Sealing Plaster Walls Before Tiling

Use a proper acrylic based tiling primer sucha s bal prime apd or ardex p51.

Sealing plaster walls before tiling.

When applying tile to a plastered surface it is important not to overload the weight of what the plaster will take before failure occurs plaster will support about 20kg m2 or about a 9mm thickness of ceramic tile. He gave me a list of their recommendations and one of them was to always use waterproof pva diluted before tiling on new plaster. Thoroughly vacuum the area and give the wall a once over with a damp sponge or cleaning cloth. Sand with a medium grit sandpaper to create a uniform surface that s not too smooth.

Seal the walls with a skim coat and let it dry thoroughly. New plaster work should be fully dried before tiling work is commenced this drying time varies upon temperatures but can take up to 4 weeks before fully cured. If in doubt prime the walls is a general rule. You want the tile adhesive to have something to grab onto.

Don t use paint glue pva wall paper paste only use the primer recommended by the adhesive manufacturer of your chosen tile adhesive. I did question the rep about this and he was adamant that new plaster should be pva d because if not the plaster sucks the moisture from the adhesive too quickly therefore it doesn t set properly. This way the adhesive will stick properly and last in the long run if you are using a good product. Otherwise a few complications might occur.

Also now it s been plastered you will be restricting yourself to a tile with a max weight of about 16 kg m2. Adhesive grout and tile 20kg max weight onto plaster. If you choose a heavier tile you will need to overboard with a backaboard. Before you get to it you should level the bathroom the kitchen and or the hallway walls.