Shower floor tiles

[Donald]

I have a normal walk-in shower with a tile floor and floor to ceiling tile. I believe the base is your poured in place cement base.

Wife does not like the shower floor tile and wants to hire a contractor to pop the old tiles and install new ones. Also remove one row on the wall and replace it with a border.

Being a guy, I am OK with the current tile and the shower has no leaks.

I am concerned if someone tries to pop off the old tiles they will damage the base and I will end up with a much larger job than expected.

 

[hemitruck]

If the floor is cement known as a mud job, you can use a hammer and chisel. If the floor is in good shape, nothing loose, you can raise the drain and do a mud over the existing tile. You will have to rough up the glaze one existing tile.

 

[JTK]

If you don't want to disturb anything else, tiling over what you have like hemitruck suggested is an option. A drain insert can be used to raise the drain to accommodate the raised floor height. Typically folks don't just replace the floor. We had a mud based tiled shower in our last home. Those bases can stay wet under the tile. Hard to say if it would stay intact when pulling up the floor tile.

 

[Donald]

I am not hot about tiling over existing tile. Kind of like roof shingles.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I'd go fiberglass for ease of maintenance and cleaning. I cannot stand the tile walls and porcelain tub in my shower. The mineral stains from the hard water are impossible to remove.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
I'd go fiberglass for ease of maintenance and cleaning. I cannot stand the tile walls and porcelain tub in my shower. The mineral stains from the hard water are impossible to remove.


I am not remotely considering redoing the shower. Just some tiles.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

A proper shower base will have three layers below the tile: pre-slope mortar bed, membrane (PVC, CPVC today... ol'e days a copper/tin pan) and mortar top layer. As long as that membrane layer isn't damaged, it should be fine.

My walk-in shower was built with a pre-slope bed going from 1.5" at the walls to a 1/4" at the drain, then a PVC membrane that goes 10" up the walls and finally a 2" layer of mortar following the slope below.

 

[Rolla07]

I wouldnt bother..but if your wife wants to...problem will be removing one layer off the wall without cracking other tiles above. Either way it sounds like a job I wouldnt want to take on. Wear a mask if you start breaking up the tiles.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
I wouldnt bother..but if your wife wants to...problem will be removing one layer off the wall without cracking other tiles above. Either way it sounds like a job I wouldnt want to take on. Wear a mask if you start breaking up the tiles.


I don't do jobs like this. I pick and choose what jobs I do around the house.

 

[Cujet]

When ever you do a job like this, it's best to do it right. Sounds simple to say, but every shower is different. My guess is that you will pull up the tile, find or generate a few cracks/voids in the pan itself, end up taking the pan out, and installing a new one, from the ground up. Of course, that may necessitate running a new plastic barrier under the lower course of tiles on the wall.

If you start the tile removal job, expect the worst.

 

[sleddriver]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I have a normal walk-in shower with a tile floor and floor to ceiling tile.
Ground floor or 2nd/3rd?
As you have basements up North, probably P&B rather than slab-on-grade, right?