Can you tile on plywood?

[melv]

We are doing up our bathroom DIY style and have built a fake wall so that the shower can be fixed to it. Is it possible for tiles to be fixed to plywood? We originally tried MDF and that didn't work, have we made another bad choice?

[woofgang]

Yes, you can, The guy who did our bathroom made panels to sit either side of the sink pedestal to hide the pipes, he just tiled straight on to ply. If the surface area is large then flexing may be your problem and you will need to reinforce the ply with battens to make it rigid. Use the best quality tile fixative that you can get as well...cheap ones do not work so well and neither does skimping on the quantity used (bitter experience...)

[melv]

Thanks woofgang. Do you know if the ply had to be prepared before tiling? A website recommended Unibond?!

[woofgang]

he just wacked the tile adhesive onto the bare ply but it was waterproof tile adhesive and not fix and grout...also it was as I said, only for decoration and not expected to have to be waterproof, I guess the unibond couldn't hurt

[BobbyLove01]

Hi Melv. Being a carpenter I had to lay 6mm and somtimes 9mm Ply down on to floors for tiles. The guy we use he makes me screw the ply about every inch on the battons to stop any movement and then I give the ply about 2/3 coats of Unibond to protect it from moisture. Good Luck Bobby

[bargepole]

might be woth looking at this site, www.knaufdrywall.co.uk, for info on a product called aquapanel the product is sold by Wickes.

[melv]

Thanks everyone. We've successfully managed to tile onto the Plywood. Given the Plywood good support and coated it with 3 coats of 1 part Unibond 4 parts water. All tiles are successully staying put this time. phew ;-)