Tiling shower

[joec_85]

Hi guys,

I know it's an old favourite and, having read through most of the posts on the subject and the tiling sticky, I'm 99% sure I know how to proceed but there are a couple of points I wanted to confirm

I'm also young and inexperienced (so far) so go easy on me - thanks chaps

Anyway, I've pulled out the old shower from it's enclosure. It's taken the back plasterboard with it (I've also removed the insulation as it had got wet and mouldy). To the left is a plasterboard that is fairly intact and to the right there is a (external) wall which has a thin layer of plaster and lots of adhesive left on it. Now, as I removed the tiles from that wall, the thin layer of plaster started to come away in places leaving me with a hard (cement?) render underneath.

You will also see that the plasterboard on the left has been cut away at the bottom. I believe that is because the tray that was installed was 760mm, whereas the enclosure is only 750mm wide so the builders cut into the plaster board, slotted the tray in and then inserted a 'slither' of board above it.

The new tray that we want to install is 1200x760 so it comes quite a lot further towards the camera than the existing one (to the edge of the window-sill on the right of the left-hand photograph).

So my question is:

With regards to getting a good finish for tiling, the tiling sticky said that a decent, flat surface was required. It seems logical, given its water-resistant properties, to use Aquapanel for the back wall rather than plasterboard - so that seems like a straightforward case of using ceramic-headed screws to screw it into the studs.

With the wall on the right, would you have a plasterer skim it first or can you just make up the space difference with a cement adhesive, straight onto the render? Obviously I'll remove the rest of the old adhesive first either way.

I've seen tanking highly recommended but I guess I'd need to do this onto a plaster finish rather than directly onto the render?

Finally, on the left, I'm going to have to remove some more of the yellow-painted plasterboard at the bottom as I'll face the same problem that the original builders faced. Is it necessary to remove that entire board and replace with Aquapanels? It seems a shame as it's in fairly good condition. I understand that if I leave it I can just sand the paint down to a decent key and then apply tanking over the top of it...

Once I have all the surfaces good to go I plan to apply BAL WP1 tanking and then use a suitable powder-based adhesive and grout (suggestions welcome - I've read that BAL stuff is, again, particularly good).

Finally, if I was going to replace the vinyl lino on the floor, I presume I'd do it first so that it sits under the edge of the new tray?

Thanks again guys, sorry if any of this is obvious

 

[tilerman]

Hi, yep, change that plasterboard for Aquapanel, easy job and the right way. No need to tank, just use a decent sticky, can't go wrong with BAL. The right hand wall,make sure the rest of skim is firmly attached to render. If its not remove. You can't beat tiling straight onto render,solid, just use a good powder sticky. RE the yellow painted wall on right, put a level line up where the screen/tray will be, and take off paint/plaster up to this line exposing the render. Do not tile onto paint. All a bit more effort, but right and correct.

One other thing, always make sure tray is solid, no movement, if there is and it pulls away from tiles you will get leaks. To overcome any potential problems i talk customer into using AquaSeal where tiles meet tray. Not everyones cup of tea but if fitted neatly with nice mitres, solves potential problems. Thats how i would do it anyhow! Ta ta