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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Painting, Decorating & Tiling Questions >> Wet room tiling floor or walls first? https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1257591003 Message started by BigClick on Nov 7^th, 2009, 10:50am

Title: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Nov 7^th, 2009, 10:50am

Doing my first wet room, wanted to know if the floor is first then the wall or the other way round. Obviously there is no skirting.
Thanks

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by Lectrician on Nov 7^th, 2009, 5:52pm

I am a spark, but it does seem sensible to me to tile the floor first, both from a water and cosmetic point of view?

I assume you are obviously doing something to the floor before simply tiling it?

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by TIMBA-WOLF on Nov 7^th, 2009, 6:41pm

Detra or smlilar first before tiling, paying particular attention to the wall to floor joints... floor tiling then walls..... will post a semi wet room ive just done shortly.....

Here they are...

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Nov 8^th, 2009, 10:50am

TIMBA-WOLF wrote on Nov 7^th, 2009, 6:41pm:

Detra or smlilar first before tiling, paying particular attention to the wall to floor joints... floor tiling then walls..... will post a semi wet room ive just done shortly.....

Here they are...

That looks a like great job, would you come and do mine please? :-)

I have just found out a problem! I will be "tanking the area with primer followed by two coats of tanking compound applied at 90 degrees to each other and neoprane joints beddied in, I intend replacing the floor boards with marine ply and using an isolating waterproof membrane. However I looked along one of the walls and it seems the plaster board may have been a bit too wide for the area because it bows out, I felt underneath from where I had removed the shower tray and the plasterboard adehsive is intact suggesting the bow was introduced when it was stuck on the wall :-(

What sort of variation will the tiles tolerate? I expect "her indoors" will choose around 10" x 8" tiles.

I put a straight edge on the wall and in the worst area there is an 8mm dip over about 12 incheswide and 16 inches high.

Can I tile it straight or suffer a minor bow, or should i rip off the boards (last resort)?

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by woodsmith on Nov 8^th, 2009, 12:28pm

If the bow is behind where the shower used to be it sounds like you have had water getting behind the tiles.

Tiles have to be applied on an absolutely flat surface, I'd rip it off and replace with a waterproof board like Hardibacker :(

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by Joiner on Nov 8^th, 2009, 12:50pm

http://diywetroom.com/products.htm

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Nov 8^th, 2009, 1:01pm

woodsmith wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 12:28pm:

The bow was made at the time of installation, the adhesive fills the void, it didn't expand because of water, it was perfectly dry there.

Ok, So I have to take the plunge and remove the origianl plasterboard. Is there a best practice for removing plaster board thats been glued to a breeze block substrate? (generous dabs)

Thanks

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by woodsmith on Nov 8^th, 2009, 2:07pm

Get as much of the board off as you can so that you can see the extent of the adhesive dabs. Sometimes, if you use a wide electricians bolster, the adhesive will come away pretty cleanly from the block, but usually it is hard work to get it off. Sticks like the proverbial and sets rock hard.

If you have access to an SDS drill you can hack it off with a wide spade but otherwise it is just hard work. Bear in mind you probably don't need to get every bit off, especially if you want the new finished surface to be the same height as the old, then you can just take the top 10mm off for most of it.

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Nov 8^th, 2009, 5:28pm

woodsmith wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 12:28pm:

My other half made a good point... if there were tiles there before, why won't they work now? I don't have an answer for her and I am wondering my self

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by woodsmith on Nov 8^th, 2009, 6:09pm

wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 5:28pm:

My other half made a good point... if there were tiles there before, why won't they work now? I don't have an answer for her and I am wondering my self

Thats a good question, women can be so annoying, :-X because I don't have an answer. ;D...... to how your original tiles were laid flat, other than if the join in the tile coincided with the change in level of the wall.

The smaller the tile the easier it is to tile on an uneven surface, that's why mosaics are used on swimming pools. The bigger the tile the flatter the wall needs to be. If you don't believe me, lose lay some tiles on an uneven surface.

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by TIMBA-WOLF on Nov 8^th, 2009, 10:15pm

woodsmith wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 6:09pm:

. If you don't believe me, lose lay some tiles on an uneven surface.

And believe me, i have a client that wants 18" sq tile on a flaming CURVED sureface!!!! (MUPPET springs to mind!)

as to an answer, may be, the tiler started as some do, and knowing the middle is /was humped, began at the centre and worked both ways.. starting with a thinner bed at the centre, then working with a 1/2" curved notched trowel began adding a deeper bed as he progressed side ways... i know i have had to in the past!

the other point/er is how big a tile was originally used.... 9 x 6 probably???

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Nov 9^th, 2009, 5:43pm

TIMBA-WOLF wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 10:15pm:

woodsmith wrote on Nov 8^th, 2009, 6:09pm:

. If you don't believe me, lose lay some tiles on an uneven surface.

I have decided to strip the board and replacing with Aquapanel, same for the other wall from that corner. It also gives me the opportunity to run the basin waste behind the Aquapanel instead of through the main joist. The remaining walls are "flatish" so I will prepare and tile as I originaly intended they wont especialy get wet in any case.

Makes me laugh, If I had never reseached any of this I would have slapped a bit of tile adhesive on over the top of the stripped walls and left it at that. :-)

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by Zambezi on Nov 23^rd, 2009, 8:44am

You can "pack out" tiles to work on uneven walls. It is not easy and can be messy but if it is just a small section then you can do it without too much stress.
You use more adhesive in the areas with dips and less in the areas with lumps. It involves a bit of trial and error to get the correct level but experienced tilers can get it pretty spot on every time (I am not an experienced tiler ;D).

Title: Re: Wet room tiling floor or walls first?
Post by BigClick on Dec 6^th, 2009, 10:48am

wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2009, 8:44am:

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. In the end I took the dry lining off. It was easy because the gypsum adhesive was daubed in big lumps on to block work that was probably not given any preparation because the daubs fell off with a slight knock from my mini crow bar.
So I now have two block brick walls, one of them runs out by 2 inches (yes inches) from floor to ceiling, so a bit of fancy batten work to do?

The other problem I have now is after removing the boards from where I want the wet room former, I discover the main joist (7x4) that the joist hangers are fixed to (for the right angled joists) is twisted and so forms a a high ridge. This wasn’t a problem (presumably) when it was a traditional shower tray, floor boards and carpet, but now it buggers up the level for the wet room tray. I can’t see how I can work the joist to remove the effect of the twist without moving the joist hanger top portion out of the way as I do each section.
Any suggestions welcome :-/