large bathroom wall tiles on damaged and uneven surface.

[900se]

Hi,

A minor DIY job is turning major for a tiling newbie. I wonder if some folks can help.

I have a bath in the corner of a small bathroom. The tiles are old and damaged and the plan was to just replace them.

I tried removing the ones at the top end of the bath but the wall appears to have water damage from old leaks and splashes. As the tiles came off, the backing plaster came away - and the plasterboard behind started collaping in parts too. Most of the tiles are off not - except for the last column of cut tiles against the corner.

I pulled one tile from the wall along the side of the bath and it doesn't look water damaged - though the tile adhesive used is pulling the plaster and top layer of the plasterboard away.

So.... The idea is to use something like marine ply to cover the damaged wall at the head of the bath - and tile over this (using an appropriate adhesive or sealant for the ply.

For the long wall, I was hoping to tile over the old tiles. However, on examination, that wall is very uneven. The worst being the last (rightmost) row of existing tiles that has the rightmost edge of the tile sitting back about 7-8mm further than the leftmost edge of the tile.

Any advise of the best way to prepare the existing tiles? There is room to put some kind of baton at the edge of the tiling to bring it 'out'. Will adhesive allow the tiles to "float" over the dips?

We hope to use large tiles (750mm x 400mm). Would these be easier or more troublesome in these circumstances?

Thanks

 

[gcol]

The larger the tile, the flatter the surface needs to be. I'd recommend ripping out the tiles and plasterboard and replacing it with new plasterboard so it's nice and flat. Then tile straight onto this (no skimming required). This can be done quicker and easier that you might think.

 

[Jasonb]

I'm with gcol rip the plasterboard off complete with tiles still attatched.

If its just a bath then replasterboard, if you have a shower over the bath then think about aquapanel and or tanking. Don't use ply as it moves with changes in humidity.

The existing skimmed plasterboard will only support 20kg/m2 so two layers of tile and two lots of adhesive will be over the limit anyway as your large format tiles are likely to be 8-10mm thick.

Jason

 

[900se]

Thanks for the tips guys. Time to learn how to replace plasterboard.....

 

[900se]

Just a thought....

I've seen various panels that can be used instead of tiling. Some are cheap PVC and dont look too nice - and others "Mermaid" and "wetwall" look great but cost a fortune. Any suggestions on something inbetween?

Thanks