Poor bathroom tiling - area between tiled area/grouting - damp

stressedashell

Hi,

bit of general starting point question....

We've inherited a pretty poorly-tiled bathroom in the first place me and my wife have bought...it's an extension on the ball of a ground floor flat with a flat roof above so the coldest room in the flat.

There is a small area behind piping near the toilet that hasn't been tiled at all - and looks like if there was sealent/grouting - it's disintigrated / disapeared away over time.

This small area is slightly soft to the touch and I think it's a type of plasterboard, so we know the board/wall is at least a bit damp, but no idea at this stage how bad - the rest of the wall seems sturdy, and the grout on that wall isn't mouldy or anything...

The room is definitely suceptable to condensation anyway (I think we need a new extractor fan fitted) and even with windows being opened during/after showers - we always still have a lot of condensation on the tiles - which would definitely be running down/dripping onto the exposed area. So I'm hoping that's the extent/cause of the damp area.

We'd love to get the whole bathroom sorted, but financially not an option in the short-term.

so, anyway - post ramble. I have a few questions:

1. quick fix / seal - so it can't get any wetter/worse than already is in the short term - would it be okay to dry the area with heater and/or dehumidifier - then seal with some ready mixed grout/sealant? which would be best?

2. I'm guessing the only way of knowing the extent of the issue is going to be to lift the tiles off the wall to see if damp behind? If there is a fairly large area of damp- then would it usually be as straightforward and removing the wall and replacing with suitable board / getting plastered/skimmed and then we could do whatever we want with it - either re-tiling, or painting etc? - it's the wall far away from the bath/shower, so we don't necessarily want it to be tiled anyway. Ideally we'd like to box in pipes so tiling around them wouldn't then be an issue.

3. Who would be the best person to contact in the first instance - a plasterer/joiner/general handyman?

Alexa71

If you are getting a dehumidifier don't use it when you are having a shower. Have your shower first then place the dehumidifier at the doorway with the fan facing the bathroom.

I'm not sure if you are still reading this thread but if possible send me a message if you are and I will help you out more.

wallbash

Nearly all posts are about buying dehumidifier's ...........some time after the original post , do I spot a connection?
Should I hit the spam button?