I have an old tiled shower that I need to rehab. I was thinking of buying that tileboard they sell at Home Depot to use for the walls because the shower is an odd size and the peices they sell for shower enclosures won’t fit either are too long or too short. The tile board comes in 8’ high x 4’ long sections, and I’ll be able to cut it to make it fit.
Anybody done this before? I am wondering if I have to do anything to prep the existing tile, before I glue the board to it, do I have to sand it down?
personally I’d be hesitant to attach it over the existing tile. If the original tile loosens, the whole thing comes down. I’d tear out the original tile back to studs, put up cement backer-board and then new tile, tileboard or whatever.
I try to never intall anything over a subsurface that could cause trouble.
I 2nd what mark said. Those tiles are too easily loosened over time. Usually after awhile, you’ll get a couple that will pretty much fall out on their own anyway. I would not want to put something over the top of that. Besides you new wall would stick out away from the existing wall. Just break them out of there and start fresh. We bought shower wall kits for our apts because none of them had showers (well, they had rigged up showers with pipes screwed to the wall and shower curtains hung). The tubs were fine so the shower wall kits were just what we needed. We bought shower adhesive kits that came with 3 tubes of adhesive and 1 tube of caulk. Each shower installation took too of the adhesive kits. We installed our walls over wood paneling and luan wood too. They turned out great for price and ease of installation.
I was watching a t.v. show and saw a guy use a concrete overlay system on the tile on a surround and floor. I have used them on pads and stamped the same system. It bonds right to the tile and is very inexpensive. You can trowel it down and even stamp designs in it. I don't knoe if it helps but just an idea.
The easiest method is to install a surround over the tile… If this is for the property that you were having trouble with the L/O, this is how I would address this… you can get a nice surround for between $150-$300.
BUT, if you are not going to go with a surround, do it right and rip it to the studs.
Insulate if on exterior wall.
Vapor Barrier.
1/2" Cconrete Backer Board
Seal the joints with mesh-tape and mastick
Install the tile
Grout.
Seal
Don’t bother with Bath Fitters, they will charge you over $1000-$2000 for the a similar surround solution… although they may throw in a “soap dispenser” to sweeten the deal… :biggrin
No matter which option you choose, this is not that big a project that you couldn’t tackle to save some serious cash…
If you are referring to the tile board that I think you are… that is to say that medium density fiberboard (MDF) crap…then I wouldn’t use that stuff. Even if you are completely financially ruined, the MDF tile board is the wrong way to go. I have original ceramic tile in units that were built in 1950. Do you know what I do when the tenants move out?
I clean it.
That’s it.
That MDF is going to look terrible in 1 year, and be worthless in 5 years. If you are totally messed up financially, you would do better to repair the existing tile than to switch to such garbage. You can use hydrochloric acid to scrub the grout out, then chisel out any existing broken tiles, replace broken tiles with the closest thing you can find, glue them in with thin-set, then re-grout the surround.
Do you mean hydrocloric acid or MURATIC acid I used muratic to cean grout that a contractor left to set on the floor because he no sponge? :banghead
Anyway I use the muratic and it is rough stuff I think hydrocloric would be a real mistake, correct me if I am wrong.
Yes, and I have tenants with crowbars and dynamite that attempt to destroy my apartments. The last time they went at it, the only thing left standing was that good old Masonite backing shower board and steel tub.
Most of the work of repairing an existing tile job can be done with a small cold chisel. You can also mechanically remove existing grout with a grout removal tool.
Hydrochloric acid and muriatic acid are the same, I avoid this stuff whenever I can, but it works great when you need a fast easy way to remove hardened cement. Obviously, be careful when you are working with this stuff because inadvertent spills will ruin other things like linoleum or chorion. I always use eye protection and chemical gloves and a fume mask. I’ve heard that some hardware stores have stopped carrying this stuff due to HAZMAT shipping regulations. You should still be able to buy stuff like this in the mason yards.
Vinegar is also an acid but has weaker acidic properties, it can be used for small cleanups.
John, I’ve had masonite tub surrounds that I’ve had to rip out because it scratches and it becomes discolored. Mildew gets underneath it, it peels off, it rots the underlying studs and It looks like crap in just a few years. Could you recommend a specific brand or building technique? What kind of adhesive do you use? Do you seal it?
Tile is cheap. You can buy a low end wet tile saw for $90. I just rebuilt a shower surround; here’s how I did it.
Rip out the drywall to the nearest stud. Leave half a stud to screw or nail the existing drywall every 8” and half a stud to screw the new cement board every 8”
Insulate any walls leading to the outdoors; use any left over insulation for noise abatement on indoor walls.
Use at least 4mil plastic sheets for a vapor barrier. Staple them up, overlap them at least 6 inches.
Screw on cement board. I like to fill and tape the cement board with fiberglass mesh tape and thin set.
Use a skim coat of thin set to make the tape joints and the walls flat.
Mark a line up the middle of each wall vertically. Set your tile along this mark. Keep setting tile around your initial course. You may but the tile together or use rubber tile spacers, depending upon the look that you want. Cut the tile to fit the corners. You will also need to cut the tile to accommodate the valve and shower head. If a tile needs to have a hole in it, I simply cut the tile in half at the area for the hole and cut two half circles. If you would like corner shelves or a soap dish, you will need to cut the tile to accommodate these also.
Grout the tile and install the fixtures.
Clean the tile with vinegar and seal it.
Use drywall joint compound to make a skim coat where the drywall meets any exposed cement board.
This project took about 4 days and cost about $300.
You should mention what kind of house this is. That will dictate how much money and effort you put into it. No sense spending a bunch of time and money on a bath if the rest of the house is falling around it.
If the tiles aren’t falling off the wall, the best solution is elbow grease. Scrub the scum off the tiles, scrape away any of the old caulk (the junk that gets moldy) and spray the grout with straight Clorox. Maybe a couple of applications there. And wash it all down. Make sure you’ve ot good ventilation in there. Any grout that’s missing, patch up with a little non-sanded grout. Since all grout was white until a few years back, it will be easy to match with a medium white color.
But you’ve probably got it all torn out and redone by now. Do this the next time. If you had to get down to the studs by ripping out lathe and plaster, you’ll know what I mean…