The ceramic tile in my shower is looking really shabby and I‘d like to re-do it in subway tiles on the walls and mini hexagonal tiles on the floor. Has anyone ever re-tiled an old shower? What should I keep in mind? It is a single story house that is about 30 years old and I beleive it is all the original stuff.
Most of the stores like Home Depot and Lowes actually have classes to show you how to do this sort of thing. They will even show you how to use the tools. Remember it is going to tie up your shower for a weekend at least, so make arrangements with a friend to use their shower !It's a hellofa job but when it's done you feel awesome! The removal and prep is a lot harder than the repacement. Very messy so make sure you have a good shop vacuum handy and those little face masks too. You are gonna love this.
this work is for a mason , but if you plan to do it. take the following steps. 1. chissel the existing tile in such a way that you don't actually dig it out and make wall look like a seasoned cheese. 2. bye a quick settling cement for smoothing the floor and wall and simultaneously apply new tiles. thats it. but it is difficult
Depending on your budget I would consider having them professionally refinished. They can do a great job and even change the color. But, if you want to tear them out you will have to install new backerboard(like concreate, called hardiboard). It can be very tedious and time consuming, you'll also need to rent a wet saw to cut the tiles. It will also be very messy and your bathroom will be out of comission for a few sayd if you are doing the work yourself, so I hope you have 2.
if you never done that kind of work you better hire a professional to do that for you because when you do a shower you have to know what you're doing or it's going to leak and you don't want that to happen when you finish with all that work and then find a leak that you can't figer out where its coming from
I have retiled a couple of showers, and this is basically what you're in for: You need to remove all of the old tile. This could require removing the grout, but you may be able to use a scraper and get the old tiles off without removing the grout. Then you will be replaceing the sheet rock that was under the old tiles (make sure to use green board it's water resistant). This will give you a new and smooth surface to put up new tile. Then you need to get your tile, grout, plastic t-shaped spacers, and fast setting tile mortar. You can buy pre-mixed mortar, or mix your own (pre-mixed is easier, but a little more expensive). Use a mortar trowel (the kind with the saw toother edges) to spread a thin layer of mortar evenly on a section of wall. Then place the tile and use the plastic t-shaped spacers to keep the seperated, and even. After the tile has had time to set (the next day in most cases) mix up your grout, and apply it to the edges of the tiile. This will be messy, but don't worry, you can wipe the grout right off of the tile surface. After the grout dries, you want to use a grout sealant to make sure the grout is resistant to water. Unsealed grout will deteriorate, and also grow mold and mildew. hope that helped... it can be a bit challenging if it's your first time, but doing it yourself can also save you hundreds in labor costs.
