Hi.
I have an issue with water ingress at the bottom of our shower cubicle. Over time, the grout has cracked and water has got in under the tiles. Despite re grouting a couple of times over the last couple of years, the cracks have reappeared.
I've removed the bottom two rows of tiles, to find that the water has soaked through and disintegrated the plasterboard underneath (standard plasterboard was used by the house builders - god bless Bovis Homes). The plasterboard under the tiles, above the area I've removed appears to be structurally sound, so I'd like to avoid removing any more if at all possible.
Everything is now bone dry as it's been left like this for three weeks. Here's what I'm looking at at the moment:
As you can see, the water has slowly discoloured the stud frame also (but the wood is now dry and solid). I'd rather not hand over a grand to a builder to come in and tear down the three walls and replace the whole lot, so I'm wondering if it's possible to shore this up and get it repaired to a decent standard. I'm not looking to do it on the cheap, I want to get some sort of long term fix in.
So my thinking is, now I've removed the offending tiled area as you can see, I was planning to:
1. Add two horizontal wood joists behind the middles of where the two replacement rows of tiles will go, to add stability and reduce the potential for future movement.
2. Install bathroom friendly plasterboard to replace the area that's rotted.
3. Re-tile on top of the new plasterboard, re grout and seal along the bottom and edges.
I assume the sensible thing would be to rip the whole lot out and replace, but financially that's a bit too painful!
So my question is, will this work? Anything else to consider, or any alternative ideas that won't challenge my limited DIY skills too much? Should I take another row of tiles out to be sure?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
T
I have an issue with water ingress at the bottom of our shower cubicle. Over time, the grout has cracked and water has got in under the tiles. Despite re grouting a couple of times over the last couple of years, the cracks have reappeared.
I've removed the bottom two rows of tiles, to find that the water has soaked through and disintegrated the plasterboard underneath (standard plasterboard was used by the house builders - god bless Bovis Homes). The plasterboard under the tiles, above the area I've removed appears to be structurally sound, so I'd like to avoid removing any more if at all possible.
Everything is now bone dry as it's been left like this for three weeks. Here's what I'm looking at at the moment:
As you can see, the water has slowly discoloured the stud frame also (but the wood is now dry and solid). I'd rather not hand over a grand to a builder to come in and tear down the three walls and replace the whole lot, so I'm wondering if it's possible to shore this up and get it repaired to a decent standard. I'm not looking to do it on the cheap, I want to get some sort of long term fix in.
So my thinking is, now I've removed the offending tiled area as you can see, I was planning to:
1. Add two horizontal wood joists behind the middles of where the two replacement rows of tiles will go, to add stability and reduce the potential for future movement.
2. Install bathroom friendly plasterboard to replace the area that's rotted.
3. Re-tile on top of the new plasterboard, re grout and seal along the bottom and edges.
I assume the sensible thing would be to rip the whole lot out and replace, but financially that's a bit too painful!
So my question is, will this work? Anything else to consider, or any alternative ideas that won't challenge my limited DIY skills too much? Should I take another row of tiles out to be sure?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
T