Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Apr 08, 2014 7:46 pm Hi there! We are looking at our shower recess that is leaking, and wondering if we can just retile the shower recess on it's own, without having to rip up and gut the rest of the bathroom? Has anyone heard whether this is possible at all? I had a tiler come in today, and said that they couldn't do just the tiling in the shower....that they would need to gut the entire shower and bathroom, and redo the tiling throughout the whole room. The shower recess is 3 stud walls with tiles on them, and the floor steps down into the shower....from the bathroom floor. The house is around 30 years old....so the sealant is most likely deteriorating...if not non-existant...don't know... We do have some obvious leaking signs, with damage happening to the surrounding walls.....this has been going on for many years.... We siliconed the tiles where grouting had given way, some years back...and it's most likely due for some more fresh silicone now.... If we silicone up the grouting spaces, and paint a sealant over the tiles for now.....are we just delaying the inevitable? The tilers say that the spacing between the tiles is causing the leaking... Am getting in some more quotes from other tilers over the coming weeks....but wanted to ask here for any feedback....have searched the forums and read a bit about this.... Thanks for any advice you can give! Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 2Apr 08, 2014 10:54 pm I'm certainly no expert (though I DO have a leaking shower also!), but I can't see why you couldn't have just the shower area re-done. It should just be a matter of removing the tiles in the recess (floor and walls), applying new waterproofing, and then re-tiling. You will probably not be able to match your existing tiles, but you could find something that complements what you have in the rest of the room. We regrouted our shower, then applied a sealant (Shower Plug), then siliconed over the worst areas, and still our shower leaks. I am redoing the whole bathroom, but only because it is 50 years old and really ugly. If money was tight, I would just do the shower recess. Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 3Apr 09, 2014 9:01 am Yep, that was my thinking also.....but the guy who quoted yesterday said that by law they cannot do just the shower recess anymore...when it comes to tiling.....he said that in 2004 it changed, and now if they chip into tiles in the bathroom area, then they have to retile the entire bathroom.....I'm not sure if this is true or if they were just telling me that....getting another quote today... Even if we bought all of the tiles we want to use in the whole bathroom...but just do the shower for now...that would help financially.... I'm not so keen to just try and fix up the grouting etc...as I think that it is a bigger issue than that...but it all comes down to money I'm afraid...like it usually does...lol Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 4Apr 09, 2014 2:31 pm I will be interested to hear what today's tiler says. It must come down to waterproofing, for which there is a Standard to be followed. If you take off the old tiles you will destroy any waterproofing that may be there now, but the Standard only calls for the shower recess walls to be waterproofed, not the rest of the bathroom walls. Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 5Apr 09, 2014 3:16 pm I am too....although, that's if he ever turns up...still waiting an hour and a half after he said he would be here.... The other guy yesterday said that they have to (by law apparently) put the membrane all over the base of the bathroom room....so it extends out from the shower and into the bathroom and up the walls by 150mm.... If we have to go outside the shower, then we will basically have to re do the whole bathroom, because the vanity and built in bath are all tiled "in and around" it....so I'm trying to get quotes for Option A which is shower only and Option B which is everything.... Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 6Apr 09, 2014 5:30 pm He's right about the membrane needing to cover the whole floor area, but I thought that would apply only if you were doing the whole bathroom. How crazy if you are forced to do a whole room just to fix a shower recess. Anyway, you wouldn't be going through Council, so who would check it? Maybe the waterproofer won't warranty his work? I had something similar come up with the need to have a floor waste in a bathroom where there isn't one now. I had 4 quotes for a full renovation. Two of the builders insisted on quoting extra to create a new floor waste ($2000 extra); the other two said the rule only applied to new builds, and it wouldn't be necessary, although it could affect resale value. Frankly, resale doesn't bother me, so I'm going with a builder who wasn't worried about it. Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 7Apr 09, 2014 6:10 pm Well, the guy never turned up....gave some half hearted reason.... spoke to another guy on the phone and he said that if they start with the shower, they have to rip up all the tiles in the bathroom, so the entire room is waterproofed......okkkkkkk.....arghhh This whole process started, because a routine termite inspection found 'some sort of movement' in the wall of the shower.....they couldn't tell me if it was termites or black ants...either way they recommended a treatment....we knew that there was a slow leak in the shower....but after talking to the pest guy he said that we needed to deal with the leak as it would attract termites.....so the plan was to just retile the shower recess only....rip the tiles off the wall...and lay down new ones...and reseal underneath the tiles.....but then when the guy came out yesterday, he said that the tiles on the floor of the step down recessed shower flow up into the bathroom flooring....that once you start ripping the floor tiles out of the shower recess....that you are inevitably going to damage the tiles on the bathroom floor..so if any water comes from under the bathroom tiles....it will run UNDER the membrane in the shower recess....and void warranty.... omg, I'm so frustrated by this, and I haven't even gotten started really with the planning of it all....I hate this bathroom with a passion.....red floor tiles, red vanity bench, pink wall tiles....the tiles are so old that they have lost their varnish, so they are pretty hard to clean....the grouting is all yuck....so sick of it...I don't know if there is a specific source of the leak....or if it's a combination of things...either way, it needs to be sorted, before we end up with some huge structural issues....and worse still, termites... https://www.flickr.com/gp/louise_creative/7TPFC7 I've 'project managed' our kitchen reno before....and it was a hugeeee task....very stressful....but I was happy to do it, as we saved a bundle....got some awesome features to our kitchen for a great price....and I could do the same again for the bathroom.... But the tiling feels like the biggest expense....and I feel overwhelmed by it..... We DIYd a LOT of our kitchen, except for electrics, plumbing, ceasarstone benches, glass splashback......we got some excellent tradies for those tasks who did an awesome job......the bare bones of painting and cabinets, and getting everything prepped for the tradies was done by my husband and I...... I don't know if we could do any of the tiling ourselves.....I feel like we will need to in order to be able to afford a redo of the entire bathroom......but I'm dead scared of not doing a good job in the shower recess itself.....and being without a bathroom for weeks on end, waiting for ourselves to get it finished....is a tad different to not having a kitchen for weeks..... Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 8Apr 11, 2014 2:04 pm I was wondering if a complete shower cubicle (Reece sells them) with a base, walls and door, could be fitted where your existing shower is, without you needing to do any tiling. I have read that tiling is one job to be left to the professionals if you want it done well. I'm assuming that you wouldn't need to waterproof behind the cubicle, but would need a plumber to connect up your existing taps and floor waste. It really is a pain to have to do the whole bathroom before you are ready, and I find it annoying that there are regulations dictating this to people. I've seen photos of bathrooms overseas where the floors are timber - no waterproofing at all, no floor waste. But kudos to you for project managing your kitchen and I'm sure you will cope with the bathroom reno if you really have to. Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 9Apr 14, 2014 8:52 pm Just a thought is it the shower hob area leaking or the connection on some of the plumbing work in the wall. It can often be the taps or pipe connections that are causing the leak not sure if you have check this or not. Re: Brisbane bathroom......in need of help :) 10Apr 15, 2014 8:07 am Quote: We do have some obvious leaking signs, with damage happening to the surrounding walls.....this has been going on for many years.... If this is happening then you need to rectify it sooner than later or the damage outside the bathroom could progressively get worse. Personally if you can't afford a total bathroom reno I wouldn't re-do the shower as I think that once you strip it out you will find rotten studs and bottom plate that need to be re-built as well. That will just lead to more work and possibly having to trash the whole bathroom once you start. I'd get some sort of sealer and coat the entire shower area for a temporary fix ( read 6 month to a year ) then do the whole bathroom in one go. Doing a lot of the work like demolition and rubbish removal yourself will save you a lot of cash. Stewie Hello It is good to have a planned bathroom reno to suit your budget and design, living for 10 years I think you need a bathtub 4 10384 All 3 items listed are defects and are of concern. Please seek qualified independent inspector and/or legal advice for your state. 1 8233 This is a very tight fit, I'm not sure if you'll be able to achieve what you've described. Would you consider accessing the separate toilet from the laundry? If so maybe… 1 11258 |