You should not tile over wallpaper glossy surfaces lead paint or plywood.
Can you tile on plywood wall.
Here is a partial list of dusty and porous surfaces that are not recommended.
If you put tile directly on top of plywood it will chip and break.
Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood.
However tiling over tile can add quite a bit of thickness so make sure your wall can handle the weight.
Under british standards bs 5385 part 1 plywood has now been excluded as a suitable substrate material for the direct fixing of wall tiles therefore when tiling on to walls a tile backer board is required.
While some types of plywood can be used in certain types of tile installations use of the material has limitations.
Mastic adheres the tile directly to a wooden sub floor to a wooden back splash or onto a piece of plywood.
Use thinset with a higher latex content thinset is the wet base that you first trowel on the plywood to make the tile stick.
To install the concrete board apply tile adhesive to the back then press it down against the plywood.
Glue called mastic is the least expensive method for installing tiles.
Then you want to install screws into the concrete board in each of the holes.
For wall installations your real concerns are whether you want to use thinset directly on the wood and whether you are using an exterior or interior type of plywood.
Stucco wall brick wall stone wall unfinished wall gypsum or plaster unpainted plywood.
You cannot install tile directly onto plywood because it is not dimensionally stable.
Since plywood is often used as an underlayment for floor tile some do it yourselfers may believe that it can also be used in shower wall applications.
Getting started you may tile over existing tile painted or unpainted drywall plaster and textured walls.
It is more important as a subfloor than anything else.