DIY Related: Finishing a shower off, nervous about existing work

[Tynan]

Hello all, I'm trying to finish various uncomplete jobs around the house after a builder walked away, his work was generally sound i think but towards the end he started hurrying stuff and cutting corners

At this momemt I'm tryng to complete a downstairs shower room. The shower body is in place and I've plumbed water into it and am ready to tile the back wall and tile it, at this point after some googling as to what to watch out for I have some doubts.

the left wall is tiled straight on to plaster, it's the party wall so maybe skimmed onto that? I can certainly see plaster under the tiles.

The right wall seems to be tiled straight onto some sort of ply, it's quite a mid brown and smooth so I'm hoping marine ply but no real idea, that's a stud wall built to form the shower room

The back wall ... there's 2x3 framework and four panels of ply that have a hole cut for the shower body, there's a recess of about a foot behind this and then a brick wall with the 'under the stairs' behind it, the supply comes from there and then through the wall.

I suspect the ply here is bog standard ply from the feel of it, there's also some voids in the central layer between the segments of that layer

I'm a humble DIYer and not that handy,I was happy plumbing and tiling this in, I'm now worried about a few things before I proceed ...

A. Is the tiling onto plaster on the brick wall going to be ok as regards waterproof and tiles staying up

B. Is the tiling on the ply wall going to be ok regard water and tiles

C. What to do with the back wall, is treating it with something and making sure it's well secured going to be good enough?

D. And finally, the metal shower frame for the door appears to be screwed directly to the tiles, it doesn;t look to be waterproof in any way to even an optimist, should it not have some sort of seal?

I've taken a heavy breather video that tries to show the ply wall, the edge of two sheets of the back wall ply, the plaster on the party plastered wall and finally the metal door frame screwed to the tiles

http://www.ruedelagare.co.uk/CAM/VID00015.MP4 (takes a while to load)

Is it sensible to carry on and finish the job as it stands or does it need all taking down and starting again, I've seen the tanking installation vids and they look very sensible.

The shower space is ground floor if that matters

many thanks, I really wanted to get this done this week but I don't want to be doing it again in the forseeable future

Tynan

[GirlRacerRed]

hi Tynan

do you have any photographs you could upload to this thread so our members can get a view of what you're looking at? This way, they'll be able to offer more specific guidance.

also, do you have an idea of what tiles you want to fix?

[Tynan]

Hi

I was hoping the vid would do that? Can you see it?

Two walls are already tiled, they're 'Barbetti Gres Porcellato - Full Body Stoneware' measuring 12"x21"

Here's some photos

P1020409.gif
The shower frame screwed to the tiles, metal frame stright to tile as far as i can see

P1020410.gif
View of the ply used for the back wall, showing a void? means it's not Marine ply?

P1020406.gif
The ply? behind the tiling on the stud wall, where it meets the back wall

P1020408.gif
The edge of the lower two pieces of ply on the back wall

P1020407.jpg
The plaster behind the tiles on the party brick wall

[nybor62]

if you can see plaster under the tiles , you mean between the joints , then he as dot and dabbed them , and imo that is no good

just noticed video link

large format tiles , i should start again , sorry

[GirlRacerRed]

I struggle to see vids when I'm at work, as I don't have a vid player on my pc.

looks like bog standard ply to me, but does anybody else have any views to help Tynan with his project?

[GirlRacerRed]

also, have you any idea of what adhesive your builder used to fix the tiles that are up already?

[Tynan]

I can see what I assume is behind the two walls of tiles up, in the gap between the tiles and and the back wall, ie the space for the back wall's ply and the back wall's tile, it's what I've tried to show in the pictures

I did have some professionals out a year ago who certainly mentioned that they'd have used cement board and mounted the door frame differently, although they also said the job so far was ok and they had no problem finishing it, but perhaps they're were happy just to finish off rather than tell me about problems

I have no idea what he used, sorry, he worked while we were both out out work, I trusted him to get on with (yes I know)

[Tynan]

I now recall, in the bulider's defence that it's a tight fit for the tray, it's an exact fit between the party and stud walls, there wasn't much to spare between the width of the shower tray and the corridor outside

but that said, I presume the cement board or whatever isn't go take much space up and if necessary could slightly ovelap over the tray?

