How to prepare this substrate for wall tiles in laundry?

Hey team,

We're in the final stages of our laundry renovation and have some questions about how best to tile the backsplash.

I've removed some previously applied tiles and you can see from below the tile glue etc from where they were.

Of note is that there are two substrates we need to tile over. The property itself is brick with mortar (blue arrow) however the green arrow is a column made of MDF/particleboard.

I'm assuming for us to tile over the mortar area we need to fill the three small holes where the tip of the blue arrow is (this was from removing the previous tiles) with spackle, or do I need to fully mortar those holes?

For the MDF area you can see where removing the previous tiles has ripped off the paint and exposed the MDF substrate itself. Am I going to be OK to prime and paint this area so the tile adhesive is not going to go into the MDF itself?

Any additional advice is appreciated.

Cheers.

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MitchellMc

Hi @dchur,

What size tiles are you using? Anything other than a very small mosaic tile will not be affected by the damage to the wall. Just add a touch more adhesive in those areas. You might like to paint the exposed MDF/chipboard to help prevent moisture uptake prior to tiling the area.

If you do wish to repair the holes, I believe spackle will be fine.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

dchur

Thanks Mitchell as always.

We're looking at the Decor8 Tiles.

MitchellMc

Those tiles will be fine, @dchur. I'd just fill the damaged area with tile glue and allow it to dry. You can then apply the glue and tile over the area. It's just using the glue instead of spackle. You want to try to get the wall as smooth as possible with mosaic tiles, so check the level after filling the voids.

Mitchell

dchur

Thanks @MitchellMc , i've levelled the voids with several layers of the tile adhesive. It's cracked slightly, probably because i put it on too thick, but it's dried fine and will serve as a good base for the tiling.

I do have another question regarding the tiling but it's got a few more components to the question so I'll start a new thread since it's less about the sub-strate like this thread.

Cheers.

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