Some Guidance and Advice if you can help please?

Riverside · Dec 10, 2011

Hello Everyone,

I've read lots and lots of the advice and posts here, there are some amazing guides and so much effort has been put in by many posters.
Thanks everyone, I joined up after reading lots because I just cant get "THE" answer to my tiling job.

I am trying to help my wifes elderly uncle, He's getting on and his bathroom needs as spruce up and a shower installed so he wont have to climb into the bath. This job is free gratis by the way just incase anyone thinks I'm trying to make money of an elderly gent.

The bathroom is half tiled on the walls with butt jointed 6"x6" square white tiles but the rough painted plaster on the wall above them juts out and over the level of the top tile not much just 10mm. Lots of these tiles are loose and cracked etc.

So my plan for his bathroom is to remove all old tiles and then install new wc pan, basin and shower pan & enclosure. Tile half walls around and full walls in enclosure.

So my issues are:

I will cutting a channel in a block on edge wall to carry the water pipe and electric cable for the shower, I will set this out so that it is in the centre of a tile when I'm finished but how to close of the channel I have created?
Do I render it? I cant really wait three weeks for it to dry out.
Do I use plastering mesh and polyfilla?
Do I use a strip of marine ply well screwed into block?

Where this lip of plasterwork is over the half tiled area it will leave me with a big step in the area of the walls I want to tile all the wayto the ceiling behind the shower. How to deal with this? I cant really render it as I dont have three weeks to let it dry?
The old tiles on this area are in good nick, If I tiled tile over tile in the shower area I wouldnt have the lip to deal with?
Do I remove the tiles and fit marine ply of the same thickness as the old tiles and then tile over?
Do I use some sort of tile backer board on the lower area?

Any thoughts?

Riverside · Dec 11, 2011

any thoughts, anybody? This problem has my head wreaked, I'll post pics tomorrow if at all possible.

nybor62 · Dec 11, 2011

pics would help, you could strip all the old tiles and plaster of the walls then board out with plaster board dot and dab , i would also tank the walls as well

Ian · Dec 11, 2011

As above, a couple of pics of the area you are tackling would help us advise you correctly.

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CJ CERAMICS · Dec 11, 2011

personally i would be in favour of stripping it all back also and reboarding.

chris

Alan.P · Dec 12, 2011

As above, it will be a better job ( clean pallet ) if you can strip it off and d and d plasterboard, tank the wet area's, we an go into more detail about that later on, lets get up and running first.

Riverside · Dec 12, 2011

Hello Everyone, Thanks ever so much for the replys.

I couldnt see the wood from the trees if you get me. The problem was bigger in my head than on the wall if you get me!

The lip of render is much smaller than I thought, as you can see from the photo it stops short of the window sill so I am just going to chop a new dado line at window sill level all the way round and the area that will become my shower I'll chop back to the ceiling.

Where I am removing tile from near the top the render is breaking off any ways so this will be much neater and quicker than trying to keep to the old level.

When I got to the job today, I start stripping loose tiles to see what sub surface I had, some tiles fell off into my hand while others I had to beat off the wall.
Really strange as you will see from the photos, some of the tile addy, the brown colour where I had to beat the tiles off while the other surface is block like there was no addy at all, they really did fall off. I going to reuse these whole tiles to make a splash back in his kitchen with some old mosaic border tiles that I have left from my own bathrooms, and save him a few bob as well!

You can hear massive hollow noise when you tap tap in different areas so i'd say 60% of the tiles that are left on the walls are not attached to the wall at all the grout is all that is holding them together.

What causes this please?
And how do I make sure my retiling wont fail like these did?
How would you deal with the block surface and the little holes and old addy etc, the block surface is much more level than I had dared hope.

I should clean and remove all loose material from the walls. right?
then I can prep the sureface with a proper bonding agent. right?
then I can fill in 10-15mm holes and all the depressions with tile addy and let that set up hard. right?
then I should I bond again on my now new level surface?
then proceed to tile the walls?

Alan.P · Dec 12, 2011

OK, Mmmmm, where to start, the fact that you have tile addy not bonding to wall or not bonding to tile, along with the hollow sounding tiles, leaves one option, all have been said above, strip the lot, re-board and sleep easy, what your proposing is a recipe for another failure in my humble opinion, it will be just as quick, if not quicker, give you a brand new shet and most of all piece of mind.

My 2penneth

As to the cause of the failures you have now, hard to say from pics, could be a variety of reasons.

Riverside · Dec 13, 2011

Hi Alan P.,

I think it really is the only sure way to go, I will be the black sheep of the family in a few years if the tiles jump off the walls from future dampness.
It will be safest and best in the long run.

I am going to be use the best materials i can afford within his limited funds.
I am going to use MR plasterboard all over the bathroom, aquastrap and a tile membrane for the walls behind the shower. A full tanking kit is just way outside the limit.

Dont be horrifed with me but when I started tiling in my own house doing the ensuite shower room, bath room and downstairs toilet, NO ONE had told me about tanking, membrane, bonding agent or anything. This was 7 years ago in a new build.

I used marine ply for the floors well screwed down with flex addy. But when it came to the shower I just scratched the surface of the normal plasterboard and tiled away.

They havn't moved and I have never had any leaks but when I think of what could happen I get shivers.

Alan.P · Dec 13, 2011

Tanking kits a relatively cheap nowadays.

Riverside · Dec 13, 2011

Hi Alan P, about 120 euro is the lowest price I was given today. I got 2 square meters of membrane for 60 euros and the aquastrap was just 30 the guy gave me 10% off as well so fair play to him he saved me 9 euro and every little helps as asda says.

I'm going to post more pics of my efforts tomorrow and let you see whats happening. Cheers for the interest.

Ian · Dec 13, 2011

It's Tesco mate! 🙂

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Alan.P · Dec 13, 2011

Euro's, where are you based / working ?

Riverside · Dec 14, 2011

Hi Bri, My bad lol!

Alan P. I'm in the Cork Harbour area of Ireland, mate. i'll post new pics tomorrow, very long day.

Riverside · Dec 19, 2011

Hello All,

Please excuse the delay in posting back, work had been paused due to late delivery of item by B&Q.

The beggars still havnt delivered the shower enclosure so I will have to temp reattached the old rail somhow when I finish for over the xmas.

I have posted some pics of my own por efforts of tiling in the own work topic if anyone wants to have a gander.

I'll post proper pics of the main job as I get a chance.

Cheers.

Riverside · Dec 22, 2011

The job is going well should be more or less finish tomorrow I'll post pics and describe the journey, and I mean the journey, the room has fought me every step of the day.