[Brinkley]

shower screen needs sealing on the outside only all the way round dont seal the inside aswater may get trapped

[Tynan]

thank-you

the wife has given the ok to rip it all down and start from scratch with cement board and tanking if there's doubt about the way it's been dome until now

but the time and cost is a bloody pain, remebering how to plumb and tile is enough ag for me, she reminded me about next door's tales of wofe about having their new shower tiled three times before it was right and stopped leaking

[Tynan]

Hello again, I'm not surw what I've done to get such a limited response

Anyway, after much sucking of teetch and readin up I'm about to do the back wall with Aqua panel and have just finished the stud wall and plumbed in the shower body, I'm ready to start puttig up the Aquapanel, the bit I'm struggling to visualise is the join between the pipework and the shower as it passes through the tiles, I have all the right connectors but I ca;t quite see the best way to get the connection from behind the tiles just right for the shower bit to slide onto the end of the brass fitting, it seems like it'll have be just right, am I supposed to do it with dead reckoning?

Aslo, how should I seal the hole through the Aquapanel and the tile? I have a diamond hold drill to make a nice neat hole (hopefully) but what's the procedure for sealing between the hold and the pipework? Silicon or adhesive or is there some sort of rubber seal that I'm yet to see?

Sorry about the flapping, first time job for me and I', a natural worrier

[diamondtiling]

Seal the holes with clear silicone before tiling, also seal the gaps between the panels if you have not taped them. Getting the position of the connections is crucial, too much clearance and your control bar will be proud, too little and you will struggle to fix the bar. These items have a tolerance either way, usually about 5-10mm. Check the instructions.
Sometimes posts can get lost on the forum, that is not down to indifference on our side, just a heck of a lot of people posting many questions.
It might be best if you steered your thread with regular input on your progress.


Any more questions just ask away

[Tynan]

Thank-you

Cool, so dead reckoning and then fill the space around the joins with silicone, is it sensible to leave the pipework behind the board and tiles with some play to allow for wiggle or should it be clipped solid?

I suppose with a piece of board and a piece of tile I can mock it up

Do you mean the tolerance where the shower connector slides onto the brass fitting coming through the tile?

The shower instructions don't extend beyond the surface of the tiles

[Tynan]

oh, and I have the aquapanel tape for the joints

I've squinted at the join between the connector and the inital piece of the showerr and there does seem to be a little bit of tolerance

the join is what I think is called a right angle elbow, it's round with a screw fitting on the side for the shower hose and a opening along the axis for the end of the brass connector to slide into, the two rubber O rings make a tight fit, I assume that that tight fit is all it uses to hold it together? The chap in the plumbers merchant said so, the shower is a Moonshadow SC

[Tynan]

here's a pic of the end of 'my' pipework and the start of the shower

[diamondtiling]

I am not sure about that fitting, is it a push fit at one end? Usually your feeds will be fixed with clips to the stud work behind the shower so as to reduce movement on the pipes when the controls are turned off and on. Pipes under pressure can flex or move and need to be secured. You might want to alter things if you are going to be leaving the bar or controls fixed only to the tiles.
Have you done work like this before? I ask because if not you might want to consult a plumber, shower bars etc have different fittings that may need to be fitted depending on your heating system.

Try our sister forum here........Plumbing Forum | Plumbing Advice | Plumbers Forums | A forum for plumbers advice in the UK

We can help you with the tiles and sub walls but its best to safe than sorry.

All the best.

