Bath pulling tiles off wall

[guest55]

Hi,

Have just moved into a new house,have been using the bath for about a month now and this morning the grout has cracked along three of the tiles at the head of the bath (as though the bath has moved and pulled the tiles down with it.)

Now i had noticed it had not been done correctly already, the level of the bottom tiles goes under the bath frame by about 2 inches. What is the best solution to this problem? Shall i just take the three tiles of re-attatch them and silicone again or shall i try and lower the bath so it sits below the level of the tiles, (this could prove difficult due to pipes etc.) It is an acrylic bath and as far as i can see is not supported well at the end i am talking about. Could i wedge some peices of 2x4 from the corners of the bath to the floor to stop it moving up and down?

any help would be much appreciated

 

[ChrisR]

Sounds like you've got a handle on it. It isn't necessarily incorrect ot take the tiles below bath edge level, it can be needed to get spacings right.

Support is apparently what you need though. If you remove and cut the tiles you'll have a gap unless you can move the bath. If you can't move it, you could support best possible and fill the gap with something like Gripfill, Nail and Seal, etc, then silcone over.
All stems from it being a cheap bath, perhaps. Support (4 x 2 folding wedges) under the bath would help stop it deforming when you put weight in it.

 

[guest55]

Thanks for that

Just one thing.

Sorry to be naive but what are support (4 x 2 folding wedges) under the bath, and how to i install, corectly use them?

am new to all this DIY stuff but am loving learning about it.

Thanks in advance

 

[gcol]

When you say a "new" house, do you mean a brand spanker or just new to you? The reason I ask is that if it's a brand spanker then surely there's some comeback on the builders?
If not, you need to mark the tiles at the correct level, pull out the bath then either remove the bottom row of tiles, cut to size and refit or cut in-situ on the wall with an angle grinder with a diamond blade. Obviously any loose tiles need to be refixed properly. Put the bath back re-grout and silicone.
If there's no support at the corners of the bath, just cut some lengths of 34mm x 34mm timber to just longer than they need to be and wedge them under each corner until they're nearly vertical - you may need to re-adjust the length a few times but it's dead easy to do.

 

[guest55]

yeah its new as in just moved in, house has been renovated but was built in 1899.

Started to take the loose tiles off yesterday and within seconds i had 30+ large tiles falling at me, who ever put them must have done it in the dark with pea sized blobs of adhesive in each corner. they would have been held better with blu tak!

Honestly the worst job i have ever seen, they had been tiled on to paint as well!

So it has left me in a position where i can just start again which im quite happy about because sooner or later they were gonna come down. At least now i can do it properly and know that its done.

Thanks for the advise regarding the bath though.