Major problem with tiles around bath

Some_randomer

Hi the tiles around the bath in my apartment have been a bit of a mess for ages and it's got to the point where the whole thing needs an overhaul. Water seems to be leaking from somewhere also, as the wooden beading on the floor outside the bathroom is very damp and seems to be taking water from somewhere.

I've attached a pic of the bath and the tiles around it, a bit of a mess I know. What's the best thing to do - should I take off one row of tiles then re-tile and seal? I have no intention of doing it myself I want to get it done properly, so in general would proper tilers consider a small job like this or who would be the best to get for a job like this?

TIA.

Joey the lips

This is not a small fix job. All the tiles need replacing. also where your toothbrush is it looks like the seal has come away from the wall and water is getting down the back.

If there is water on the floor outside the door it is probably traveling along the floor in which case it might be seeping into the unders at the door.

Tbh its not in a healthy condition and i would budget about 1k to sort it.

Some_randomer

Agreed it's a bit of a dog's dinner so it does need an overhaul, but would it really cost 1k? I'd expect to get the entire bathroom re-tiled for that

For that money should I be looking at alternatives? The seals around the bath may always be a problem so maybe I should get rid of the bath altogether?

I've heard that wet bathrooms are pretty good..no sealing around shower trays or anything like that to deal with. Is it possible to put wet bathrooms in an apartment that's not on the ground floor?

Just thinking out loud here..if the repair is going to cost that much then maybe it's an opportunity to do something different.

All thoughts or suggestions much appreciated

Joey the lips

You will get the whole bathroom tiled for that. I just said a budget. Based on the fact that there is going to be a decent bit of labour and possibly a lot of behind the scenes materials 1 k is realistic

But just get quotes if your unsure.

brendankelly

This is generally where we are asked in to look at such jobs. To replace the downstairs ceilings etc. This is I guess on the ground floor. The silicone efforts here has clearly failed with the result the problem is much larger than if it was fixed properly the first time. The OP will be lucky if the 1 k budget will be enough because under the bath will be a complete mess with rotting every kind of crap and with mould every where. If one or more of the walls are dry lined the OP will have rotten plaster board and timber etc.
The OP will have to take off at least 2 rows of tiles because the mould has risen up past the first row. I would also advise that the OP rips out what needs to be ripped out first and then get a price to fix it because I have seen where a couple were badly caught when they accepted a ridiculously low price from a Polish gang to fix a similar problem and when the ripping out was done they wanted London to finish it.

Sorry OP

Some_randomer

Thanks Brendan, you're right it wasn't looked after properly first time around so it's gradually got worse. The apartment is on the 3rd floor...just curious what made you think it was ground floor?

How many rows of tiles should I remove to do a proper repair? I'm going to remove the side panel of the bath and get in there and clean up any mess or mould etc.

brendankelly

I would have expected that the moisture would have seeped through to the ceiling underneath. You are lucky mate because the water has gone someplace and there is someone in one of the apps with a mysterious damp problem.

Take off 2 rows and see how wet the wall is under the tiles and keep stripping up until the wall is dry. There will be mould in the wet plaster so scrape that away and let it dry out properly.

Good luck with it

sullzz

What I'd usually do in a situation line this is , remove the first row of tiles and remove the bath , fit a length of 3x11/2 timber around the wall for the bath to sit on , this will take the weight of the bath in the future , some lads just sit baths in without brackets or any supports so as the baths are plastic they are flexible and over time they break their seal at the tiles and can also sink , so with the timber fitted underneath it has nowhere to go

antiskeptic

Some_randomer wrote: »

Hi the tiles around the bath in my apartment have been a bit of a mess for ages and it's got to the point where the whole thing needs an overhaul. Water seems to be leaking from somewhere also, as the wooden beading on the floor outside the bathroom is very damp and seems to be taking water from somewhere.

I've attached a pic of the bath and the tiles around it, a bit of a mess I know. What's the best thing to do - should I take off one row of tiles then re-tile and seal? I have no intention of doing it myself I want to get it done properly, so in general would proper tilers consider a small job like this or who would be the best to get for a job like this?

TIA.

The likelyhood is that the leaking water stems from the bust seal around the bath. Shower water is pouring down the tiled walls and rolling unhindered over the edge of the bath past the now bust seal. And into what looks like a gap between the bath taps and the bath (although it could be a rubber seal).

In that case and if looking for an inexpensive repair then a lasting, decent reseal would be all that's required. The already leaked water would dry out in it's own time.

