tiling area of bathroom

[benpost]

going to re-tile around bath, so all one wall and part of the 2 side walls.

do i need anything more than the tiles, grout/adhesive, cutter and spacers?

any tips on planning or 'setting out' ?

[Kevin]

setting out just plan where you want the cuts if the wall is not a multiple length of the tiles you are going to use,I personally work from the centre of the wall and either place the middle of the tile over the half way mark or up against the mark depending on the spacing so you dont end up with 1/2 wide tile at the ends and the other thing to check if the bath is level if not you might need to either level it out or start just less than one row above the bath and nail a baton to the wall temporarily and when the tiles have set enough remove the baton and cut the bottom row to fit the bath

but that's me and not had any complaints from er indoors "yet"

[stuart noble]

Just draw it out on paper. Have equal sizes at opposing edges if possible, and avoid having to cut small sizes. It's usual to have a line of full tiles along the bath edge, but check that it's level.

[benpost]

thanks, do i need any bits of wood or nails to use as guides or is it not necessary?

[stuart noble]

Usually just the nails are enough to support a tile from underneath. Use a batten if there's a whole line of them (e.g. if your bath isn't 100% level, and the bottom line is going to vary in height).

[Slider]

Is there a shower above the bath? If so, make sure you 'tank' the area before tiling to ensure a 100% waterproof barrier

[stuart noble]

I wouldn't bother. The only vulnerable spot would be the bath rim, and one assumes that is under the tile edges

[Andrew Gabriel]

I bought a flexible waterproofer additive for the grout, BAL Admix GT1, IIRC. It was expensive, but a little goes a long way.

There were two reasons. The shower mixer is recessed into the 9" brick wall with a 1' square piece of plasterboard around it which I didn't want to get soggy. If I had a full plasterboard wall, I would have considered tanking it or replacing with aquapanel (cement substitute plasterboard). Second reason was I thought the waterproofer might prevent staining of the grout. There is no staining of the grout some 5 years later, but without a control area, I can't be sure if the addmix is in any way responsible.

[F]

But do check that you've not got water pipes in the wall where you're nailing! I had carefully sunk central heating pipes into the wall between floorboards and radiator to get a neater job and managed to hit one when tiling. It was towards the end of the job, I was tired, I got careless...

[benpost]

hi what does tanking the area mean? got a shower above the bath but it has its own supply pipes and doesnt run off the bath. back to tiling, yes it will be a row of tiles overlapping the bath edge, but how do i know what height to start tiling? should i fit the bath in before tiling to see? i understand what was posted about not having really small cuts each side, so start in the middle so u have even cuts each end. how about vertically? where do you start? should you have a full tile at the top or bottom, or just start half way up and have a bit cut off both top and bottom? cheers guys

[Slider]

"Tanking" is waterproofing the wall before tiling. I have just re-furbed our en-suite bathroom. Stripped the room bare and replaced everything. I tanked the area of the shower enclosure first before tiling. It's just a safety precaution in-case water ever gets behind the tiles. It 100% ensures that if water gets behind the tiles it won't get to the plasterboard. When I removed the old tiles around the shower tray, the plasterboard about 12" above the tray was gone, was just mush as water had penetrated the grout / tiles.

See below:-

[NOSPAMnet]

Tiles before bath or bath before tiles has been a long standing discussion in this ng . When I did my bathroom I tiled before putting the bath in purely so I wouldn't damage the bath but what I did was start the tiles exactly one tile + one spacer height above where the rim of the bath would go ( I did a dry run beforehand to work out what that would be ) . I then fixed a batten to the wall and tiled up from that . I then fitted the bath and when it was in situ I fixed the last row of tiles . I then did a final silicone bead when i'd done all the grouting with the bath full of water to take the bath down to it's "filled " level . .

[stuart noble]

Yes

Same principle, but a full tile above the bath is the norm if it doesn't leave you a small cut somewhere else

[benpost]

hi just in the process of re doing the bathroom now, all is removed and blanked off except the wc pan. going to box in behind the shower/ bath,(full height) sink and wc (half height) so the pipes are hidden and bath fits nicely at the other end. then tile on top of the boxing to create a shelf. have bought aquapanel for the boxing where the shower is.

main wall along bath and opposite to shower are solid block, was just going to re tile on top of this. currently have removed all old tiles and scraped off loose bits. not sure what to do next the options seem to be:

- keep chipping off the old adhesive and get back to old plaster - this is getting harder as its not loose anymore but will chip off if you scrape hard, although this means digging in to the plaster underneath, which i dont like

- get plasterer in to skim over the area (after i dilute pva it) and have a nice surface to tile to

- get aquapanel for the other walls (even though they are block ? ) and tile on top of this

what do you think it the best solution.? I havent tiled before so not sure what kind of uneveness you can get away with before spreading the tile adhesive.

[benpost]

heres some pics so you know what i'm talking about!:

bathroom back wall, bath to run along this, boxing will be on the left where the pipes are:

area under old plaster - definitely needs some pva to seal it, very crumbly.. level these areas up with a skim of tile adhesive after pva'ing?:

adhesive stuck to old plaster - hard to chip off:

possible with scraper and hard work.. and scraping into the old plaster..

replies :)

[stuart noble]

Check it out with a length of timber. You'll soon see how even the wall is. Consider that the gaps where the wood doesn't sit flat against the wall will eventually be occupied, either by plaster or tile adhesive, and the latter option can get expensive. It really isn't that difficult to level the walls yourself because the finish isn't important. You're only filling obvious gaps approximately

[benpost]

hi stuart, when you say level the walls yourself do you mean carry on scraping it back to plaster, or diy the plastering? if so what will i need.. cheers

[stuart noble]

I wouldn't carry on scraping because you may not need to, but you won't know till you get a straightedge on it. Take a length of 2" x 1" timber (7 foot should be enough). Tape a spirit level to it and hold it upright against the wall at intervals. Either there will be humps to chop out, or dips that need filling. You can do this with an undercoat or bonding plaster mixed with a dash of PVA, the idea being that you put a dollop on the wall and gradually slide the wood over it till it's level. Repeat this at the same height on the wall at, say, 18" intervals. Then try the wood horizontally, resting on the dollops. Gradually you get an idea of where and by how much the wall is out and, once the dollops have firmed up a bit you can fill the in between bits using the wood as before. If you find you're faffing about with

[stuart noble]

I've just remembered a technique I once used to get a wall perfectly level when my plastering skills were even less than they are now. Screw battens to the wall at 18" intervals and smear the backs with vaseline or washing up liquid. Oversize the screw holes so that the battens can be moved in and out easily and use a length of timber to get them level, packing out as necessary. Then you just fill the gaps between the wall and the battens (filler is better than plaster for this). Remove the battens after a few hours and you have a series of full length guides, and then it's easy to level up the rest. A bit time consuming, but not difficult.

[mark.hannah]

Do you have any water pipes etc coming through the wall that you need to tile around? If so - you might want to give consideration to these when setting out

- you might find it a lot easier to nibble a corner off a tile that you would to drill a hold large enough for a pipe to fit through.

Mark.