I am re-doing my bathroom. The existing walls surrounding the bath are tiled. There is a half meter high band of white tiles, 3 high, above the bath and then large mirror tiles above that to the ceiling. The thing is, the white tiles are bedded onto 18mm of cement sticking out from the wall (the mirror tiles are stuck on normally).I suppose the idea of the cement was to build the wall out over the bath because of the shower?
I know I could have tiled over the tiles, but there are several reasons for not wanting to do that: first, I think it would look stupid for the tiles to stick out even further than they already do: second, the new bath will be 750mm wide compared to the existing 700mm: third, I don't know if the new bath would fit under this band of cement. Oh yes, and forth, a mate of mine who has virtually built his own house said "get rid of the tiles".
Anyway, I have started to remove the tiles from the bottom of the bath area and the tiles have come off, but the cement is left behind. This is a real nightmare to chip off and, in places, is taking the original plaster off as well. Also, the window recess which was also tiled onto cement, is cracking up and will need to be replaced.
Any suggestions for how to remove the cement without taking the original plaster as well and, whats the best stuff to use to repair the wall where the original plaster has come away? I do not want to re-plaster as that would mean waiting 4 weeks for it to dry before I can tile and replace the bath and this is my only bathroom.
Any ideas on how to tackle this job would be gratefully received.
I know I could have tiled over the tiles, but there are several reasons for not wanting to do that: first, I think it would look stupid for the tiles to stick out even further than they already do: second, the new bath will be 750mm wide compared to the existing 700mm: third, I don't know if the new bath would fit under this band of cement. Oh yes, and forth, a mate of mine who has virtually built his own house said "get rid of the tiles".
Anyway, I have started to remove the tiles from the bottom of the bath area and the tiles have come off, but the cement is left behind. This is a real nightmare to chip off and, in places, is taking the original plaster off as well. Also, the window recess which was also tiled onto cement, is cracking up and will need to be replaced.
Any suggestions for how to remove the cement without taking the original plaster as well and, whats the best stuff to use to repair the wall where the original plaster has come away? I do not want to re-plaster as that would mean waiting 4 weeks for it to dry before I can tile and replace the bath and this is my only bathroom.
Any ideas on how to tackle this job would be gratefully received.