I'll be grateful for some advice on re-tiling a bathroom prior to
fitting a new bathroom suite.

Current, the wall at the back and foot of the bath is tiled right up to
the ceiling; that at the head of the bath and behind the WC and hand
basin to a height of 1.2m, as is the "return" on the side of the hand
basin. Most of the existing tiles are sound but there's a large area
behind the bath, roughly corresponding to the area where the spray from
the power shower hits, where they appear to be blown - they have a
hollow ring when tapped. My intention is to put the new bathroom
fittings in the same position as the existing ones and to tile roughly
the same area of each wall.

I propose to lever off all the lose/blown tiles. If the underlying
plaster is sound the plan is to re-fix them using a waterproof tile
adhesive. If it is not, then I'll hack off the old plaster and skim up
to the level of the existing tiles. But I want to try to avoid
re-plastering the whole wall if possible.

Questions a
1. Does the above plan of action above seem about right?
2. If re-plastering part of the wall behind the bath is found to be
necessary what is the best medium to use?
3. Where the existing tiles are sound, what is the best way to
prepare them as a base for the new ones?
4. Is it necessary or desirable to use a special adhesive and/or
grout in the area that will take the spray from the power
shower, other than the normal waterproof stuff. If so, what?
4. What is the best way of dealing with the "double thickness" of
tiles the I will end up with on the exposed edges of the splash
back (e.g. behind the loo and basin) given that the standard
edging strip is designed for a single tile thickness. Do I use
this and pack the gap behind with grout?

When it comes to fitting the new bath, what are people's thoughts on
whether it is better to fit the bath first and tile around it, or tile
first and fit the bath to the tiles?

Many thanks for your help.

Ververka

Cheltenham, Glos

Lisci wrote:
I'll be grateful for some advice on re-tiling a bathroom prior to
fitting a new bathroom suite.

Current, the wall at the back and foot of the bath is tiled right up to
the ceiling; that at the head of the bath and behind the WC and hand
basin to a height of 1.2m, as is the "return" on the side of the hand
basin. Most of the existing tiles are sound but there's a large area
behind the bath, roughly corresponding to the area where the spray from
the power shower hits, where they appear to be blown - they have a
hollow ring when tapped. My intention is to put the new bathroom
fittings in the same position as the existing ones and to tile roughly
the same area of each wall.

I propose to lever off all the lose/blown tiles. If the underlying
plaster is sound the plan is to re-fix them using a waterproof tile
adhesive. If it is not, then I'll hack off the old plaster and skim up
to the level of the existing tiles. But I want to try to avoid
re-plastering the whole wall if possible.

Questions a
1. Does the above plan of action above seem about right?

yep, it all sounds pretty reasonable

2. If re-plastering part of the wall behind the bath is found to be
necessary what is the best medium to use?

nothing special, just standard plaster/finishing plaster will be OK

3. Where the existing tiles are sound, what is the best way to
prepare them as a base for the new ones?

personally I'd take off all the tiles, I've never seen a good all round
finish where this bodge is applied. Especially if the tiles come up to
window or door frames.

4. Is it necessary or desirable to use a special adhesive and/or
grout in the area that will take the spray from the power
shower, other than the normal waterproof stuff. If so, what?

Any decent waterproof tile adhesive, with a similar quality grout is
adequate, I've not had any problems using them over a 10 year period. If you
have nay doubts then the belt and braces approach is to use an adhesive
that is recommended for swimming pool use.

4. What is the best way of dealing with the "double thickness" of
tiles the I will end up with on the exposed edges of the splash
back (e.g. behind the loo and basin) given that the standard
edging strip is designed for a single tile thickness. Do I use
this and pack the gap behind with grout?


As above, I'm not a fan of tiles over tiles. Get an SDS drill and remove the
lot, it's far more fun.

When it comes to fitting the new bath, what are people's thoughts on
whether it is better to fit the bath first and tile around it, or tile
first and fit the bath to the tiles?

Conventional wisdom says to put in the bath in first and then tile down to
it, so that you make sure there is minimal chance of any leaks down the side
of the bath.

Having said that I recently refitted the bathroom and did exactly the
opposite. Tiling the wall first and then putting in the bath later. In this
case the tiles were relatively think, about 12mm, and tiling down would have
looked terrible, in my opinion, with only a narrow strip of the bath top
remaining visible. Copious quantities of silicon were used when the bath was
butted up against the wall and the bath was screwed securely in place to
ensure no movement. Then it was finished off with silicone around the edge.
This certainly requires a little more effort and care to be taken, but the
result looks a lot better than tiling down would have down. The bath gets
fairly heavy usage with a couple of showers every morning and bathing three
kids in the evenings, and has stood up to this happily for the last 9 months.

cheers

David

Take the lot off it only takes 1/2 a day.

if the rottenm bit is plas board renew it, if it's plaster on brick or block bring up level with sand and cement or bonding. In wet areas I prefer sand and cement.

If wall are really bad dot and dab with plastreboard and tile over that.

Put bath in first, chase out wall where it will sit, put and glue it in with expanding foam. Cut it back 2 days later. Tile over top of bath.

BAsin and wc tile wall first, bed basin against it with white silicon sealer, and trim it with silicon also. Modern close coupled wc sits quite well just resting against tiles.

I can't answer tthe questions relating how to deal with tile over tile part as I've never done it.