Shower floor

[raydeon]

The floor in one of my shower looks bad.
Some of the tiles are discolored, the finish ,which used to be shiny, is dull in some places, and the grouting looks bad in places too.
The house is 10 years old. The other shower is fine. I think it was a bad workmanship, and I didn't notice at the time.

The question is what is the best way to correct that?
The walls are in perfect conditions. Is it a big job to replace the tiles on the floor? Does the floor has to be torn down completly? Or can new tiles be laid on top of the old ones.
Small square tiles (abt 1"sq.) seem to be the norm. Can larger tiles be used?
I am quite handy. I have done floor tiling before, but never in showers. I was considering doing the work myself, but if the floor has to be torn down, I am not sure, because of the possibility of future water leaks.

Any recommendation will be appreaciated.

 

[oldjones]

Though by no means an expert, I've done a few showers. I'm assuming this is the original ten year old work, and that puts it on a timeline for real work if it wasn't a great job in the first place, or a bit of refurb if it was. Trouble is there is noway to assess that job without doing damage, or waiting until the top layer comes off to see what's underneath.

In theory you can replace just the floor tiles, but in practice you're gonna damage at least the bottom row of wall tiles and hafta replace them too. Wrapping the floor tiles up the wall to do that might look good.

Of course you could just lay new tiles over old. You could just paint the old tiles, if you wanted the cheapest job. Don't even have to clean the soap scum. These would be Bad Jobs. Only you can answer the question: How good a job do you want, and how long do you want it to last?

My bet is that as that bottom row of wall tile comes off, you'll find it was laid over drywall (maybe not even 'waterproof' drywall) and that's gone spongy with moisture. Might have been good practice in the Old Days, but doesn't last. Leave the shower unused for a couple of monthes and another Bad Job possibility—retiling the dried out surface—opens up, but you cannot put new tile onto spongy drywall.

Best reasonable current practice: wall tiles laid on cement board not drywall, with waterproof membrane draining onto mortar bed floor slab—we've just assumed yours is sound—incorporating waterproof membrane and covered with tile sloped to drain. Which may bring decision time for you: rebuild walls or not? Plan on a week or so of work; allow for workspace and materials storage as close the the bathroom as you can. One to two thousand for materials and labour PLUS tiles.

But here's the good news: You said nothing about leaks. Leaks need to be fixed, ASAP. If there aren't any—look at the ceiling below the shower—all you have is an aesthetic issue, you can maybe fix with cleaning and certainly take your time over fixing in a big way.

First of all, give it a real scrub to get all the soap scum, mildew and such off so you can really assess it. Use washing soda and a scrubbie for the scum, follow with mild bleach for the mildew. Pull out all old caulking between walls and floor, and in the corners of the walls and any loose grout. Push hard on the bottom row of wall tles, to see if any are loose or spongy. The tile surface should have come back (remember shower floor tiles don'twanna be slippery-shiny), the grout should look good. If everything's OK, just renew the caulking. But if it isn't, do NOT use this shower until you decide on corrective actions and complete them.

 

[Never Compromised]

OR you could use an outfit like Bath Fitters (there are a couple around) that lay acrylic over the existing tiles. Cost in the $1000 or so area, but it is not a complete rebuild. If you have current water damage, not just cosmetic, you should strip it down.

 

[raydeon]

Regrouting shower floor

I have read that the gap between the shower floor and the wall tiles should not be grouted at all, but filled with caulking. This does not seem right to me. Is it true? If it is, what is the reason?

 

[LateComer]

I have read that the gap between the shower floor and the wall tiles should not be grouted at all, but filled with caulking. This does not seem right to me. Is it true? If it is, what is the reason?

This would allow the floor to flex slightly without causing a crack.

 

[elmufdvr]

look up http://www.handycanadian.com/ . thee you can post you job and get quote from pros.. post some pics and your budjet and you might find someone that could do a good job for you.. i have used it and it worked for me..good luck..

 

[tboy]

Good advice from all so far but I'd just like to add:

As stated, you probably just need a good cleaning. The glossy surface of a tile is pretty fricken hard and to make it dull you'd have to use something a lot harder than your feet. I wanted to dull some tiles I had for a project and I used diamond grit sandpaper on a random orbital sander and it took me quite a long time to get rid of the gloss. They are probably just covered with scum.

Something else you have to consider is: are they non-slip tiles? Really shiny glossy tiles in the bottom of a shower are like ice and slippery as ice.

Grouting looks bad: what do you mean by this? Is it just discoloured or is it disintegrating? If it is just discoloured, there are acidic grout cleaners that will spruce it up to almost new. If it is crumbling then you might get away with re-grouting.

As for workmanship: the same guys that did your other showers most likely are the same ones that did this one. Rarely does a builder send one crew to do x number of showers, then another crew to do one, it's just not feasible. Does this one get more traffic than the others?

I'd stay away from the insert type shower systems. This is the cheesy quick fix (kind of like laminate floors instead of hardwood).

It might be time to think about renovating the entire shower as stated. Depending on the type of house it is, would a nice overhaul add to the value of the house? Two areas in a house you will always get your money back from renos: kitchens and bathrooms.

 

[BallzDeep]

Those 1"x1" tiles are actually 1'x1' square, those 1"x1" tiles are held togther by a mesh between each one, so you're not putting a 1" tile down at a time and trying to keep it straight, would take forever. Hard to tell the damage underneath, shower floor should have been done with a rubber membrane on the bottom, and then sloped with a sand cement.

You may get away with re-grouting, if not, take a hammer and chisel and try to do as little damage as possible underneath. Also, tiled showers have to be re-sealed with a solution every few years, so there is some maintenance to them, water eventually penetrates if you don't. shower could have been done right, but never re-sealed.

You can't use bigger tiles on the floor. Poke a screwdriver in between the tiles and check for soft spots, clean out loose debris, proper re-grouting may be all you need, don't spend money on a whole new shower if you don't want to.

 

[moresex4me]

Small tiles are on the floor are for slope, and to give you a grip. I've been in a shower with big 12 x 12's and it was slippery as h*&l.

Don't mess around, rip them all up. There's a new product, looks like a tray, that you put in, comes in a variety of sizes, and is pre-sloped to a drain. Use that, cement board for the walls, and then there is a product that you put over top of the cement board after you've put the tray in that goes over the lip of the tray. Tile on top of all that, and no leaks!

 

[tboy]

Small tiles are on the floor are for slope, and to give you a grip. I've been in a shower with big 12 x 12's and it was slippery as h*&l.

Don't mess around, rip them all up. There's a new product, looks like a tray, that you put in, comes in a variety of sizes, and is pre-sloped to a drain. Use that, cement board for the walls, and then there is a product that you put over top of the cement board after you've put the tray in that goes over the lip of the tray. Tile on top of all that, and no leaks!

Further to that, I forgot to mention, there is a pan that you can buy in various sizes that doesn't require tiling on top. It too is pre-sloped to the drain. Not sure how many sizes it's available in though. It too has a lip that you tile onto to prevent water from getting behind it.

Now that we're talking about cement board, I seem to recall a new product coming out that is man made and 100% water proof for this type of application. If I see it again I'll post a link to it here.