Recovering from tiles on plasterboard that moisture has penetrated through to - Tile Advice

[EalingBadger]

The bottom two lines of tiles - well 5 out of 8 out them anyway - are loose as a result of water ingress.

The tiles were applied to plasterboard - the top paper surface of which has largely come away with the first tile that has been removed so far and I would expect similar with the other tiles that need to be removed and reattached as well.

See picture.

The exposed plaster surface is mildly damp but otherwise looks okay.

I have been researching adhesives (thanks tilersforum.com contributors) and also know that I need to user a proper primer to reattach the tiles.


Once the plasterboard has dried out can I reattach the tiles to it?

I am really REALLY keen to avoid having to replace the plasterboard itself as that turns what is already a PITA job into one several orders of magnitude more involved.

How long should I allow the plasterboard to dry out for? (I know this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Sorry.)

 

[mattconway1984]

Don't ever tile onto broken plasterboard!!!!!!!

This plasterboard has lost all its structural integrity; if you tile onto it:

1. The same problem (water ingress) will start occuring in a matter of months, possibly years before visual defects start to become noticeable.
2. The whole wall of tiles wall simply fall off the wall (plasterboard is only able to hold a certain weight, approx 30kg/square meter and that's for board in perfect structural condition).


Sorry - but the real problem here is that your shower enclosure has been bodged -- You'll need to remove the enclosure, all your tiles, and the plasterboard. Then you'll need to either:

1. get some new plasterboard, fit it to the walls, get a waterproofing kit (mapei shower waterproofing kit), then stick your tiles on.
2. get some backerboard (i.e. hardiboard) and some fibreglass tape, fix t to the walls, apply waterproofing tape and then stick your tiles on.


If you don't waterproof your shower enclosure (it's called "tanking"), then water will leak through your enclosure and soak the walls behind.... By the way, this will also more than likely be (very slowly) damaging the structural integrity of your house by rotting any wooden floor joists.


Most DIYers think that by simply having tiles, grout and sealant, you get a nice waterproof enclosure ---- THIS IS NOT TRUE!!! As shown by your photos posted above.

 

[EalingBadger]

Grateful for your advice.

Yes, the real problem is that the shower has been bodged.

I am now faced with bodging in a repair (something that runs counter to every fibre of my being) in the hope that it will last a few months (I expect no more) until a proper fix can be afforded.

 

[mattconway1984]

Sure --- My advice if you're only wanting it to last for a short term fix would be to just stick it back in place: Get yourself a bag of decent flexible adhesive (something like Mapei Kerraquick), mix up a small bowl, paste it on the back of the tile, stick it back on and hope it doesn't fall off again until you rip the whole thing out and do it properly.... Save bothering yourself extra time mixing up grout, just use the adhesive for grout; its a short term fix.

Seriously though, you need to fix it properly ASAP.... Worst case (and it happened to me when I lived in a very poorly maintained rental property many years ago), is that the ceiling in the floor below soaks up leaked water and literally falls down (ours sagged down a whole 2ft into the room below) before they called in a tradesman to come and fix it!

 

[EalingBadger]

Sure --- My advice if you're only wanting it to last for a short term fix would be to just stick it back in place: Get yourself a bag of decent flexible adhesive (something like Mapei Kerraquick), mix up a small bowl, paste it on the back of the tile, stick it back on and hope it doesn't fall off again until you rip the whole thing out and do it properly.... Save bothering yourself extra time mixing up grout, just use the adhesive for grout; its a short term fix.

Seriously though, you need to fix it properly ASAP.... Worst case (and it happened to me when I lived in a very poorly maintained rental property many years ago), is that the ceiling in the floor below soaks up leaked water and literally falls down (ours sagged down a whole 2ft into the room below) before they called in a tradesman to come and fix it!

It is largely because of "tradesmen" that the shower (and the rest of the unit TBH) is in such a state in the first place.

Sick of paying for shoddy work I, as the landlord, am now trying to do something about it and put right all of the indignities visited upon the property in recent years.

Doubtless many will be wondering how I have allowed such things to come about? Well the answer is that I live 300 miles away and I have therfore relied on letting agents to manage the property on my behalf. Apparently, they either don't know any better or don't care when it comes to checking work commissioned by them before payment is made.

As somebody that has also tried hard to keep properties maintained to the highest possible standard it comes as a great disappointment to see that others paid to get things sorted on my behalf have not been holding up their end of the bargain.

 

[Dave]

Looking at that cracked grout on the bottom row, a few tiles are de-bonded and need to be removed as water will get in and make the substrate worse..

 

[EalingBadger]

Looking at that cracked grout on the bottom row, a few tiles are de-bonded and need to be removed as water will get in and make the substrate worse..

Yes, since that picture was taken I have removed them - a total of six tiles in all.

It was the cracked grout that alerted me to the need to investigate further.