In our basement shower, several tiles fell off. Behind them is drywall. The tiles are not broken and I would prefer to just glue them back in if possible. What glue and process would you recommend.
Thanks!
i
You would be wasting your time and effort, not to mention throwing good money after bad.
Your shower has a terminal problem and you need to amputate that drywall to save it.
R
I am sorry, what do you mean by terminal problem. If I have to do the entire wall, I will, but I would rather not.
i
Silicone adhesive works well. Just be sure to grout them to keep the water out and check the other tiles. There may be other loose ones too.
thanks Edwin... I will make sure to use good grout and silicone adhesive. I will get back to report on how it went.
i
You have two ways to approach this. The first involves putting a bandaid on the cut artery - that is treating the symptom by glueing the fallen tile back in place. Bandaids are cheap, fast and the shower is still going to die. It'll be a slow death with the fallen tile problem recurring and you trying to nurse it back to health. it won't work for long. Looking on the bright side, you will have found a new hobby.
The other alternative is to fix the hack job the original installer did. Putting tile on drywall in a wet location is not only recommended, but to be avoided at all costs. Cement backer board such as Durock, Wonderboard, fiber cement board such as Hardie Backerboard or one of the newer boards such as Wediboard are the preferred substrates.
You see the tile job can be no better than the weakest link. Drywall turns to mush when exposed to water. Some idjits think that the moisture resistant drywall, called green board, is water resistant or even waterproof. It's not by a long shot.
Of course you don't want to replace the entire wall(s), but there really is no other choice. The worst thing you could do is to glue the tile back using silicone and do a good job of it. Sounds odd, but what will happen is the water will get behind the tile from another area that you didn't fix and the silicone will hold the tile in place longer than it should. You _want_ to know if there is damage (rot) occuring behind the tile. Otherwise you'll be looking at replacing studs, subfloor, etc. - a much, much bigger pain in the ass.
Check out the John Bridge tile forums and search the archives to see what the pro tile setters have to say about putting tile on drywall. Half of them love it when the hacks do that because it's job security for them. The other half would shoot the hack if they could locate him and get away with it. I'm in the latter camp. Too many people doing crappy work and it's time to start weeding them out! ;)
R
Drywall appears to be undamaged. My theory is that water penetrated bad grout seals. The house is abotu 25 yo.
i
Obviously that should be _not_ recommended as it's a bad thing. Sorry for the slip up.
Basement shower, huh? How much is it used?
You have two choices -- use a silicon adhesive to put the tile back into place. This will defer the problem and that may be all you want.
Or ... as Rico has urged .... do the job properly.
Shower tile does not go on greenboard or on drywall. It goes on denShield or equivalent. If your shower indeed is tile over drywall, I'd consider tearing it out and starting over.
Think of your fallen tile as the "first shoe to fall".
All it took was a little water to re-liquify the drywall mud and the tile drops off. I know, this happened to my shower that was built in the early
70s. Ripped it all out, javexed the mold, and rebuilt the shower with Wonderboard then installed new tiles with thinset. Lasted over 20 years, no signs of any failure.
OK OK OK!
But is there harm in trying the silicone adhesive for the fallen tiles first? Not everything has to be done to the n-th degree.
Banty
I shower in it every day.
Well,let me ask you: if, say, I use proper adhesive and some sort of sealant overall, how long would this repair last?
That's true. I hate doing these sort of jobs (redoing the shower). I have two kids and the older is very disruptive to doing any sort of continuous work because a) he only wants to play with me and b) he always wants to help, which means that I have to watch him not to fall on stuff and not to glue himself to the wall etc. come up with stuff for him to do so that he thinks he is helping, and yet does not ruin anything, etc. 4.5 years old.
iany estimate on how long this kind of work may take. I am moderately handy in general. I am more disposed towards electrical stuff or carpenting though.
iDo yourself a huge favor. Carefully remove all the tile from all walls. Be careful not to break any. Lay down a drop cloth and maybe some cardboard to protect any that you may drop. Once you pull one or two off the wall, seven or eight will follow and you'll be wishing you had 4 hands. Maybe get an assistant to help you.
After all the tile is off, pull off all that drywall. Drywall in wet locations like showers or tub surrounds is a big No-No. Tiling 101. Replace anything that was behind the drywall that has been comprised by moisture (i.e. insulation). Let that area dry completely before moving on.
As mentioned in the quality post above, install cement board. This is the proper tile substrate for what you need. Do not use green board!!!
Reinstall tile, using a quality thinnest. Grout and finally seal your tiles.
If you need to use the shower during this project (form pulling the drywall to regrouting the newly reinstalled tile), install heavy plastic around the shower to prevent water from penetrating your work. Only remove the plastic once the grout as cured.
If done right, you will do this once.
Don't try and band aid this problem; you're only going to have huge headaches.
If you don't know how to install cement board, or do tiling do some research. There are plenty of great resources at your fingertips. There are way to many scenarios to speculate about here.
Good Luck.
Thanks... I am leaning in this direction myself. I will be sure to ask for help with specifics. I think that my wife will want new tile, so, we'll destroy the old one with sledgehammer.
i
You won't need a sledgehammer. Bust a hole with a hammer and then grab the edges and pull.
R
I can sympathize ... I have a grand daughter about that age. The wheels never stop turning.
It's not a particular hard or messy job .... it really means two days of getting at it ... and a third of finishing up. (That said, I have a bathroom in our cabin that's been waiting for tile for nearly a year and a half. I'll procrastinate as soon as I get around to it. )
But busted tiles are sharp and drywall edges can hurt small (and large) hands.
Maybe get a baby sitter? Wait till the kid is at nursery school? Whatever.
Use the tile site Rico recommended, it's a good one.
Ken
As others have said, there's a reason those tiles fell off. Probably the most likely reason is water got through the grout or there's a leak behind the wall somewhere. You can glue em back on but you're only postponing the inevitable. Putting them back up there will just prolong the problem which ultimately needs to be fixed. I had a similar problem and ripped out the entire wall where the leak was and replaced the "green" drywall with durock. Took a few weekends to do it all but I'm confident it isn't coming down any time soon..... Cheers, cc
Nobody else said it, so I will- OP should also look at prefab shower enclosures and/or solid surface or faux marble panels, as an alternative to tile. No, not the thin flimsy ones installed as bandaids over rotted walls, the real thick ones designed for retrofits. Still need to do demo to make sure the walls are dry inside, and install whatever is called for behind to support the panels, but it could all be done and usable in one day. Yes, a quality tile job is prettier, but this is a basement shower, and one-piece walls will be more durable and easy to keep clean. And they are a lot easier for a non-expert to install than tile. Measure twice, cut once, etc.
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