Help with awkward-shaped bathroom

[Minnie]

Hello

Hoping to get some good advice here. I'm attempting to do my first ever tiling job, and now that I'm unemployed, on a tight budget so can't afford plasterers etc.

It's a council house just over 100 years old and it looks like the current tiles have been placed onto a concrete wall. There were three courses (not sure if that's the correct word for a layer!) of 15-15cm tiles. The top two I've got off with no problem and have managed to get the adhesive off easy enough, but it looks like the bottom layer of tiles have been laid onto something more concrete based. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure whether to hack this off or if it's covering up something bad.

That's the first problem. The second problem is there's a few funny angles. Some people have said I'm better of sticking with small tiles, whereas others have said to get big ones for the horizontal parts and cut them (obviously more wastage if I go wrong)

I've plenty of pictures if anyone's interested.

 

[White Room]

I had no problem Doug😛rrr:

 

[Minnie]

Your walls are a mess and would need priming. Use some smaller tiles you will have a nightmare with big tiles with all the angled cutting

I know they're a mess. Blame the council!

What exactly do you mean by prime anyway?

 

[White Room]

You have some bare undercoat plaster which is very soft, as you stated you cannot afford to get it plastered which it seriously needs. Is there anyway to get the council to do anything for you on this job.
Priming is to seal the areas your going to tile

 

[doug boardley]

whereabouts are you minnie? maybe one of our members would pop round and price for prepping

 

[Minnie]

You have some bare undercoat plaster which is very soft, as you stated you cannot afford to get it plastered which it seriously needs. Is there anyway to get the council to do anything for you on this job.
Priming is to seal the areas your going to tile

No, Council hasn't done any decorating here for over 20 years! It's down to the tenant.

whereabouts are you minnie? maybe one of our members would pop round and price for prepping

South London. You did see my comments that I was unemployed and couldn't afford anyone didn't you? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[doug boardley]

No, Council hasn't done any decorating here for over 20 years! It's down to the tenant.



South London. You did see my comments that I was unemployed and couldn't afford anyone didn't you? :smilewinkgrin:

I did Minnie, if I wasn't at the other end of the country, I'd offer to pop round and advise on the state of your walls etc, unfortunately I'm up north:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Minnie]

I did Minnie, if I wasn't at the other end of the country, I'd offer to pop round and advise on the state of your walls etc, unfortunately I'm up north:smilewinkgrin:

The weather's much nicer down South. You should come down and get some sun on your face :smilewinkgrin:

Anyway, I'm going to stick up some more photos in a sec so you can see the current state. I took the tiles off the horizontal bits today and discovered white tiles on the left-hand side of the bath and plywood in front. No photos of those bits yet though.

Back of bath
DSCF0477.JPG - DivShare

Side
http://www.divshare.com/img/display/9270514-d70

Front
http://www.divshare.com/img/display/9270537-1c9
http://www.divshare.com/download/9270514-d70
Front again
http://www.divshare.com/download/9270351-0bf

Sink
DSCF0479.JPG - DivShare

This is what's under the bottom layer of tiles
http://www.divshare.com/img/display/9270347-f5a

 

[White Room]

So, how many tiles high will you be going to fix

 

[Minnie]

So, how many tiles high will you be going to fix

Well, the vertical from the bath up to the window ledge is 72cm. The tiles didn't originally go up that far which made it look a bit silly with the tiles above sink going higher than those above bath, and as that bit under the window's pretty crappy, I figured tiles would cover it.

I have no idea what tiles to use now. I had thought about 25x33cm as that would leave a 6cm space for a border, but people are saying I'm better off sticking with smaller tiles, but I figured that would take me forever. There were already around 120 tiles there without allowing to take it up to 72cm.

Unless I hack that what looks like cement/sand based stuff off, then I'm going to have a wonky wall, unless I fill it in to a smooth base (that's me guessing)

 

[White Room]

The tile size is not that big but you would need a cement based adhesive looking at the state of the walls, you may need to build up in certain areas.

To be fair, even a good tiler will have his work cut out for himself on those walls.

Do you have a friend/relative who could help you out