Ensuite tiling advice

[darrena]

Hi,

Just looking for some advice
I am just stripping our ensuite out to start building a wet room.
The room is pretty small only 2.9m x 1m with a small window at one end.
The wet room is being formed with a Marmox shower stone and I plan to fit 4-6 spotlights in the ceiling.

My tiling dilemma is around what colour tiles to use and what type to use for the floor i.e. mosaic or not!

I really like bathrooms with darker grey or even black tiles but is this room to small for this colour, I quite like the tiles with sparkles or glitter in them but they are about 3x my square meter budget. The look I'm going for is modern but I'm not keen on white tiles. Any advice or ideas are appreciated.

Now appart from the odd kitchen or bathroom I am not an experienced tiler so should I use standard tiles or mosaic for the floor taking in to account the wet room floor former and my ability as a tiler?
Can you use polished mosaic tiles or are they still too slippery.

Also mosaic tiles seem so expensive starting at £8 per 2m, I assume somewhere like topstiles are about the cheapest retailer.

Sorry to go on but this tile business has been driving me mad I must have spent the best part of a day in topps tiles over the last few weeks

Cheers
Darren

[timeless john]

Darrena - as this is just your 2nd post .

As for the details you require I'am afraid my advice would be to get someone in to advise you of the professional way to do this room.
Any tiler worth his wage would be able to show you sample tiles, explain the tanking required and carry out the work to a standard that will add value to your property.

[Dave]

And there are better priced tile shops than topps.

[aph257]

And there are better priced tile shops than topps.

Topps, should be "bottoms". they're over priced and usualy run by sales people almost as bad as the "sheds".

[darrena]

Can you suggest a few, maybe by PM if you prefer

[enduro]

If you tell us what part of the country your in then maybe someone could recommend a good tile supplier near to you.

[Dave]

Tile Giant are good..

[cornish_crofter]

Also, a few more details about the installation would be good.

Floor type - wooden or concrete etc
Walls - solid or plasterboard?

The reason why Timeless John has suggested you get someone round is that there is so much preperation surrounding a wet room that, unless you do them all the time, you will most likely need to research every bit of the project.

This is not a kitchen splashback where 1) they are easier to get right, and 2) If you don't get it 100% it is extremely unlikely to affect the fabric of your house.

[darrena]

Hi,

I am in Andover hants,
The floor is curently chipboard and I was going to fit the shower stone and then fit marine ply to the remaining floor in the room and will also strengthen the floor to remove any risk of future cracks etc.
My fathering law has just finished fitting a wet room so although this is my first I am try to learn from his experience and mistakes etc.
I have spent quite alot of time researching and have gone for the marmox shower stone on the bases it can be cust to shape aliitle more than the others meaning I can go for a 1000m x 1000m.

[darrena]

sorry wall is plasterboard, about a 5cm cavity one side and 2 the other so I am going to bring one of the walls out so that I can hide all the sink and towel rail pipework

[cornish_crofter]

Hi Darren

I was born in Andover!!!! I grew up in Penton Mewsey so I used to know the area quite well. It's been a while and Penton Mewsey has changed a lot since I was last there I think.

As far as your floor is concerned, I can't help you much there I'm afraid. The only wetrooms I have done have been on solid floors. Suffice to say that it is increadibly important to make sure your floor is sound and any movement is eliminated. Others, especially Wetdecs may be able to advise you on the best way forward for floor preparation.

Wetdecs will also be able to advise on the best former to use. IIRC he stocks one for wooden floors. Essentially you remove a section of the floor boards and install this in its place.

I can however tell you that you will need to tank the walls with a membrane of sorts.

You will also have to pay particular attention to your pipes coming out of the floor, if you are to have any. The usual practice is to 'collar' them when tanking around them, be it floors or walls, although you did say you were going to make efforts to hide the pipework

With regards to the walls, you need to be thinking about the best tanking product to use. Where you want to build a wall out you have the option of using Wedi board or similar and avoiding the need to tank that part. Or some here reckon on using ordinary plasterboard and tanking over that.

There are two main forms of tanking. One is a membrane such as Dural, the other is a solution made by the likes of BAL etc. I have recently used a Weber kit that CTD were doing for £40 inc vat before Christmas. This is a paint on solution and is designed to be tiled onto in the normal way.

The advantages of the membrane over the tanking solution is that some people believe it to be much more foolproof. In that it is difficult to 'miss a bit' when you adhere it to the walls. However it is more expensive. It is adhered on using a cement based adhesive. I have heard some people complain that the tanking solution has a habit of coming away or not adhering to the wall properly. TBH much of this is probably down to lack of preparation on the walls. The instructions are quite clear in this respect.

If you go to the Tanking and Wetroom Section you will find a number of stickies regarding tanking and fitting of formers etc.

Maybe this thread should be moved. Your call Dave

[darrena]

Thanks for the advice cornish_crofter

[darrena]

any other good tile suppliers in the south.
Also, I'm replacing the ceiling as it currenly has artex and I want a plain ceiling with spots, at what point would you get it plastered before or after the tiling?

[cornish_crofter]

I would probably get it reskimmed before you start the tiling if you have the choice.

Just thinking then you wouldn't have to clean the bathroom out afterwards, although the plsterer should use dust sheets.

Also, if he's working in the old bathroom or an empty room, then he can't damage anything you want to keep. If he's working in your new bathroom and dropps his derby on your new fittings..... just a thought.

[darrena]

Thanks cornish_crofter I feel that planning is by far the most important part of this job.
I have curently removed the toilet, sink and all the tiles that are external of the shower.
Next job is to remove the shower, tiles and then pop the floor boards up to take a look at where the shower drain and water supply will go.
Then replace all the plasterboard, need to move a wall out as the builders only gave it a 2cm cavity which will not house the sink supply, drain and the towel rail supply that all need to be hiden behind the wall.

With just weekends available and our own bouncy castle hire business to run I think I may be still asking questions this time next year!!!!!!!!

[cornish_crofter]

Don't forget if you're using plasterboard you'll need to budget for tanking membrane. I would be reluctant to use the tanking solution on plasterboard.

My preference would be Aquapanel or wediboard, especially in the wet area.

[darrena]

Hi
Aquapanel seems pretty cheap can this just be used instead of plasterboard and does it have pretty similar qualities?

[whitebeam]

Yes it can be used in place of PB, aqua board is a cement board while plasterboard is a gypsum product