Tub surround over ceramic tile

Seems like a pretty good reason not to. It's your money so do as you please.

And how hard could it be to rip some tile off the wall????

marc,

Somehow you need to hold the surround tight to the tile while it dries, since the silicone caulk adhesive has poor "initial grab" strength.

None of this will work if the tiles aren't perfectly clean. In certain circumstances I tile over tile, but first grind down the surface of the tile slightly with a 'dry' diamond blade in a grinder.

If you can get the tiles perfectly clean, you won't need to etch them to stick to them.

thetiler

marc wrote:

Thanks for that info. That also verifies why it won't work. I made it through, by phone, to the surround manufacturer. She gave another reason why it wasn't recommended. The surround material is fairly fragile. If it's stuck to a rigid material like ceramic tile, heat expansion or contraction will cause the surround to change size differently than the tile. Since the tile won't give, the surround may crack. It might only take a couple months.

It seems to me that cement board or wallboard are just as inflexible, but those are the recommended surfaces. However, I'm not going to take the chance.

My main reason for a new surround was I was tired of the grout sealer failing after a few months. While it's not a big deal to re-seal, I usually find out it needs it after I wreck what's in the closet below. The surround was easier (so I thought) than re-grouting with a water resistant grout. I'm going to re-grout, as the tile looks better than most surrounds.

Again, thanks for the reply and good info.

--Marc

liquid nail makes a "tub surround" formula that works great over tile and the liquid nail does not leave any visible lines bleeding through like the reg. liquid nail would did this 5 years ago and everything is still in tact (still looks like new)