Bathroom Tiling Preparation

[AndyChiz]

We are renovating our ensuite that was tiled wall to ceiling (approx 20sqm), and in removing the tiles, chunks of render have pulled away as well. I also notice that in some areas the render will come away from the walls without much effort...hardly a good surface for tiling.

As I see it, we have 2 options from here.

1. Remove any suspect areas of render and then re-render the walls to fill in the gaps/holes ready for tiling.

2. Remove ALL the render and clad the walls in some sort of sheeting/cement board to provide the surface for tiling.

We're still looking at getting professionals to tile the surface, but guess providing them with a reliable & smooth (relatively) surface is paramount to get them coming back after the first day!!

Has anyone faced this in the past?

[Master Splinter]

Ask your tiler what they would prefer (ie what they will guarantee) No good going to a lot of trouble if they are going to say "Oh dear, I wouldn't have done that".

Personally I'd take it all off just as an excuse to buy a Bunnies $69 hammer drill. That would of course include the floor tiles.

Then I'd wetseal the shower/bath area and tile direct to the brick with something like the Abaflex two part tile adhesve. Any really big lumps in the wall would meet an angle grinder but most of the time a reasonable bed of adhesive should be able to cover them

[AndyChiz]

Thanks for that.
I've already borrowed the hammer drill from a mate...wouldn't do the job without one.

I was thinking taking it off was the answer as it's flaking off pretty easily in some areas.

We're having trouble getting a tiler to commit (surprise, surprise) hopefully next week will resolve this issue.