Tiling Our Shower..again!

[jen]

Hi, I wondered if anyone could advise on what best to do. We tiles our shower in mosaic tiles 3 years ago but have had to take them all off as the tile grout failed, we used the wrong products for mosaic tiles. The plasterboard and wood was rotten underneath it leaked so badly. Had it repaired now and will tile with large ceramic tiles this time (no mosaic this time!!). The wall adhesive I was going to use this time is BAL white Star (used wrong product last time) and then a BAL grout. Will this be enough or should we go for the easypoxy stuff to be sure? It hasn't been tanked underneath....many thanks for any advice!

 

[White Room]

I would tank the shower area before any attempt at fixing any tiles as you may have another moisture attack on your substrate.

 

[cam_low]

I would also be using a cement based adhesive and not ready mixed. This is my personal preference and many others on here. The tanking advice above is spot diddly on.

 

[J Sid]

Needs tanking
When you say large ceramic tiles, the max size for bal white star adhesive is 300x300 for ceramic and 150x150 for porcelain! I would not us this adhesive, there are many more suitable one out there.

 

[Just Rizzle]

by the sound of it m8 you sound like a diyer you've tried once and failed and your going to have ago again. don't you think it may be cost effective to get some on in that knows what there doing if you want to improve the value of your property a good professional job will last years a poor diy failure will probably last a short time and knock thousands of your house.
if you still want to go it alone ring a local tiler and pay him for his consultancy.
most of the pro tillers on here use a consultant to do our tax returns because we know it makes sence

 

[jen]

Thank you for the advice all! it sounds like we do need to get a professional in. In actual fact though we have got ourselves in a bit of a pickle as we did have someone in to do it the first time, he is a friend and had done excellent work on other parts of our house. He clearly doesn't know about showers though now I have done my research. He said he would fix up our shower for no charge...although we have bought the material. i don't really think he knows it was his fault in the first place, just thinks it was movement/type of tile chosen!. what is the best way to find a tiler/shower expert with a good track record? We have to tread carefully as I don't want to fall out with him,e does do excellent work- just not in showers! Many thanks

 

[Just Rizzle]

try the local tile shop they will know whos good and bad in your area or post the job on here gl

 

[Dan]

Tank the shower, it's basically painting a rubbery(ish) liquid to the walls that dries and becomes a waterproof barrier.

Used cement based adhesive, and even go for mosaics again if that's what you originally fancied, they're nice tiles for a shower and were not the cause of your 'leak'.

No need for epoxy. Just use a cement-based grout too.

As said above though you've risked it once and it didn't pay off. So doing it again with an inexperienced DIYer come handyman just isn't the wise move. You literally won't save money at all. If it's done right, the tiles will last a hell of a lot longer than when it's got even one mistake in the process somewhere let alone a few.

Feel free to post your job in the forum. But i'd ask a couple of tile shops too because they will usually only have the ones they trust themselves given out to customers.