How to approach this?

Hi All,

Getting ready to start renovating my bathroom as it's the last room in the house to be done before we move in.

The main problem is that when I've removed the old tiles (that were all wonky/uneven), it's pulled a fair bit of the original plaster off. I can see the plaster/cement has essentially broken down to sand again. The end wall where the door/shower is located is worse and goes back to the original blockwork.

The adjacent wall along where the bath will sit is a little better but I'm sure when I remove the old tile adhesive then a lot of that will come away too.

Here's a pic of the end wall



And you can see here how its easily pulling away



And what it pulls away



Here's the other wall in question




So questions are, whats the best way to approach sorting this out? I'm pretty sure most of the end wall will end up being taken back to the blockwork including the section over the door.

I was thinking of lining that wall with some hardibacker boards, tank it and then tile on top.

The other wall may just need spot repairs where the worst sections are. What would be the best product to use to do that so that its ok to tile onto again?

Or would it be best to board out that section as well with hardibacker?

Is some kind of cement board the best option or would it be better to get a plasterer in to sort before tiling?

Cheers all!
Andy

As the evidence given by your statements and pictures prove the plastered walls are failing and to attempt to adhere tiles to this surface would be illogical.

So I would knock back to brick/block.
The method you use to cover the walls is really up to you, but consideration for what appliance you have in the room would be worth a thought or two.
As you have not really said the type of room it will be:

*Bathroom
*Bath with shower
*Shower room
*Wet room
As each type of room and wall area can be different depend on the use of that area.

If a shower is to be installed I would suggest either render, aquapanel or moisture board.
If wet room then form walls any way you wish but tank it.
Just bath then render or moisture board or even stand plasterboards will do.
Other non-wet areas do not really need to have additional protection against moisture.
Any rendered areas are best finished with a finishing coat.

Just be aware that certain surfaces can carry greater tile weight than others.

thanks for the reply

This'll be a bathroom with a shower over the bath which is the area to be tiled.

I was thinking about taking back to brick, on the end wall and then using Marmox multiboard (12.5mm) direct onto the block-work using a continuous bed of tile adhesive. Along the other wall I thought that it may be easiest to use the same multiboards again after removing the last few tiles. Most of the wall looks fairly ok so would look to dot and dab the boards on.

Hoping then that I can tile over the entire lot.

Marmox on the blockwork would be an excellent solution. It's waterproof if you join it correctly so you won't need to do additional tanking.

There are quite a few ways to fix it - the Marmox web site has instructions. If you use adhesive then use powdered tile adhesive rather than plasterboard adhesive.

You can dot and dab with additional mechanical fixings to cut down on the amount of cement.

Perfect cheers for the answers. Got a few bits on order now that should arrive Monday. Should hopefully have it cleared out and ready to go over the weekend!

Forgot to add that you should probably prime the blocks before you try to stick the Marmox to them. They'll be dusty any dry. Something like Weber PR360 or AD250 should do it.

Cheers, that sounds like a good idea too. Took a whole load more of the old plaster off last night and you can see how dusty the brickwork is.



One more question, the pipe for the shower that runs up the wall you can see in the picture is already recessed into the wall so is flat. I was just wondering if I should board directly over it or whether I should leave a gap there and then just simply tile over it? I presume just cover it as normal with the board.

Cheers,
Andy[/img]

You will likely have limestone in blockwork and mortar joint, copper pipe reacts and corrodes when contact is made with limestone, so I would consider either protecting the copper pipe by sleeving or replacing with a plastic pipe.

If pipe is secure just cover over with wallboard. The pipes will be best left with an allowance for them to expand and contract, so leaving a space for them to do this is wise.

Cheers again, when the plumber installed the pipe he did protect it in sleaving of some kind so hoping that should be fine. I'll make a note to check there's enough clearance for the pipe to expand though!

What would be a good alternative for priming the walls? I've ordered some Weber P360 from a company via eBay but they appear to be quite useless.

Could I use a PVA/water mix as an alternative?