Shower tiling onto plasterboard..tanking or not?

[flyingsparks]

Hi all. Going to be putting a shower hose above our bath at home, and need to tile the area up to the ceiling. Currently its just painted plasterboard (not skimmed). Should I use a tanking kit such as the BAL WP1 kit before tiling? It looks like it will add a fair bit of thickness to the wall, and wondered if the tiles will match into the existing ones OK? Thanks Chris

 

[Richard C]

Normally I would advise tanking as a must but if you already have tiles stuck onto raw plasterboard your going to turn into a wet area then the life expectancy will be limited anyway. Chances of matching into you existing tile line will be limited even without the tanking, I would treat this as a limited life project until you can do the lot again; around 3 years if your lucky.

 

[flyingsparks]

Well the house was built by a largeish house builders about 3 years ago, so I would hope the exsisting tiles are on a tanked background? Or is there a chance they put a different waterproof backing board around the bath lower down? Supposing they are, and I then tank the area above them, is the life expectancy going to be significantly larger than 3 years?

Do these builders usually do a proper job???

 

[Richard C]

Well the house was built by a largeish house builders about 3 years ago, so I would hope the exsisting tiles are on a tanked background?

In that case, practically no chance I would say. All the large national developers are primarily interested in maximising profit, why do you think their prices are so attractive! The best you could hope for is they used Moisture Resistant plasterboard but I wouldn’t bank on it; even that will eventually disintegrate in a wet area if un-tanked.

Or is there a chance they put a different waterproof backing board around the bath lower down?

About as much chance as you winning Euro Lotto this week; but then you won’t care.

Supposing they are, and I then tank the area above them, is the life expectancy going to be significantly larger than 3 years?

5 years maybe but you’ve already had 3 of those; is there any sign of deterioration/mould?

Do these builders usually do a proper job???

They build to a price, usually a low one; & to last long enough to avoid any serious consequences. Maybe 5 years or so but not much longer, I’ve stripped out plasterboard bathrooms that have been totally shot after just 3 years but it depends on the use/abuse they get.

 

[mointainwalker]

Do these builders usually do a proper job???

Frequently not. I really doubt very much if they ever do tanking. My showers were tiles on ordinary plasterboard ( also a major national builder )