My 1972 bathroom has ceramic tile half way up the walls and completely surrounding the tub enclosure to the ceiling. I'm having tub surround installed and also want to get rid of the tiles on the other walls, replacing them with wainscotting. Is there an easy way to remove the tiles (I tried to remove some & am taking great gouges out of the plaster behind the tiles). Can wainscotting be glued over the tiles instead of removing them.
Answer:
In other rooms yes, you can glue wood to tiles but the bathroom deals with atmospheric humidity levels that fluctuate too much. Wood is basically like a sponge and it will soak up the moisture and then expand. I don't know that you'll find an adhesive that will be able to keep up with it. In short, wood doesn't really belong in the bathroom. There are too many other materials that can be used with greater success. Removing tiles in cases like this usually entails re-drywalling the surfaces they were removed from.
