Since we moved into our new house, we haven't been able to use the downstairs shower. We knew it wasn't in great condition but only on closer inspection did we realise how bad it was. The grout was cracked and missing all over the place and there was mould and mildew everywhere. Thhe previous owners had tried to bodge a fix using tons of silicone and had kept on using the shower.
I had a good idea of how bad it might be when we ripped it out and today we finally gutted it and stripped it back to the bare plaster. Here's what we were left with:
Some effort had been made to waterproof under the tiles. There was what appeared to be some waterproof tape around the edges and about 80mm up the wall and around the drain and the base seemed to have some kind of liquid tanking coating. The base was soaking wet when we got the tiles up although seemed pretty dry once we'd finished and cleaned up all the dust.
The drain is a it of an issue. It's firmly concreted in and we couldn't get it all out. We need to get it out in order to attach whatever drain we need to the waste pipe. I can't see any way of doing this without removing a significant chunk of concrete - maybe even the whole lot. Not sure my SDS drill is quite up to this task though!
So my main question is, how should we go about prepping this for re-tiling? We plan to redo the whole room - the floor tiles are coming up, new toilet, towel rail and vanity unit. The room will be tiled all around up to about 1m high and the shower cubicle.
It seems like the first thing we need to do is sort out the drain issue and if the whole concrete plinth has to be removed, build a new one out of 2x4 and ply.
Then we have either a choice between a moulded shower tray or a preformed tile able shower tray (Orbrey, Marmox etc.). The alcove width is 1040mm so a bit big for a 1000mm tray. We'd need an 1100mm and have to chase it into the wall. Or we can get the preformed tray and cut it to size.
Personally, I think we should:
* Hack off the plaster back to the brick/breeze block to at least a height of 4ft, maybe even higher.
* Once the drain and plinth is sorted and the walls have had a chance to dry out, fit shower tray to plinth.
* Fit waterproof tile backer board (either the foam ones like Marmox or a cement board like aquapanel) to the walls so it is flush with the surrounding plaster.
* Water proof all joints between panels, panel and plaster and panels and tray using appropriate tape and tanking compound.
* Tile with appropriate adhesive and grout (I'll be leaving this to my FIL who is a tiler).
Is this a reasonable plan? Any other approaches we can take? Any suggestions on how to deal with the drain? Finally, how long should we expect to wait for the walls to dry out assuming we remove all of the damp plaster?
Thanks.
I had a good idea of how bad it might be when we ripped it out and today we finally gutted it and stripped it back to the bare plaster. Here's what we were left with:
Some effort had been made to waterproof under the tiles. There was what appeared to be some waterproof tape around the edges and about 80mm up the wall and around the drain and the base seemed to have some kind of liquid tanking coating. The base was soaking wet when we got the tiles up although seemed pretty dry once we'd finished and cleaned up all the dust.
The drain is a it of an issue. It's firmly concreted in and we couldn't get it all out. We need to get it out in order to attach whatever drain we need to the waste pipe. I can't see any way of doing this without removing a significant chunk of concrete - maybe even the whole lot. Not sure my SDS drill is quite up to this task though!
So my main question is, how should we go about prepping this for re-tiling? We plan to redo the whole room - the floor tiles are coming up, new toilet, towel rail and vanity unit. The room will be tiled all around up to about 1m high and the shower cubicle.
It seems like the first thing we need to do is sort out the drain issue and if the whole concrete plinth has to be removed, build a new one out of 2x4 and ply.
Then we have either a choice between a moulded shower tray or a preformed tile able shower tray (Orbrey, Marmox etc.). The alcove width is 1040mm so a bit big for a 1000mm tray. We'd need an 1100mm and have to chase it into the wall. Or we can get the preformed tray and cut it to size.
Personally, I think we should:
* Hack off the plaster back to the brick/breeze block to at least a height of 4ft, maybe even higher.
* Once the drain and plinth is sorted and the walls have had a chance to dry out, fit shower tray to plinth.
* Fit waterproof tile backer board (either the foam ones like Marmox or a cement board like aquapanel) to the walls so it is flush with the surrounding plaster.
* Water proof all joints between panels, panel and plaster and panels and tray using appropriate tape and tanking compound.
* Tile with appropriate adhesive and grout (I'll be leaving this to my FIL who is a tiler).
Is this a reasonable plan? Any other approaches we can take? Any suggestions on how to deal with the drain? Finally, how long should we expect to wait for the walls to dry out assuming we remove all of the damp plaster?
Thanks.