I'm assuming:

- the tiling around the bath edge is still reasonably decently fixed to the wall.

- those two funny looking tiles aren't just leaning there and that a little reinstatement would be required there to return to a smooth flat tile surface.

- an aesthetic score of 6/10 would be deemed sufficient given the (relatively) low cost of the repair. The bathroom looks fairly dated so there shouldn't be an issue with that.


-

Solution:

The old seal is removed and the surfaces throughly cleaned. The bath surface is sanded locally to provide a key.

An L shaped plastic profile (approx 1.5" x 3/4") is glued to both bath and tiled wall with tec7 adhesive. The large surface area combined with an excellent, flexible adhesive would provide a virtually impregnable seal once a little attention is paid to the installtion.

Due to tec7's tendency to yellow (it's only flaw imo), leave a slight space along the edges of the profile to allow for a decorative bead of white silicon during installation.

Cost

Materials about 30 quid, Labour about 4 hours (including travel and the thinking out of how to provide an effective/cheap solution )

PM me if that strikes you as reasonable.

brendankelly

sullzz wrote: »

What I'd usually do in a situation line this is , remove the first row of tiles and remove the bath , fit a length of 3x11/2 timber around the wall for the bath to sit on , this will take the weight of the bath in the future , some lads just sit baths in without brackets or any supports so as the baths are plastic they are flexible and over time they break their seal at the tiles and can also sink , so with the timber fitted underneath it has nowhere to go

Once I would not have believed that someone would try to fit a bath without the timber support but now I believe you. This timber is now I would guess well rotten.

sullzz

brendankelly wrote: »

Once I would not have believed that someone would try to fit a bath without the timber support but now I believe you. This timber is now I would guess well rotten.

Baths thrown in during the days of house bashing , get in and get out . The brackets supplied with the baths just thrown over the shoulder as it would take too long to screw them to the wall , just stick the bath to the wall with silicone . I'm glad now I live in a house from the 70s .

brendankelly

Silicone and expanding foam. They were the solution to all problems during the boom.

Some_randomer

antiskeptic wrote: »

Cost

Materials about 30 quid, Labour about 4 hours (including travel and the thinking out of how to provide an effective/cheap solution )

PM me if that strikes you as reasonable.

Hmmm bit of a difference between your price and 1k

Joey the lips

Some_randomer wrote: »

Hmmm bit of a difference between your price and 1k

I said budget and going from experience my estimates have not been far out. Its very hard to estimate such a small cost from a picture. As the bath has clearly problems. I am assuming the possibility that the leak has gotten into the floor.

But i tend to be very thorough i suspect the tiles alone will cost the materials price.

brendankelly

I suspect you will find that the walls are metal stud with plaster board. If this is the case the repair cost will be less than if the walls are timber stud that might be rotten. I am with Joey on this one and I would not dream of pricing it before all was ripped out.

AckwelFoley

sullzz wrote: »

Baths thrown in during the days of house bashing , get in and get out . The brackets supplied with the baths just thrown over the shoulder as it would take too long to screw them to the wall , just stick the bath to the wall with silicone . I'm glad now I live in a house from the 70s .

I retiled a bathroom last year in a 2 year old house. The bath had no frame and the legs were so ****ty that the height adjustment screws on them sunk into the tubular due to the weight of showering and bathing in the bath.

Just a word of note on the tiles...

Its rather ovious where the leak is, but be careful, its not impossible that there is a cracked tile somewhere on the wall that doesnt stand out so much that its noticed yet is a source of a leak.

I did a job for the sister, again on a new house built in the boom - the water from the ensuite ended up in the kitchen ceiling from a leak

I ripped all the tiles off the wall up as far as the border, and put in a tanking system. I found a broken tile about 4 tiles up that was at the shower door which despite the trim being poorley fitted was more of a problem as the shower was spraying directly at that broken tile.

Some_randomer

Ok got the job done and attached a before and after pic for anyone that's interested. The guy took off a couple of rows of tiles and replaced the plasterboard which was non existent. He said that the original plasterboard wasn't water proof and that 'green' plaster board should have been used. He also took off the side panel of the bath and checked for leaks for a couple of days. There was some leakage there but not too bad and he let that dry out.

Was 300 quid all in and he also bought a new shower head holder and replaced the old one which was broken, and he said he done something with the taps also seemingly hot water had stopped for some reason.

evosteo

looks like a very neat professional job, big difference:)

brendankelly

I would think some random person has a very happy partner that will be rewarding (wink wink) him/her for months to come. Definately a bargin at 300 lids.