you need http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb278s ... 240v/97533

DWD

Many thanks to all who have offered their very valuable advice. It was much appreciated. In the end I very carefully removed all the old tiles. Because the wall in question was a stud wall with tiles on the other side I really took my time with it but even so, 150 tiles came off in about an hour and a half. I re-profiled the edge of a bolster chisel putting a shallow bevel on one side and a small, slightly more acute angle on the other. It seemed to work extremely well and I used it with a nylon hammer to take some of the 'sting' out of the impact.