Our bathroom could do with a facelift. It is fitted out as when the house was built: c.1960.
The tiles (1/2-way up, all round) are bog-standard white. I would hack them off before re-tiling, but the "grout" is actually (by its hardness) the cement that was used to fix them: consequently my feeling is that they will take off the plaster too, if I hack 'em off, and I don't want to get a plasterer in.
Can anyone tell me, what are the pros and cons of tiling on these existing tiles?
Cheers John
it's a bodge
do a test? bolster chisel & lump hammer
chisel at 30deg from wall pointing down and "into" joint betwixt top row tile and untiled wall.
Whack with lump hammer
With normal amounts of luck tile should ping off, perhaps in one piece.
Jim K
Do you mean they're fixed with cement render? If so, they'll likely be a pig to get off. The kitchen in our previous 1960s house had half- height tiles on cement render. I hired a Hilti to remove them and gave up after getting below the level of the new worktops because it was such an ordeal.
If the existing tiles are sound and flat, the pro is that you'll save a lot of hassle. The cons are that the room will be a 1/4" smaller and there'll be a wider lip/shelf at the top of the run.
these sound like the kind of tiles that don't ping. I lived in a 1930s house where getting them off was a *major* job. However, if you don't, it will look odd round doors and windows etc. Then again it may leave you with a gap round the bath? It really is quite easy to replaster when you only need a level surface.
I think so.
Blo-o-o-dy 'ell!
Yep - that's what I'm thinking. Wondered if there are any tips about what cement to use on old tiles though - etc etc .
JimK: Well, I think I'm going to have to take at least a couple off, because they've come away slightly: I will find out then, I suppose, what the score is. However I'd rather take those ones off and re-cement them, and then tile over all, than try and strip off all the olds ones (all four walls are half-tiled).
Cheers John
If the tiles are really difficult to come off, then leave them in place.
The pros - good sound surface, easier to do (no removal).
Cons - you lose a small bit of space, and going up to the architraves/edges may not be quite right, but not insurmountable. You will need to use rapid set cement, as normal tile cement will take an age to go off, hence the cement cost will double. You've got the horrible job of mixing cement to the right consistency. It's a job I hate, on floor tiles it doesnt matter of it's a bit sloppy, on walls, it has to be right.
Assuming they are well fixed, none really - apart from losing space.
When we moved into this house there were bog standard 6inch square tiles above the existing bath.
I used a hammer and chisel to get them off, and that also brought off a biggish area of plaster as well as loosening some of the internal bricks.
It was soon sorted out; bricks were re set, bare area was re plastered and left to dry for a week or so, before tiling all around the bathroom.
erm if a couple have "come away slightly" it sounds like they aren't
*that* well attached?I would be testing one or two that haven't "come away slightly"....
but if they come off reasonably well you'll have it stripped out in a morning, and save all the hassle of tiling over tiles?
Jim K
Absolutely. Those I've experienced showed no signs of coming off...ever. If yours have hinted at a willingness to part company with the plaster, I'd go for it.
IME tiles are the perfect surface for more tiles, using bog standard tub adhesive from Topps.
I left the tiles in place and fitted wetroom wallboards. So much better than tiles. It looks better; it's totally waterproof; it just wipes down; there's no grout. Wonderful! I can't understand why anyone tiles any more.
Bill
Never 'eard of it -- I'll have a look for that stuff Bill.
J.
In message , Another John writes
I'm just psyching myself up to start the wall board job. Waterproof ply with a decorative plastic finish either side.
Shower head end looks easy as I can either screw through to the battens or use springy props from the opposite wall while the glue sets off.
No battens or convenient wall to push from:-(
I used Village Bathrooms, as recommended in here, for a kit manufactured by Grant Westfield Ltd.
It's very good. About £80 for an 8 x 4 sheet. It's very heavy, so you need two people to lift each board into place. Use a good adhesive. We found it very helpful to have a length of timber across another bit of timber, like a seesaw, so pressing down with the foot helped lift the board into place. But out boards ended 150mm above the floor level because it was a wetroom with that type of floor that goes up the wall a bit.
Bill
You could say the same about imitation versus real wood?
I happen to like tiling. ;-)
You could always tile in the Cotto d'Este tiles that look like wood.
But are they available in wetroom wallboards?
If you do take them off and there is some plaster damage don't worry about replastering - just use the tile adhesive to level up the surface. (When I did my bathroom a few years ago I had quite a hole in one area, can't remember why now, so I filled it with some B&Q cheapo white tiles and tiled on them.)
Sounds ideal. Imitation wood that is actually stone but looks like wood. Or something.
I noticed when I was in a Government building that the floor of the gents lavvy was covered in Kerlite. That's your tax pound being put to work there.
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