# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Preparing to tile a single brick wall

## KrisR

Hi guys, 
I am getting ready to turn my existing laundry into a combined 2nd bathroom and laundry. Its located at the back right hand corner of the house (50's built brick & tile) and the wall is only single brick around the laundry, with mortar or render on the inside which is painted. The paint on the inside of the wall has completely come away in some patches over time with all the moisture so obviously I have to seal the outside thoroughly to stop the moisture getting through the wall and ruining the tiling... My main two questions are: 
I'm going to get rid of the flaking paint with a wire brush - can I then tile over the render (or mortar or whatever it is on the inside of the wall) 
Also I am planning to render the exterior of the house at some point, but not straight away. If I seal the exterior bricks outside the laundry will this affect the rendering job later? 
Thanks for your advice.

----------


## AIRMAN

I had the same issue when doing my bathroom recently, it was only tiled to half height and I wanted to go full height so I had to remove the paint. If you don't take off the paint, the bond of your tiles is only as strong as the bond between the paint they are sticking to and the wall. I found the best way to remove was a angle grinder with flap disks on them, but you'll need a few as it chews through them and makes a huge mess. 
For the other question I'm not sure why you want to seal the out side bricks? You shouldn't really have moisture coming from the outside of your house, are you sure the paint hasn't peeled due to moisture in the laundry from washing machine and dryer?

----------


## juan

If it were mine I would be considering putting up some villaboard inside to create a dry wall separated from the single brick with battens.  May be able to hide the new plumbing behind it. 
cheers

----------


## KrisR

Cheers for the replys guys, 
Airman - from what I've been told thus far, single brick walls are relatively porous, especially a 50 year old wall. You're right though, theres a possibility that it could be from the moisture inside the laundry - however the biggest area of peeled lost paint is on the exterior corner of the room, exposed to the weather, whilst the interior walls (which back onto other rooms of the house) are completely unaffected, making it pretty clear that the moisture is coming from outside... 
Juan - I've never worked with villaboard before, though I have installed slatwall in my shop on battons in the past. Is villaboard suitable for wet areas and able to carry the weight of tiles? If so then it would be pretty cool...

----------


## Vernonv

Hi KrisR,
Villaboard is perfect for wet area installations. Here is a link to the install manual : http://www.jameshardie.com.au/produc...ember20055.pdf

----------


## jags

Hi kris 
Thank for the info on your deck . 
I think Juans is on the money villa board is not hard to work with and not expensive . 
Any pics of the area and are you installing bath / shower ? as this will affect the need to seal the walls .  
if it is only one wall it would be quite simple to 
batten the wall 
install new plumbing 
screw in the new villa board 
tape the joins 
fill screw holes 
then water proof  
them tile over it all .  
If you have any in depth question i would ask Rod he is the guru on all things plaster related and his web site is very help full . 
and i am no expert on this . 
p.s buy a villa board cutting knife as this will make the job a lot easier . 
best of luck 
Rob

----------


## Vernonv

> p.s buy a villa board cutting knife as this will make the job a lot easier .

  I actually reckon the hand guillotine is the go for 95% of your cuts - neater and easier (but maybe not quite as quick). I used to only use a knife (and saw), until I inherited a hand guillotine - since then I only use the knife for the final cut on internal cutouts (e.g to cut the doorway opening out of a top sheet).

----------

