I'm nearly done re-tiling my bathroom and have only got the window cill to
go. The old bathroom had gloss painted wood as the cill, but I'm hoping to
replace it with a tiled cill. I've heard that tiling onto wood is a no-no
(expansion cracks in the grout & adhesive etc), so I plan to build up with a
more stable substrate. My question is what should I used to build up?

My gut instinct is to use plasterboard nailed in each corner to the wood
window cill , seal it with PVA and then tile directly onto it. As this is a
guess as to how to do it I thought I'd ask the group and see if anyone has a
bit more of a scientific view, rather than my wild-arsed guess!

Cheers in advance,
James

In message , James Amor
writes
I'm nearly done re-tiling my bathroom and have only got the window cill to
go. The old bathroom had gloss painted wood as the cill, but I'm hoping to
replace it with a tiled cill. I've heard that tiling onto wood is a no-no
(expansion cracks in the grout & adhesive etc),

I've tiled onto wood on a window cill with no problem before. Just rub
down well for a good key.

Alternatively I'd rather use a bit of WBP ply than plasterboard myself.
I had this tiled as top surface on some bathroom boxing in /cupboards
for 5 years with no problem. Prime it first.

--
Chris French

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:22:47 -0000, "James Amor"
wrote:

I'm nearly done re-tiling my bathroom and have only got the window cill to
go. The old bathroom had gloss painted wood as the cill, but I'm hoping to
replace it with a tiled cill. I've heard that tiling onto wood is a no-no
(expansion cracks in the grout & adhesive etc), so I plan to build up with a
more stable substrate. My question is what should I used to build up?

My gut instinct is to use plasterboard nailed in each corner to the wood
window cill , seal it with PVA and then tile directly onto it. As this is a
guess as to how to do it I thought I'd ask the group and see if anyone has a
bit more of a scientific view, rather than my wild-arsed guess!


You could nail (staple) a bit of expanded metal down onto it, that
would provide a good key for the tile cement.

DG

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 17:45:17 +0000, Derek ^ wrote:

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:22:47 -0000, "James Amor"
wrote:

I'm nearly done re-tiling my bathroom and have only got the window cill to
go. The old bathroom had gloss painted wood as the cill, but I'm hoping to
replace it with a tiled cill. I've heard that tiling onto wood is a no-no
(expansion cracks in the grout & adhesive etc), so I plan to build up with a
more stable substrate. My question is what should I used to build up?

My gut instinct is to use plasterboard nailed in each corner to the wood
window cill , seal it with PVA and then tile directly onto it. As this is a
guess as to how to do it I thought I'd ask the group and see if anyone has a
bit more of a scientific view, rather than my wild-arsed guess!


You could nail (staple) a bit of expanded metal down onto it, that
would provide a good key for the tile cement.

DG

I genreally rip the cills out altogether, and either replace with MDF, ply,
chipboard or other stable materials, or simply (if its blockwork) make up
with mortar or bonding plaster.

I have in my new bathroom used a bit of 2x4 to make a raised tiled
ledge..with a decent tile adhesive (Evostik waterproof) the humidity
changes have not been enough to cause tiles to fall off, although in summer
I get fine cracks in the grout upening up.

Although you can tile onto plasterboard, it never feels as solid as tiling
onto MDF and the like. If you want a projecting cill, use one of the wood
substitutes...

..