On Feb 25, 12:20*pm, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
In article ,
* * * * Keefiedee writes:

I suspect the answer is no, but is there an easy (ish) way to get tile
adhesive off a plaster wall? *The tiles were removed in a bathroom
rearrangement before we bought the house, and it would not be
appropriate to re-tile over the same area.

I have tried a steamer, and an orbital sander with coarse paper, but
am wondering about using Nitromors. *Can't think of anything else - so
am becoming resigned to a long job, but this group often surprises me
with answers I've never thought of, so any ideas?

It will depend how modern a tile adhesive it is. There's pretty much
no chance to get modern adhesive off as it's much stronger and more
resilient than plaster, so the plaster will break away. Very old tile
adhesives were not as strong, but mostly they were still stronger
than the plaster. You will probably need to reskim (unless you are
tiling again, in which case small bits of missing plaster won't
matter, although large areas might).

If you are tiling again, if you're using a cement based tile adhesive
(i.e. powder in a bag, add water - not ready mixed in a tub) then it's
never going to come off cleanly next time either. This means, if you
have a plasterboard wall, you might as well just put new plasterboard
up and tile straight onto that. Skimming it, just to tile over it,
buys you nothing.

YMMV. But for a DIY-er, putting up plasterboard is a lot easier and
quicker than putting up plasterboard _and_ skimming over the top. One
argument for skimming is that tiles could never come cleanly of
plasterboard so next time you'd have to re-board. Guess what? You
probably will anyway even if you _do_ skim it! ;-)

Cheers,
David.