Getting started you may tile over existing tile painted or unpainted drywall plaster and textured walls.
Can you tile on plywood wall.
However tiling over tile can add quite a bit of thickness so make sure your wall can handle the weight.
However tiling onto plywood floors is still acceptable under british standards.
You should not tile over wallpaper glossy surfaces lead paint or plywood.
Stucco wall brick wall stone wall unfinished wall gypsum or plaster unpainted plywood.
If you put tile directly on top of plywood it will chip and break.
Glue called mastic is the least expensive method for installing tiles.
You cannot install tile directly onto plywood because it is not dimensionally stable.
Here is a partial list of dusty and porous surfaces that are not recommended.
To install the concrete board apply tile adhesive to the back then press it down against the plywood.
It is more important as a subfloor than anything else.
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.
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.
Mastic adheres the tile directly to a wooden sub floor to a wooden back splash or onto a piece of plywood.
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.
While tile can be laid on plywood do not install tile directly onto the plywood subfloor itself.
Then you want to install screws into the concrete board in each of the holes.
Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood.