tileing a shower area

[terence7556]

further to my earlier question about tileing a floor area of a bathroom i also intend to tile 3 sides above a shower tray.the wall is standard p/board on each side and skimmed. two of the walls are lighweight breeze block, and so that is the dot and dab method. the third wall is timber stud.it is six months old.
i know for a fact that it is not aquaboard and so is there anything i can use to seal the plaster before i tile, short of ripping it off and starting again. im told that as grout is pervious then damp from the shower will eventually get through. is this correct?
any advice would be welcome

[kira000]

Dont use normal tile glue, or even the bathroom "waterproof" stuff you can get. Go and buy some swimming pool tile glue.
Afterall, swimming pools have to be pretty watertight!

Thats what we have in our bathroom.

[buildersmate]

It probably isn't something I'd do in my own house, terence. If you are going to do it, definitely prime with one of the proprietary products made for the purpose. People use diluted PVA; I would use the proprietary product because although it also contains PVA it contains other additives and for an extra tenner on the cost of the job, why take the risk?
Here's the link to BAL's technical pages where you might like to download their technical guide to help you select suitable primers / adhesives / grouts / grout additives.
http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/contractors/con TilingTips

[gazzawazza]

Buildersmate always gives very sound advice and if I was doing my bathroom I would definitely follow the links he provides.
Having said that, about six years ago I did our bathroom, using the dot and dab method for plasterboard and installed a shower unit at the same time. Incredibly, I didn't even think about any special preparation for the shower. (Incredible because I usually follow all recommended codes of practice and regulations etc) it just didn't occur to me at the time.
I used tile cement which was recommended for wet locations and separate grout which was similarly recommended (I don't use the combined grout and tile stuff, I just don't like it).
It wasn't until a couple of weeks later when I was next in a builders' merchants that I even thought about aquapanel! To this day there are absolutely no problems visible at all, but since then I've been very keen to rip the tiles off and check the condition of the plasterboard!
We are now toying with the idea of moving house in a year or two, so it remains to be seen whether we do actually redo the bathroom. If we do, replacing those tiles will be one of the first things I do coz I'm dieing to see the plasterboard behind them!

[terence7556]

thank you all for your advice, most helpful.i asked in a tile shop today and they said pVA diluted 4 and 1 as a primer, and the bigger the tile ,then less grout to absorb moisture

[terence7556]

buildersmate the BAL site is very informative, ive added it to my favorites list as tileing is a recurring job, thank you