Hi all
I'm finally getting round to fitting out our ensuite - we've been undertaking a selfbuild over the last few years, and fitting out the ensuite was down the budget/priority list, so has sat full of junk for last 4 years...
Currently the room is as follows:
Walls - 12.5mm plasterboard, dot'n'dabbed to blockwork, and skimmed over
Floor - 22mm moisture resistant chipboard on 450mm centred joists.
One of the walls is supported on a steel I-beam, which is exposed at the bottom of the wall and actually projects out by about 10mm (ie the plasterboard goes down the wall until it sits on top of the steel. The steel sticks out about 5-10mm further than the finished plaster skim, so the bottom 10" or so of wall is actually the open cavity of the steel I-beam, if that makes sense.).
I intend to fit a corner quadrant shower, a sink, and a toilet (I'll probably build some sort of cabinet for that with a concealed cistern inside).
The shower tray will need to be raised up in order to make room for the trap and suitable fall on the pipe - there's no way I can get it through underneath the floorboards. Unfortunately though, the height of the tray will be right in the cavity of the steel I-beam on one wall. (I can't raise the tray any higher as there is limited headroom - I can only just fit the 1850mm enclosure, a 30mm tray, and riser kit in there).
So in order for the tray to have something to butt/seal up to, I'm going to have to put another layer of board over that wall that runs from ceiling right down to the floor, to cover over the cavity of the steel beam.
I also realise now (hindsight is wonderful) that the skimmed plasterboard finish isn't ideal to tile onto...if I was doing it again I'd do it all with Aquapanel.
I think my questions are as follows:
1) What's the best way to build out the wall with the steel at the bottom, in order to cover the steel and provide a complete top-to-bottom tileable surface that I can butt a shower tray up to ? Bearing in mind it's already d'n'd plasterboarded & skimmed above the steel, but the steel lip projects out by 5-10mm or so.
I was thinking of another layer of plasterboard, fixed using dot'n'dabs of adhesive to the existing skimmed plasterboard, to bring it just forward enough to clear the steel beam. And then I could tank over it (see Q 2!)
If I did this, what sort of adhesive would be best to adhere the new plasterboard to the existing plaster skim ?
Was also thinking of the adding some additional support, once the adhesive had set, by means of some countersunk concrete screws right through the boards into the blockwork like these.
2) Can I just tank the other walls ? I believe Mapei do a tanking kit that's suitable for plaster substrate. Would this provide a secure & satisfactory surface to tile onto ?
3) Can I tile directly onto the 22mm moisture resistant chipboard floor ? It feels very solid; I think for the span (think less than 2m), the deep joists at 450mm centres are probably quite over-specced so I don't imagine there'll ever be any movement.
Thanks for reading. Any advice would be great. My first tiling job too
I'm finally getting round to fitting out our ensuite - we've been undertaking a selfbuild over the last few years, and fitting out the ensuite was down the budget/priority list, so has sat full of junk for last 4 years...
Currently the room is as follows:
Walls - 12.5mm plasterboard, dot'n'dabbed to blockwork, and skimmed over
Floor - 22mm moisture resistant chipboard on 450mm centred joists.
One of the walls is supported on a steel I-beam, which is exposed at the bottom of the wall and actually projects out by about 10mm (ie the plasterboard goes down the wall until it sits on top of the steel. The steel sticks out about 5-10mm further than the finished plaster skim, so the bottom 10" or so of wall is actually the open cavity of the steel I-beam, if that makes sense.).
I intend to fit a corner quadrant shower, a sink, and a toilet (I'll probably build some sort of cabinet for that with a concealed cistern inside).
The shower tray will need to be raised up in order to make room for the trap and suitable fall on the pipe - there's no way I can get it through underneath the floorboards. Unfortunately though, the height of the tray will be right in the cavity of the steel I-beam on one wall. (I can't raise the tray any higher as there is limited headroom - I can only just fit the 1850mm enclosure, a 30mm tray, and riser kit in there).
So in order for the tray to have something to butt/seal up to, I'm going to have to put another layer of board over that wall that runs from ceiling right down to the floor, to cover over the cavity of the steel beam.
I also realise now (hindsight is wonderful) that the skimmed plasterboard finish isn't ideal to tile onto...if I was doing it again I'd do it all with Aquapanel.
I think my questions are as follows:
1) What's the best way to build out the wall with the steel at the bottom, in order to cover the steel and provide a complete top-to-bottom tileable surface that I can butt a shower tray up to ? Bearing in mind it's already d'n'd plasterboarded & skimmed above the steel, but the steel lip projects out by 5-10mm or so.
I was thinking of another layer of plasterboard, fixed using dot'n'dabs of adhesive to the existing skimmed plasterboard, to bring it just forward enough to clear the steel beam. And then I could tank over it (see Q 2!)
If I did this, what sort of adhesive would be best to adhere the new plasterboard to the existing plaster skim ?
Was also thinking of the adding some additional support, once the adhesive had set, by means of some countersunk concrete screws right through the boards into the blockwork like these.
2) Can I just tank the other walls ? I believe Mapei do a tanking kit that's suitable for plaster substrate. Would this provide a secure & satisfactory surface to tile onto ?
3) Can I tile directly onto the 22mm moisture resistant chipboard floor ? It feels very solid; I think for the span (think less than 2m), the deep joists at 450mm centres are probably quite over-specced so I don't imagine there'll ever be any movement.
Thanks for reading. Any advice would be great. My first tiling job too
