Tiling around bath after adding shower over bath

[acaciaguy]

Good evening all,

This is possibly a simple question and I'm hoping that it is a simple 'ish job with the right advice.

I am having an electric shower fittied in my bathroom and as a result am going to need to increase the tiling around the bath so that it can be used as a shower too.

To explain the layout and what is there now -

There is tiling on the three sides of the bath to a height of half the wall. The remaining wall to the ceiling is painted. One of the walls is an ajoining wall with another flat, the two ends are partition / stud / plasterboard walls (in my laymans terms they aren't brick).

I have no idea what these walls would be plastered with - would it be regular plaster board or would they be some sort of aquapanel / moisture resistant board as they are around the bath?

It is my intention to have the shower over one end of the bath and then to tile the remaining bare walls on the three sides to the ceiling.

I have read through the forum about tanking, water resistant / aqua board and what seems to be the dreaded PVC.

My questions are basically about the best way to go about tiling this remaining part of the wall in a good manner and whether existing tiling is acceptable for its new role as being part of a shower not just a bath.

i) Impossible to answer I guess but would the tiles that are already there be onto something other than plasterboard and would the remaining part of the wall be plasterboard too? - I would think so as the building contractors on the block would use the cheapest materials and just use PB

ii)On a side note is it acceptable to tile straight on to PB around a bath as it might not get as wet as with running water from a shower?

iii) can i just continue the tilling from the edge of the current tiling or does it all need to come off and preparations done to make it suitable for a shower. If the tiling below is just on PB it will be a weak link?

iv) If the existing tiling is suitable what do i need to do to prep the wall for the remaining tiles?

This must be something that pro- tilers see on a weekly basis so Im hoping that some of that experience can be imparted onto me so that my weekend project is a success.

I am trying to balance cost, time, with doing a good job and having somethign that will fit my needs i.e. last 3-5 years until I have a completely new bathroom.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as full a picture as possible.

Many thanks

ps. I have a shower ensuite that is exactly the same tiling / colours as the bathroom..would they have used water resistance board /aquaboard there? is there anyway to tell? Is it building regs to do so or not?

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[Andy Allen]

hi and welcome to the forum.
a lot will depend on what kind of finish you are looking for, I expect the bathroom walls are just plasterboard and removing the tiles that are all ready round the bath will most certainly pull the plaster board off as well, if you are thinking off replacing the whole lot in 3/5 years time and you can match the tiles that are already on there, bare in mind different batches of tiles will shade so a boarder tile to separate the two half's could be an option , then remove the paint and tile on top of the tiles that are there using a decent water proof adhesive and a decent grout..

most house builders I know just use plaster board in the showers and bathrooms, as far as I know it isn't a legal requirement to use water resistant board or tank walls..

 

[acaciaguy]

Hello Andy and thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my post.

As the bath is tiled all the way around to a height of half the wall is it acceptable to follow what you have suggested but just tile the bare wall and not tile over the existing tiles aswell? i.e. continue from where the existing tiles stop up to the ceiling. I have managed to find tiles that match pretty well and the tiles that are all ready around the bath are in good condition and follow around / match the rest of the bathroom with is tiled all the way around to the same height.

I get the impression that the exisiting tiles in both the bathroom and shower room are straight on to plaster board and having spoken to a few builders I agree with what you say about them using PB in showers / baths, especially on big builds of appartments to save money.