Hi there,

We are currently having our bathroom completely re-done. We did only intend to retile when we started but as the tiles started to come off we were made aware of how badly things were done by the previous owners so decided to rip everything out and start from scratch.

There is only one wall that is plasterboard and our bathroom fitter (OH's cousin) has said that we need to buy some Waterproof Wall Matting for it. I wanted other peoples opinions on this as I'm not 100% sure we do need it.

On that wall is going to be the end of the bath (not the tap end), toilet, radiator, window and sink.

I can understand the need for it for shower cubicles and the like which is why I don't think that this wall is going to be particularly exposed to water other than condensation from the shower!!

Any help will be appreciated

Hi,

I'd take the advice from the professional.

However generally, I used to tank just the shower walls, then use a suitable adhesive throughout (which isn't water proof but IS water resistant - meaning water can pass through it and not damage it - but water can still get to the background of it). Plasterboard is one of the most affected substrates when it comes to water damage, so your bathroom fitter is probably just over engineering given the fact that water damage has caused you to rip out the whole thing and start again this time, its worth doing it right now so you don't have to keep spending on it every 5 - 7 years.

A bathroom should be done once and last decades in my opinion.

Checkout products like this: SHOWER WATERPROOFING KIT - All you need in 1 tub!

I've just spoken to a guy at Topps Tiles and he said that it's really just optional in our circumstances, it isn't an abolute necessity as the only water that the wall will be exposed to will be from the sink and general condensation. He also said they only tend to really advise that the Matting be used for shower cubicles and wetrooms...

He said as long as we were to use a good adhesive we shouldn't need to use it...

Really unsure! I just don't want to be spending loads of money if it's not actually necessary to do so!

Sounds like you're routing for the one answer to me and not actually asking.

Topps staff don't fit tiles. They sell them.

You can only tank the shower walls, as I said. I'd also look into a waterproofing kit rather than "matting". It'll be cheaper, and you can 'paint' all the walls if you want to, to keep your bathroom fitter happy.

"as long as you use a good adhesive you shouldn't need to use it" is rubbish. The adhesive just holds the tiles on and doesn't make anything waterproof. So if you don't tank anything and use a water RESISTANT adhesive, your plasterboard will still rot.

You need to at least tank the shower walls, though if your bathroom fitters is wanting to tank the lot, perhaps he can see a reason why.

Did you have problems on the other walls beforehand too or something?

Right... start from scratch!!

We bought the house in December 2010 and have been doing each room gradually. We hated the tiles in the bathroom (horrible pink 80's looking!) so wanted to re-tile. As we started taking the tiles off, the plasterboard on all walls apart from one came off with them. The previous owners had tiled straight onto plasterboard. We have noticed as we've decorated that a lot of what the previous owners did with this house was 'bodged'. The stud wall that had been put in place to create a shower cubicle was starting to rot at the bottom. This wall then had to come out. This wall was a supporting wall for a 'diy' vanity cabinet which consequently had to come out, which then led us to the decision of 'rip everything out, at least we will then have a new clean bathroom'.

We are now going to put in a quadrant shower instead of putting in another wall for a shower enclosure...

All the walls that needed new stuff put up where the plasterboard came off he has put the waterproof ply but for some reason left this wall as plasterboard as it was the only one that stayed standing!!

Now I just want to know what is the right thing to do with this wall.

Our fitter is family and isn't a 'professional', he is in this line of work and has been for about 6 years now but has learnt on the job, so doesn't have any specific qualifications as it were so that's why I posted on here to try and figure out if the matting is absolutely necessary or if there was an alternative that should be used instead.

Right, I did reply to this ages ago but it said it was waiting to be approved by a mod and still hasn't gone on...

Basically we bought our house in Dec 2010 and have been decorating room by room. We wanted to re-tile the bathroom because it had awful 80's pink tiles. As we started to take off the tiles, the plasterboard came with them on all walls apart from one (the owners before had tiled straight onto plasterboard, a lot of things in this house have been 'bodged'). There was a stud wall for a shower cubicle... this was rotting at the bottom so had to come out. This wall was a supporting wall for a 'diy' vanity cabinet and consequently that also had to come out. It was at this point that we decided 'rip it all out, we'll have a clean new bathroom'.

The walls where the plasterboard had come off he has put the waterproof ply up leaving just the one wall that is now plasterboard which he has said to get this matting for.

We are no longer having an extra wall for a shower cubicle and have opted for a Quadrant shower enclosure.

Our fitter is family and isn't a 'professional', he has been in this type of work for about 6 years and has learnt on the job. Therefore has no qualifications but has a relatively good idea of what he is talking about.

So I just wanted other opinions regarding it all really...

Where could I get hold of the kits if that was the route we needed to take?

Kits available from http://www.phgwetrooms.co.uk/epages/.../Products/MMAD
Note that tiling over waterproof ply will need a different adhesive to the one needed for the plasterboard.

Personally i'd have used something like Marmox boards.

What you don't want at the end of it all is to find that in 12 months time your plasterboard is rotting again, and that although again your tiles are fine, it is the background failing the job.

Thank you. I've just checked the adhesive that we've bought which is a flexible one which from reading elsewhere this is right!!

And I'll have a chat with him when he comes round tonight about the kits...

hello i wouid not take any chances, if you are going to tile a bathroom then do it properly use 10mm Aquapanel backing boards all round,there is a 6mm for the floor as well if needed.. these are used for wet rooms. screw boards to joists, tape up the joints with the Aquatape smooth the joints over with flexi-adhesive, use a Mapei showerproof kit for the tanking around showers,baths,sinks etc
this is my opinion hope this may help.

Try PHG Wetrooms for your tanking paste..

15kg tub will go a long way.. and is ready to tile in 4 hrs..


Mapei Mapelastic AquaDefense - PHG Wetrooms

Hello the Aquapanels are Water-resistant you do not need matting.Straight to the Studwork The boards,Tape,Waterproof kit, you can get them from Tile Giant.
hope this will help

Originally Posted by A Robson

Hello the Aquapanels are Water-resistant you do not need matting.Straight to the Studwork The boards,Tape,Waterproof kit, you can get them from Tile Giant.
hope this will help

I use the WP matting for all my tanking..

Thanks for everyones replies, after all of this and many a conversation we have decided to go with the WP Homelux Matting. Seeing as there are a lot of people in the know on here, what adhesive should we use for it? The stuff we are using for the tiles is a powder type flexible adhesive, would this do?

I use rapid setting..

That's what we've got should be right on track then! Woo, might have a bathroom soon! Lol.