Tiles on plywood in shower area?

[beanz]

Thanks everyone for helpful responses. I asked my Housing Association for this job, because water was coming through to the adjoining bedroom. It seems that the reason for the ingress was poor previous tiling and the water was coming through grout, cracks etc. There are no leaks from the plumbing or the chimney breast plus the wall surface was the wettest on the surface, just under the tiles. That's why I want this to be sorted out once and for all and properly.

One of the walls is the main, brick wall and covered partly with the old plaster (the one that has horse hair in it!) and partially with newer plaster, that is just turning into red sand when you rub it (sorry for my lack of knowledge of proper building terminology!). the other wall was a plasterboard, but it disintegrated when they were taking the tiles off, so it's just a gaping hole with wooden battens to which the other plasterboard (the bedroom's wall) is fixed on the other side. So the hole needs to be closed with something and the other wall needs to be prepared for tiling.

They still haven't arrived, I will be calling my HA now... thanks everyone and if you have any further advice, I would be ever so grateful.

It doesn't matter how good the tiling is, if the whole family are using this shower you're gonna get water ingress sooner or later. Good luck with getting a proper job out of housing assossiation contractors, i know as i too live in an HA property, and am slowly tearing everything out and re-doing it myself lol!

 

[mag]

Workmen came, took away the plywood and brought Hardibacker 250 boards, here's some success.

I have called HA, their surveyor will be coming this afternoon.

Please can you tell me if Hardibacker 250 would do the job, can it be made waterproof (it says that it is only water resistant) and what should be used on it before tiling?

The works are now halted until the HA surveyor has seen it etc. I turned to this forum because of my experience with HA contractors; you have to be one step ahead of them or you will be tearing your hair out again very soon. It's great to know people (such as this forum members) are ready to help even though they do have work to do!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Workmen came, took away the plywood and brought Hardibacker 250 boards, here's some success.

I have called HA, their surveyor will be coming this afternoon.

Please can you tell me if Hardibacker 250 would do the job, can it be made waterproof (it says that it is only water resistant) and what should be used on it before tiling?

The works are now halted until the HA surveyor has seen it etc. I turned to this forum because of my experience with HA contractors; you have to be one step ahead of them or you will be tearing your hair out again very soon. It's great to know people (such as this forum members) are ready to help even though they do have work to do!

Thanks everyone!

The hardibacker is a good sign Mag :hurray: one hurdle down... how many to go :lol: adding tanking to hardibacker may be a bit of overkill, but I'm sure the guys on here will say if it's worth doing.

Glad we could be of some help to you Mag. I found this place as a DIYer almost 12 months ago, and now you can't get me away from the forum.

Let's hope the surveryor knows what he's doing and gets the right materials for the job

 

[mag]

Girlracerred, I am learning a lot fom this forum and it is good to see the rlook on the faces of these contractor guys when I actually specify to them what I want and what I don't want, even if it takes a bit of bluffing on my part... Yep, women don't get much credit from some tradesmen.

Ideally I would like to be able to do everything myself, maybe I'll take up DIY when I retire, as no time for that now... Though I have become quite good in painting and decorating.:smilewinkgrin:

Thanks again.

 

[Matt]

Hardibacker is definitely a good sign. With having 6 people in your family, IMHO, tanking is a must. You can get either a tanking (waterproofing) paste or a membrane. That will stop any water from going through to the hardi boards.

"Water Resistant" just means that water will not break down the hardibacker like it did the plasterboard, but can still pass through it. Hence the need for tanking.

 

[CON5933]

BS5385 states: "It is essential to tile onto an already water-resistant background. Sand/cement render, dense concrete or water-resistant tile backer board are ideal backgrounds. Plaster, plasterboard, timber and timber-based products such as MDF or plywood are absorbent and should be made waterproof by the use of a waterproofing or tanking system."