[diamondtiling]

I am not sure about that fitting, is it a push fit at one end? Usually your feeds will be fixed with clips to the stud work behind the shower so as to reduce movement on the pipes when the controls are turned off and on. Pipes under pressure can flex or move and need to be secured. You might want to alter things if you are going to be leaving the bar or controls fixed only to the tiles.
Have you done work like this before? I ask because if not you might want to consult a plumber, shower bars etc have different fittings that may need to be fitted depending on your heating system.

Try our sister forum here........Plumbing Forum | Plumbing Advice | Plumbers Forums | A forum for plumbers advice in the UK

We can help you with the tiles and sub walls but its best to safe than sorry.

All the best.

[Tynan]

Hi, the professional did the hot and cold supply, all I've done is connect it to the shower body from there, it's all as per the instructions for the showerbody (Trevi) and now I'm running it out to the point at which it will come through the tiles and connect to the start of the silver shower bits, yes, the pipework behind the tiling is going to be clipped to the studwork so the brass pipework will be solid, the join between the end of the brassfitting and the silver part is pushed together, it's a tight fit but secured by nothing other than the two rubber rings, fair point regarding plumbing and tiling, I'll ask the question there

thanks for the answer regarding the silicone, and please watch for a torrent of questions once the boards are up and I'm eyeballing the tiling

I tiled a bathroom once and I've a little bit of plumbing, I think Im ok with it all other that the (probably crucial) details

[Tynan]

Right, this Aquaboard, the back wakk is 80cm give or take a few mm and the Aquaboard is 90cmx120cm so I'm planning to cut 10cm off the long side and use two sheet one above the other, it says leave 3mm between sheets which is fine but should i leave 3mm between the sheet and the two sides? I'll have to anyway because the walls won't be straight?

so fill the space between the board and the corner with waterproof adhesive and the tape on top of that into the corner?

and when I tile, good practice to cut the tiles so the center line runs down the middle of the back wall? the two side walls already tiles are a whole tile starting from the back wall as per the photos at the start of the thread

do I tile right into the corner or leave a bit of a gap and grout it? I appreciate this last question is probably asked a million time but seeing as I've asked all the others ...

thanks
Tynan

[diamondtiling]

Leave a small gap in the corners for expansion reasons, fill with silicone when finished. Your tiles should be set out so that you have equal cuts in the corners so that means either a full tile straddling a centre line or two tiles either side of the same line.

Fill the gaps between the boards and walls with silicone.

[diamondtiling]

Leave a small gap in the corners for expansion reasons, fill with silicone when finished. Your tiles should be set out so that you have equal cuts in the corners so that means either a full tile straddling a centre line or two tiles either side of the same line.

Fill the gaps between the boards and walls with silicone.

[diamondtiling]

not sure why I keep getting double posts..............Admin please.........

[easyt]

Nasty Stammer there.

[Tynan]

that all makes sense

so I have to get some silicone, and I thought I'd already bought an insane amount of stuff ...

[Sara Van Loock]

Hi Tynan- could you tell me where you got your Barbetti Gres tiles from please? Like you, I am am half-way through a job and am a bit desperate!

Many thanks

Sara Van Loock

[GirlRacerRed]

hi Sara, it's very unlikely you'll get a response from Tynan as he hasn't been logged into the forum since April this year. Try contacting this member of our forum
Tiles in Your Garage - The Discontinued Tile Trading Web Site

welcome to TF

[Tynan]

Hi Sara, erm, it was a long time agoI'm almost certain I saw them in a small tile shop on Chingford High Road and then found then on ebay at almost half the price, sold by some tile shop in Sussex

I can try and dig out the email from the Sussex seller if you;re still stuck

I'd like to offer you my overs but with my cutting and the job in general I only have a box left

For those watching with bated breath, the tiling and plumbing is all done, the tiling is barely good enough but I've still to grout and silicon so it can only get better

yes, I'm a slow worker

[Colour Republic]

Remember to post some pictures when it's finished

[bobbynz]

Hope your psychiatrist isnt charging you to much

[Bathfix Bob]

Strange thread this, is seems there are posts missing?