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.
.

 

[beanz]

And why you should fit the tray 1st ?
Fit tray and silicone 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.

 

[beanz]

You should be able to wash the emulsion off with a damp sponge.

 

[celt]

OP I know of people who skimmed out and painted bathrooms in a dormer bungalow. Tiled the batrooms and even tiled the slope and not one tile has came loose or fallen off in over 10 years. In theory what you done wasn't perfect but I wouldn't go changing it. I'd take the the paint off that's about it.

 

[IHB]

OP I know of people who skimmed out and painted bathrooms in a dormer bungalow. Tiled the batrooms and even tiled the slope and not one tile has came loose or fallen off in over 10 years. In theory what you done wasn't perfect but I wouldn't go changing it. I'd take the the paint off that's about it.

Bet you don't know anyone that's skimmed cement backer board and tiled on that though.

 

[White Room]

British Gypsum do a cement board that can be shaped to curved wall, had to skim once and the suction was unbelievable, never to be done again....

 

[AMtek]

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.

You could remove the plaster from the cement boards and get your plasterer to render it with rapid setting render (bal do one) but check with the technical department that you can do this as 4-5mm of render may not be enough depth to give it enough strength.

 

[bgatty68]

right now im a DIYer and going to say that before i knew better, i tiled our bathroom 15 years ago and never knew not to paint the walls with an emulsion first but thats what i did and the tiles stayed up for 15 years now did i just get lucky

 

[AMtek]

I have ripped out plenty of bathrooms that have been tiled on to paint but what's the point of taking the risk?

 

[beanz]

I've tiled on paint, and lifting a tile, to pack it out a bit, took all the paint with it! Luckily I hadn't done too much, as it all had to come off.
I generally do the tape test first now, but it still makes me nervous...

 

[destroyer2813]

I hate removing paint worse job going

 

[Stef]

right now im a DIYer and going to say that before i knew better, i tiled our bathroom 15 years ago and never knew not to paint the walls with an emulsion first but thats what i did and the tiles stayed up for 15 years now did i just get lucky

What were the walls, plasterboard or plaster?

 

[bgatty68]

Stef walls were plastered but I must be honest the walls were not painted to the point where you could say ooh nice colour lets leave it, it was very bitty and so maybe just got lucky cos I used ready mixed adhesive as well :sofahide:

 

[Stef]

Stef walls were plastered but I must be honest the walls were not painted to the point where you could say ooh nice colour lets leave it, it was very bitty and so maybe just got lucky cos I used ready mixed adhesive as well :sofahide:

Tubbed addy probably stuck to those walls better than a powder.
I've been to a lot of jobs that have been tiled on top of paint & they have not moved but I've also been to a hell of a lot more that the tiles have come away with minimal of effort.
Same with floors, tiled straight to chipboard & would have lasted another 10yrs but also been to floors that have only lasted a matter of weeks & I've lifted them straight off with a scraper.

 

[Bradma9]

When I worked with a very experienced tiler he had a primer, green in colour that you could put onto paint and then tile straight onto it, has anyone seen this or used it?

 

[J Sid]

When I worked with a very experienced tiler he had a primer, green in colour that you could put onto paint and then tile straight onto it, has anyone seen this or used it?

I work with a plasterer who uses a green primer with a sand/grit in it when he goes over painted walls. Don't know if it is suitable for tiling. Will find out what is called when i see him next.

 

[Bradma9]

I have got some in my lockup so will get the name of it and see what people think.

 

[bgatty68]

Stef,
Since you mention tiling on to floor and i am going to put hardi backer board(6mm) onto mine, can you recommend a good flexible adhesive. I have put a thread up about this but i thought i would ask on here since you brought up the subject cheers

 

[Stef]

I use Weber rapid spf to stick the Hardie down & then stick the tiles down with the same.
If I were you I would use a slow set adhesive Weber spf standard set or Bal spf or one from Mapei, whatever you can get hold of in your area.
Get yourself 25mm turbo gold screws to fix your Hardie once you have skimmed the floor.

 

[IHB]

I work with a plasterer who uses a green primer with a sand/grit in it when he goes over painted walls. Don't know if it is suitable for tiling. Will find out what is called when i see him next.

That's the sort of stuff that I ended up using when I had to skim hardie backer board. You can use it to plaster onto surfaces that don't have enough suction & also helped with Hardie that has way too much suction. Not sure it helps for tiling on to though.