Absolute novice to tiling is attempting shower room, where to start ??

[Warleyboy71]

Hi all,

Having my first attempt at tiling the shower room.
As you can see from the pics, ive boarded it throughout and a mate has skimmed it for me.
Got my level for first tiles and have battoned out.
But where do i start, ive checked lots of sites and watched loadsa videos, with lots of different opinions.
As my shower going in corner, do i put full tiles from right and work left or find centre of wall and have small cuts either side.
How do i work around the rest of the walls making it look easy on the eye.All of shower enclosure to be tiled with rest of room going 5 tiles up to just where paint begins
Any advice would be really appreciated.
.

 

[steve187]

are you tiling the floor?
painted walls, plastered cement board = NO

you should of asked for advice before starting, most plasterers know nothing about tiling. take the advice at post #15

 

[Stef]

Yep, very fine skim, plasterer done it before..
guys any input on where to start placing tiles, I would just like to know where would be an ideal starting point, and how to tile to make it look gooood. Cheers

I would start placing tiles on your kitchen walls or floor as that shower room ain't fit to accept any tiles yet.
Start again & spend a little money just now on prep or its going to cost a lot more if you start fixing tiles.

 

[Warleyboy71]

Ok, what are you all goin on about.
All I've done is paint the plastered walls with emulsion.
Ive added an acrylic bonding agent for tiling area.
why on earth are the tiles going to come off.
i have tubbed adhesive for tiles.
the acqua board which has been skimmed 4 weeks is absolutely fine, with no plaster even showing any signs of cracking or blemish.
why have I not prepped correctly, are you telling me tiles will not go onto a painted wall ?..

I have just asked for a little advice, no sarcasm please, it don't help me in completing my project.

 

[J Sid]

Its not the 1st of April already is it?

 

[The D]

My comment was a tad sarcastic and I will try and refrain from being obtuse but you have had bad advice with regards to your preparation and I do not feel it would be conducive to a good outcome to offer any advice on how to proceed with the installation until the preparation errors have been rectified.

 

[thompsonbrown]

Hi all,

Having my first attempt at tiling the shower room.
As you can see from the pics, ive boarded it throughout and a mate has skimmed it for me.
Got my level for first tiles and have battoned out.
But where do i start, ive checked lots of sites and watched loadsa videos, with lots of different opinions.
As my shower going in corner, do i put full tiles from right and work left or find centre of wall and have small cuts either side.
How do i work around the rest of the walls making it look easy on the eye.All of shower enclosure to be tiled with rest of room going 5 tiles up to just where paint begins
Any advice would be really appreciated.
. View attachment 55589 View attachment 55590 View attachment 55588 View attachment 55591

When setting out your wall tiles, treat each wall as an individual wall, find centre and draw a line top to bottom left to right.
Each wall will now have cross drawn on them.
Using your wall tile hold it on the verticle line measure out how many full tiles you can fit into the corner of the wall left to right.
If you find holding your tile upto the line leaves a small slither of tile in the corners, then find centre of the tile make a pencil mark and place this on the vertical line. do the same top to bottom. Splitting each wall into 4 will give you a better understanding on where to start. and after this is worked out run a battern round the room for the second tile up remove battern then cut your bottom tile in.
You can tile the room out first if you leave bottom row of tiles out before fitting tray.
All I am doing is trying to give advice on the questions you asked. The other guys do have valid points you should consider before tiling.

 

[Gazzer]

Tiling onto "cheap emulsion " ?? take a sponge to it and wash it off.....dont believe me ? Here was one I did last year when client painted the walls ?? Can you understand now why you shouldnt hang tiles on a painted wall now ?

 

[beanz]

Ok, what are you all goin on about.
All I've done is paint the plastered walls with emulsion.
Ive added an acrylic bonding agent for tiling area.
why on earth are the tiles going to come off.
i have tubbed adhesive for tiles.
the acqua board which has been skimmed 4 weeks is absolutely fine, with no plaster even showing any signs of cracking or blemish.
why have I not prepped correctly, are you telling me tiles will not go onto a painted wall ?..

I have just asked for a little advice, no sarcasm please, it don't help me in completing my project.

You're being given LOTS of very good advice, and choosing to ignore it. The whole point of using cement boards, is that they don't deteriorate when wet. So if water gets behind the tiles, the instillation won't fail! The plaster has completely negated that. It's also not a suitable substrate for plastering, as already said... There was no need to skim the walls to begin with!?! Plasterboard is a good surface to tile onto (unless the boards were all over the place, and needed bonding out first?)...

Paint.... Shouldn't be tiled on, because the only thing taking the weight, is now a thin layer of paint, rather than the plaster.

Good luck with it anyway

 

[Bathfix Bob]

You have made every mistake there is to make and a tile hasn't even been laid yet, which donkey told you the tray goes in after tiling?

The same one who recommends that tile adhesive sticks better to paint or skim?

 

[Gazzer]

And why you should fit the tray 1st ?
Fit tray and Silicon the area where tray meets wall...SEALED !, Tank the wall, slightly overlaping tray. Extra insurance against water damage !. Tile walls with Cement based adhesive and then seal the gap between tile and tray again. Sorted.
Why not to use tubbed adhesive ?

 

[beanz]

And why you should fit the tray 1st ?
Fit tray and Silicon the area where tray meets wall...SEALED !, Tank the wall, slightly overlaping tray. Extra insurance against water damage !. Tile walls with Cement based adhesive and then seal the gap between tile and tray again. Sorted.
Why not to use tubbed adhesive ?
View attachment 55604 View attachment 55605

Neale, you think he's going to be tanking? Did you read the rest of this thread!?! :lol:

 

[Gazzer]

You can only advise ! after all , and I quote the OP "Absolute novice to tiling is attempting shower room", asking professionals who freely give their advice yet what more can we do?

 

[Warleyboy71]

Do appreciate the advice, aint got a problem rectifying what will make a sound job, but initially wasn't explanations as to why I should not tile, just sarcastic remarks.
Ok, so now I realise I only needed top half of wall plastering, to late now and advised badly.
so if I remove skim off aqua board and scrub down to plaster on painted walls, this will benefit my tiles staying on. Also when I meant leaving the tray until last, I meant just leaving the lower tiles out, so I don't have to work around the tray.
again thanks for the help.

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Yes Warleyboy we are on the right lines now..........don't forget tile adhesive comes in two kinds ready mixed and powered. Powdered is cement based and is what professionals use, it wont break down in water like water based ready mixed does.

Powdered dries by chemical reaction while ready mixed dries by evaporation through the grout joins hence why is no real use for anything other than kitchen splashbacks with small tiles.

You can put the tray in last as I do, providing the tray is sealed to the tanking. At the very least you need to get rid of the emulsion under any tiles area and tank the shower area...as for the skim over the cement board? I don't know.......I once skimmed over some old cement board where a bathroom was being moved in my own house...the old shower is now a boiler room and the plaster did hold but its not a wet area. Ideally remove it but as said you will have a step causing you more problems.

Yes....overlap tanking onto tray so it falls just behind the tile.

 

[Warleyboy71]

Thanks bob, yea step will be a problem when I remove skim.
any idea wht is best way to remove emulsion, sanding ???
honestly unsure of tanking, just read a little on google about it, there is a kit on here recommended, might give that a try.
will take back my crappy adhesive recommended at tile choice and buy the cement based.
thanks again, wish I'd of known before plasterer had started.
ah well, learning curve and all that.