Can you refit a broken tile?

MassiveJim · 7 Nov 2021 at 13:04

On suite shower 20 years old, can't match existing tiles, don't have budget to renovate at this very moment in time.

Shower is leaking because of loose tiles/ grout.
The 2 loose tiles are broken.
1 of them is in 2 pieces, 1 is in 3.

Can I refit them and still be waterproof somehow?

Or alternative solutions?

Destination · 7 Nov 2021 at 13:05

floor or wall ooi?

Semple · 7 Nov 2021 at 13:31

I'm not sure I'd trust a cracked tile on the wall or the floor. It'd be very hard to grout to ensure water doesn't seep through.

You'd be better off just getting a mismatched tile and wait to renovate.

MassiveJim · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:07

Both wall tiles in the bottom corner of the shower 2 tiles up from the bottom

MassiveJim · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:08

Semple said:
I'm not sure I'd trust a cracked tile on the wall or the floor. It'd be very hard to grout to ensure water doesn't seep through.

You'd be better off just getting a mismatched tile and wait to renovate.

Could I use silicon on the broken part to form a seal?

Renovation will be years away, we have loads of other stuff to do first.

dlockers · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:08

Can't be that hard to find a roughly matching new tile. Or a slightly different one "as a design feature".

jpaul · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:13

can you mill outy the crack with a diamond tip of some kind , to robustly put some epoxy in.

Dis86 · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:22

What's a suite shower?

Efour · 7 Nov 2021 at 14:40

Shower has high water pressure and can extend very high cos I'm 6 foot 6 tall. That's what i call a sweet shower mate.

MassiveJim · 12 Nov 2021 at 22:45

so I went and bought some plain white tiles and some adhesive.
I borrowed a mate's tile cutter, went to tackle the job tonight.
I started to remove some of the broken tiles (4 broken and 1 in between so 5 in total) and found the plasterboard was wet in places, 2nd tile up from the bottom the plasterboard just gave way completely, I then removed another couple of tiles that weren't loose as such but had some movement in them and have also removed any really wet plasterboard.

There doesn't appear to be any cement board behind the tiles just plasterboard, but the bottom row of tiles had this black stuff behind them, feels like rock to the touch, and it goes over the lip of the shower.

So the job has turned into quite a bit more than I intended and I am not 100% sure where I should go from here

do I need to remove more tiles and fit cement board behind at least the bottom 2 rows of tiles, or can I just use patches to fill in where the damage is.
The tiles I bought are thicker than the ones I removed, will this matter or should I go and get ones that are the same thickness.

bearing in mind I have never tiled anything in my life.

Dis86 · 12 Nov 2021 at 23:53

It's not difficult to tile. However is your budget still tight as it's gonna be a couple of hundred at least to do it properly?

MassiveJim · 13 Nov 2021 at 00:25

Dis86 said:
It's not difficult to tile. However is your budget still tight as it's gonna be a couple of hundred at least to do it properly?

I can spend whatever needs spending, but keeping cost to a minimum right now is preferable as we intend to completely renovate it at some point.

What are you recommending?

Dis86 · 13 Nov 2021 at 00:48

MassiveJim said:
I can spend whatever needs spending, but keeping cost to a minimum right now is preferable as we intend to completely renovate it at some point.

What are you recommending?

Well, good to see your shower tray has an upstand. I'd strip off the whole load of tiles to see what you have. Get rid of the crap behind by replacing with the correct water resistant board or even tank it. Then if you're saving cash cheap tiles for now. Spot apply adhesive and they should come off later when you want them to.

mattyg · 13 Nov 2021 at 00:49

In that case stuff the tiling and replace with shower board. Really easy to do.

Dis86 · 13 Nov 2021 at 00:53

mattyg said:
In that case stuff the tiling and replace with shower board. Really easy to do.

Also not a bad shout.

mattyg · 13 Nov 2021 at 00:58

Dis86 said:
Also not a bad shout.

Its come on so much we use it in a lot of our renovations now.

MassiveJim · 13 Nov 2021 at 13:56

mattyg said:
In that case stuff the tiling and replace with shower board. Really easy to do.

I'll take a look at those now,

few questions (sorry if they are stupid)
what does it attach to ?
ie. plasterboard, direct to wall etc.
Could I put it over existing tiles ?
obviously at the moment the wall is mostly tiled with a bit of plasterboard and a bit of missing plasterboard

If I have to remove tiles to fit it how do I cut a tile in half without breaking it, as the shower screen is fitted on top of the tiles.
I assume a shower screen goes floor to ceiling ? in which case would I be correct in assuming that the shower taps would need removing and holes cutting in it much like when tiling ?

Danm54 · 14 Nov 2021 at 08:43

You're really over complicating things here.
It's worked on odd bits of board for years so there's no reason you can't patch it up for another few years. Sure cement board is better but if you're redoing the bathroom in future then it's not really needed.

Don't worry too much about tiles that move a little, as long as the grout isn't cracked they'll be fine.
PVA the block work and edges on the plasterboard and fill the deep bits with bonding coat so it's flat with the plasterboard, let it dry then PVA or Primer G everything you need to tile.
Stick the tiles back on, any tiles you want, if the tile is cracked then make sure you leave a space big enough to grout in, or silicone/sticks like the cracks as you put the tile on so it glues the tile together. Doesn't matter if the tiles sit a little proud.
Then grout in the tiles, leave to dry and re silicone around the tray.

There's no reason your repair can't last as long or longer than the the current tiling.

Destination · 14 Nov 2021 at 08:43

When i did shower borading, i stripped off the tiles, so i could get a proper fit at the bottom, i also remvoed the shower door first, stripped back, so i was on barewall, lined, boarded, adhesive and siliconed till kingdom come, and then reinstalled the shower door, in our case a new one, i put a new shower in at the same time.

It was a great wee project, but took quite a while, and was basically a full renovation.
Depending on your actual timescale, i'd consider simply making the wall right, and then tiling with something plain to seal and grout, then have it properly renovated when you come to it.
Do it right, but only once.

dlockers · 14 Nov 2021 at 13:58

Cue the debate about PVA