Should I Tile Over Damaged Plasterboard? Advice and information on tiling and fixing tiles to a variety of surfaces

[natalialexeeva]

Hi all,

We started renovating our bathroom and removed tiles of the wall which was very difficult and it also damaged plaster board quite badly, leaving a few big holes in it. My first instinct is to rip it all out and go in with new plaster boards because it seems too damaged and I feel like trying to fill the holes and plaster over it and then stick tiles over the damaged area will not be strong enough and will eventually fall apart.
We’ve been advised by 3 different people and they all saying different things:
-just clean this up and tile over it without filling the holes,
-fill the holes and plaster over it
-remove all plaster boards and start again

Im not scared of work but because of busy schedule I am keen for a quickest solution. Could you please advise me on what to do next?
Many thanks,

Nat

[bremhillbob]

Great question Natalia, sorry I can't help but I'd definitely like to know the answer as I'm in the same position. I'm re-tiling the shower so 'water tight' is a priority. The builder I'd working with is saying to level the surface then tile over the top and that seems to make sense to me. If water gets past the tile layer it won't matter if it's 'rough' plasterboard or nice new plasterboard - both will soak up the water and deteriorate.
The advantage of taking off the old and fixing new is that you save yourself a LOT of sanding and the surface will be flat. New plasterboard will provide an easier, flatter tiling subsurface.
I'd say that if there was a large area that was easy to get to and well supported by battens etc - in short - easy to strip and recover then replacing the plasterboard would be the way to go but smaller tricky areas wouldn't really benefit.