www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

How easy is it to tile over existing tiles?. Is it worth doing?

You can just tile stright over the top

Personally I wouldn't

Would you need to sand the existing tiles to make sure the adhesive sticks to them?. I'm wondering if this would be a good cost saving measure or is it more hassle than what it's worth and remove the old tiles first before laying the new ones on.

Any more advice on this would be greatly appreciated as just weighing up my options at the moment.

I was thinking of this when I did may bathroom, I called the BAL technical helpline and they said as long as you can give the tiles a good key and there is nothing on the tiles that would stop the adhesive from sticking then there is no issue. They suggested using an angle grinder to key the tiles.

I decided against it in the end and took the tiles off.

As DanDan says you need to "Key" the old tiles, sandpaper won't be aggressive enough, also bear in mind that the depth of tile + adhesive is going to have an effect on clearance around taps/potential issues with shower valves,.........then there will be further issues when you reach any skirting/architraves....

All in all, do it once ......do it right, old tiles off and start again..(As per Philprime's advice)

Though I do not advocate this, I did tile my bathroom in 2008 mostly over the top but the new tiles were light weight (thin and not a good quality); I did not score the old ones but gave a thorough wash down with quality green pad and sugar soap. The window has been replaced since with double glaze unit.

I forgot to mention.........If you do decide to tile over the existing it is Essential that the current tiling is firmly affixed.....

I did my bathroom by over tiling 12 years ago and whilst it has not been a problem I wish I had not done it. I have not had any tiles come loose and it looks good, it is just that I know it and wish I had not done it. Get and SDS drill with a chisel and they are off in half an hour.

DWD

Also forgot to mention:- my original tiles being 4"sq had some surface relief and several joint crevices to each of the new tiles which provided some key.
In the 2nd bathroom, I did remove the tiles from the solid walls, after discovering how easy it was with an SDS but left some on the dry wall for fear of damage and having to replace the boards, again, some would not consider this a major job.

I removed an old curtain Batton which allowed easy access to take off a tile. The tile came off really easily and there wasn't much adhesive put on the old tile so not confident they could hold me new ones are they are bigger than the old ones. We have decided to strip the old ones and replace with the new. Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far. Could you tell me if I will need to re-plaster from the picture I provided

samguy01 wrote:I removed an old curtain Batton which allowed easy access to take off a tile. The tile came off really easily and there wasn't much adhesive put on the old tile so not confident they could hold me new ones are they are bigger than the old ones. We have decided to strip the old ones and replace with the new. Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far. Could you tell me if I will need to re-plaster from the picture I provided

Knock what you've exposed with your knuckle, if it sounds hollow then it's plasterboard and needs replacing, if not then provided you are using a cement based adhesive you should be good to go...

Just as an aside from the look of that if you had tiled over the existing it wouldn't have lasted a year.....