New problem with tiling and plastering

[Stephen]

Hi again :) ... hopefully I have not irritated too many with my new diy questions.

Ok regarding my tiling and plastering posts. I have now cut the old plasterboard off, leaving just the wall and blobs of adhesive with plaster on which I'm about to hammer and bolster off. Done a few and they ripped some of the brickwork away :-s do I need to fill this ?

The problem I can see is the gap of the plasterboard near the top of the bath (head resting end :) ) is quite tight you can get your index finger in it with no movement, but at the otherend same wall the gap is wide with more room with wiggle your index :) ... how am I going to get this level if the gaps are different ? ... at a guess do I just pack more plaster adhesive behind it ?

Also quick question when I apply the adhesive to the board and put it on the wall, does it stick straight away or do you have to hold it for ... x amount of time ?

Appreciate the help.

Going to get to wickes to get whatever else I need the plasterboards and adhesive and get onto that tommorow or later today if time permits.

Thanks all seriously appreciating the help. Been quite interesting, this DIY thing is quite addictive :)

[Stephen]

I wonder if I should just cancel the tiler, and fix the wall first. I'm now at the point of being back to bare brick. I could do the plasterboard thing or as I've now measure the distance between wall and exisiting PB is about

0.5inch and maybe just buy a bag of one coat plaster as Cic said and get it on reasonably flat then sand it down ?

...waits a little longer before going to wickes for any replies :-s

[Tim W]

Stephen wibbled on Saturday 16 January 2010 10:36

I think we need some pictures - have you got or can borrow a digicam? Pop it on flickr or email to me (have website, will host).

[David WE Roberts]

Just to confirm - you have a brick wall fronted with plasterboard which has been 'dot and dabbed' on.

O.K. - as posted elsewhere you may be better using a different type of board than plasterboard as a background to tiles. Whatever.

Unless you have removed most of a brick (or several bricks) then as you are going to cover everything up again this should not matter - a minor surface chunk out of a brick isn't going to compromise the structural integrity.

As suggested elsewhere if you can take a digital photograph or two and upload to a site such as photobucket then it will make it easier for people to advise.

Cheers

Dave R

[David WE Roberts]

Given that you have a brick wall as your base then you have multiple options.

First thing - talk to your tiler. Check what he recommends as a base for tiling - he should know best. Probably best to delay the tiling until you have the wall finished to a state the tiler is happy with.

If you are new to DIY you may turn out to be a natural plasterer who can skim a brick wall to give a nice flat surface or you may turn out to be a natural customer for a plasterer :-)

I would forget about any sanding down - minor surface imperfections don't matter when you are fixing tiles as the adhesive takes this up. If you think you need to sand the plaster down to get it flat enough to take tiles then you are probably in a whole world of hurt.

Check with your tiler to see if he can tile directly onto the brick - you never know :-)

However one of the benefits of a 'dot and dab' board with an air gap behind is additional thermal insulation so you may wish to replace your plaster board with one of the recommendations you have already had.

An idea of the dimensions of your problem area of wall would be helpful, and also what is either side that you have to fit up to.

HTH

Dave R

[Stephen]

Thats it.

Only a few chunks, thank god no more patching :)

I think that might be a good idea to help. I'll give it a go and hopefully it will be clearer than my rubbish explanation of whats up :)