Hi,
I am doing my bathroom and this will involve re-tiling. There are alot of tiles and I am hoping to tile on top of the existing ones.
Does anyone hve any advice/opinions on this. Will it work, should I used special adhesive, is it a non-starter? I have heard before that tiles are the ideal surface to tile on to, but it was a long time ago and I'm not sure how reputable he source was!!
Any help gratefully recieved.
Thanks
It's certainly not a non-starter - possible issues that I can think of:
- the room will be smaller(!) once you've tiled
- is the room tiled 100% or are there "borders" in which case what happens there: will you have an unsightly deep "step" at the edge?
- consider where the new tiles will butt against any sanitaryware and how it will look.
All of the above may be non-issues but worth thinking about first. David
Thanks for the reply.
The room is big so size wont be an issue. Its only tiled 3/4 of the way up the wall, but currently this is edged with a dado rail and so I will do the same (but a deeper one) when tiled on tiles.
All sanitryware will be replaced anyway so will fit in with new tiles.
My main worry is making them "stick". Does the adhesive work when tiling on tiles or will they slide off?
Thats the biggest problem with tiling on tiles - the edges are twice as thick as normal tiling. It can look awful if it shows.
They will 'stick' fine. By your description the edges I would give thought to are where u butt to the door architrave. Any thickness generally disappears with double tiles and u either dont care or will hate it. Consider new architrave.
Peter
you can tile over tiles, and it says so on a lot of tile adhesives, even though there are ones that are made specifically for this, almost any tile adhesive will do the job adequately.
Make sure there are no loose or uneven tiles, and make sure the joints don't line up with the existing tiles - if the existing tiles are the huge ones, take them off and start again.
"Thomarse" wrote
No problem at all. Did this 4 years ago - used Bal adhesive which is well regarded by group regulars (expensive but excellent, talk to their tech department about recommended product - used to be White Star, but product names can change). As others have noted, if you think about the detail at edges/architraves it'll look fine, if not .......... I fitted a filler strip under the architrave equal to the new tile thickness and deliberately introduced a second "step" IYSWIM. This adds interest/detail rather than detracting. For the walls which were half tiled like yours, I had the remaining top half skimmed to level with existing tiles so I could cover the whole wall seamlessly. The "correct" way would of course be to remove all tiles and start afresh. Unfortunately, the construction of my upstairs walls is totally naff, so the tile-on-tile option saved the day. At the start of the job I was discussing details with my father-in-law and I noticed that tiles on a certain wall appeared to move when he leant on it. This is the first time I've come across tiles on top of wall paper!!!
HTH
Phil
This is the first time I've come across tiles on top of wall paper!!!
When I refurbished my bathroom, knocking the existing loo & bathroom into one, a previous owner had done just that!
We've been here 15yrs so it's anyone's guess how long they'd been adhering quite happily to the blown vinyl underneath.
Don.
Don't do it. It's a bodge that usually looks awful. It shows you are a sloppy worker that can't be bothered to do a bit of work with a lump hammer and bolster. In years to come you'll feel the guilt of such a bodge and the possible ridicule if your bathroom is ever visited by a decent craftman.
I ended up stripping off no fewer than three (yes three) layers of tiles when I refurbed my bathroom.
We're now back to a proper job with one layer of tiles and a full sized room.
Thanks for all the advice.
I don't think it will be a bodge, unless I don't plan it and think about how I will overcome some of the edge and join issues that others have raised. I certainly wouldn't do it if I thought it would look awful. I am sure i can do it in terms of making the edging etc look good and no one would know any different. I was just concerned about the adhesive sticking to the tiles.
The Bathroom is very large and to take off all the tiles which are very well put on (none are falling off etc) would be a monumenatl job, and although I would do this if i felt it was absolutely necessary to get a decent finish, I don't feel it is necessary and I think I can do a decent job without the extra weeks stripping tiles, skimming walls etc and the cost.
Once done I will post pics to see what you think of the finish. No doubt i will be back with more questions along the way anyway.
Cheers
Fine. Go ahead and do it how you want but remember the ridicule you may receive from a visitor in the future.
Ridicule? I dont know of anyone visiting my house that would "ridicule" me for whatever reason, not the sort of thing you do to people really. Perhaps that comes from yoru own personal experience.
Hopefully some photos will follow
The usual reason for not doing this is the lack of any edging strip that covers a 2 tile thickness. Sure, there are ways round it but, IME, nothing that looks convincing. If the original tiles were put on with modern tile adhesive, they would almost certainly come off very easily with a hammer and bolster. In thirties houses the tiles were often cement bonded, and getting those off really would be the job from hell
I think that the tiles were put on within the last 10 or so years, so that would be modern tile adhesive. My main concern with taking them off is that ince they are off, I will be left with a very uneven wall with bots of adhesive all over it and a big job to either scrape it all back level or re-skim it all.
Maybe I could try taking an area of tiles off and see how it looks underneath?
Obviously Ideally I'd want to get them all off and start from scratch but I really dont want to be left with uneven walls.
Yes, a tough decision, but the walls don't have to be perfect for tiling. IME the old adhesive will probably be stuck to the tiles more than the plaster, so you're more likely to have dips to fill rather than adhesive to get off. They say a steamer softens it quite well but I've never tried it. Out of interest, how are you planning to finish the edges with a double tile thickness? If the tiles are floor to ceiling, and you only have vertical edges to worry about, I'd certainly consider leaving the old ones in place. Doors and windows aren't usually as much of a problem as the bath looking as though it's sunk into the wall
I will try a section and see how it goes.
The tiles will only be 3/4 of way up the wall, which is what they do at the moment. Presently they are edged with a picture rail/dado rail thing, so if i were to tile on top I would do the same, but use a deeper rail. It actually looks quite nice, we are going for a "tradional" look as it is a victorian terrace.
The bath wont be a problem as we are getting a claw foot bath which will sit away from the wall. My main problem is the window sill and other areas where at the moment the outside right angle join is joined with a rounded plastic beading, so tiling over that may be tricky.
But it doesn't always. I defy anyone to tell that my bathroom and en suite are double tiled, except on the walls with the doors to avoid the architrave issue mentioned by others.
Or use the existing rail? You'd have to re-cut the joints at one end. You could tile the whole thing and stick the rail on afterwards with silicone, or pack it out with a layer of offcuts and have the new tiles meet the rail as before.
Is that a wooden sill? Are you tiling over it? Outside corners are the easy bit. New tiletrim should give you the same result on the new tiles
ide quoted text -
Its not a wooden sill, its currently tiled over already, the problem here will be where it meets the actual frame of the window (upvc) this is very shallow so I may get a lip. My thinking here is to remove the tiles on the sil and trim the existing ones on the vertical wall that join it so they are flush and then til a single layer on the actual sill, I think this will work.
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