How to tile over old tiles

If you don't want to remove your old tiles because you're worried about damaging the wall underneath, you can tile over the existing ones. Read below to see the steps involved.

Level of difficulty

Level 3: Advanced

What you need

• Tiles
• Plastic spacers
• Pencil
• Stick
• Chalk
• Tape measure
• Spirit level
• Small nails
• Hammer
• Battens
• Grout mixture
• Trowel
• Dowel
• Damp sponge
• Crowbar
• Wooden stick (2m/6 ft 6in in length)

The steps to follow

I. Wash the entire area where you'll be tiling  with a mild detergent. The existing tiles need to be clean so that the new tiles can adhere well to the surface.

Note:
Make sure that the existing tiles are firmly bonded to the walls. Check by gently tapping on them. If it sounds hollow then they are not well bonded and will not be able to sustain the weight of the new tiles. You will not be able to tile over these existing tiles. It's best if you remove them and retile the area. When aligning the new tiles, arrange them so that the grout lines of the new tiles don't align to the existing tiles' grout lines.

II. Finding a starting a point to tile the surface.

1. Lay a row of tiles on the surface and insert plastic spacers between tiles. To dry lay tiles on the wall, you'll first need to set out the walls with battens.
2. Use a pencil to mark the spacing on a stick of about 2 m (6 ft 6 in). This will be the gauge rod to help you in setting out the surface accurately. You can hold this rod against the surface to see how the tiles will appear.

III. Setting out the tiles.

1. Use a tape measure to measure the surface from top to bottom for the vertical centre and left to right for the horizontal centre.
2. Run a chalk line across the horizontal and vertical lines. The point where both lines meet is the centre.
3. Position the tip of the gauge rod against the vertical centre point and mark the tile spacing on the surface from top to bottom.
4. Repeat these steps for the horizontal centre point and mark the tile spacing on the surface from left to right.
5. Use the gauge rod to best arrange the tiles on the surface.

IV. Fixing horizontal and vertical battens.

1. Leave a gap of about half a tile's width from the surface.
2. From there, draw a horizontal line at the bottom of the surface. Use a spirit level to check if the line is straight.
3. Draw a vertical line from the left hand side of the surface. Again, leave a gap of about half a tile's width from the left-hand side and check that it is straight with a spirit level.
4. Once the vertical and horizontal lines where the battens will be fixed are drawn, check the position with the gauge rod. This step ensures that your tiling arrangement still appears correctly on the surface.
5. Place and nail the battens on these lines. Use small nails to fix them. These battens will act as a guide for putting your tiles and can be removed when you've finished tiling the surface.

V. Fixing the first tile.

1. Now that your battens are in place, evenly spread some tile adhesive with a tile trowel on the surface. 
2. Hold a plastic spreader at right angles to the surface to create ridges with its teeth on the tile adhesive. The ridges will make it easier for the tiles to adhere to the existing tiles.
3. Bed and press the first tile at the corner of the horizontal and vertical battens.
4. Insert a tile spacer.
5. Fix the next tile and insert another tile spacer.
6. With a spirit level, check that the row of tiles is straight.
7. Continue laying the tiles in the same way until you've covered the whole surface.
8. Let the adhesive harden for 24 hours and remove the battens with a crowbar.
9. Measure the gaps individually at the sides and bottom edges of the tiled area. With this measurement, you'll be able to cut each customised tiles and fit the gaps.
10. Apply tile adhesive on the gaps.
11. Place the tiles and insert tile spacers in these gaps.
12. Wait for another 24 hours for the adhesive to harden and remove the tile spacers.
13. Spread and push the grout mixture with a trowel into the gaps between the tiles. Make sure that all gaps are filled.
14. Run a piece of dowel along the grout line to give a concave finish.
15. Wait for about 30 minutes before wiping any excess grout mixture from the tiles.
16. To finish, clean the whole surface with a damp sponge.

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• How to tile a wall
• How to cut tiles
• How to tile around difficult places

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