shower .....plasterboard???

Bungarm2001

House we're in at the moment....ordinary PB and tiles in shower cubicle...11 years on and they are still stuck solid after a lot of hard use. We tried to get them off recently and they took the first layer of the PB off with them, they were stuck that well. NO sign of water entry behind any of them either.

We have used ordinary PB in quite a few rebuilt shower rooms, cubicles and over-bath showers over the years, and no tiles off yet. Many of these have been in rentals let to students who truly do give any wet area a hard time (apart from cleaning it of course!;)) and still no tiles are off yet, loose or even looking dodgy.

It TOTALLY beats me why people say that tiles are not waterproof..! If they are not stuck on properly AND finished off properly with sealed edges etc etc then of course, like any poorly excuted job, you'll get tiles failing.

Save your money mate, use the normal PB, do the job properly and you'll have years and years of trouble-free showering.

madeane

We always recommend the waterproof options however, in a lot of cases plasterboard will suffice but cannot be guaranteed. As long as the tiling is done properly with waterproof grout there should not be a problem with plasterboard. But obviously when a plasterer leaves he does not know that the tiler is going to be any good and so recommends to cover his back. I have also seen cement board recommended. All of our customers are made aware of the choices that they make and the possible consequences. You may also run up against problems if the house has settlement then no-one is to blame. That is why we recommend the waterproof options!!

BobProperty

andysuth wrote: »

....I think it's worth putting in the aquapanel in the new partition wall, but my only issue is the ammount of space I have: 12.5mm off the 700mm shower, I'm half tempted to go for exterior ply (WBP).

Aquapanel and hold breath or marine ply and cross my fingers......

Aquapanel. Not only because it is waterproof compared to ply, but, more importantly, it won't move anything like as much (thermally or humidity wise).

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

It TOTALLY beats me why people say that tiles are not waterproof..!

The face of tiles is waterproof. Whether all the rest of some tiles and all grouts and adhesives are waterproof is another matter. I'll have to search around for some links. IIRC Alan M posted them somewhere. Basically, again IIRC, the current BS does not acknowledge tiled surfaces as waterproof.

Barneysmom

m_13 wrote: »

I hate mucky grout so when we were told to use aquapanel we asked our plumber for an alternative. He suggested a solid white gloss panel instead of tiles.

I've found the Formica one we went for which looked great and went straight onto the battens which created the false wall that covered up the water pipes.

What a brilliant concept! Thanks for this, I think I'll use it when we reojig our upstaors loo after Christmas.
Can you tell me, how do you fix it up? Batons I think, and is it just siliconed to the batons?

Bungarm2001

[quote=The_face_of_tiles_is_waterproof._Whether_all_the_rest_of_some_tiles_and_all grouts and adhesives are waterproof is another matter. I'll have to search around for some links. IIRC Alan M posted them somewhere. Basically, again IIRC, the current BS does not acknowledge tiled surfaces as waterproof.[/quote]

Not all grouts and adhesives are entirely waterproof if it doesn't say so on the packaging. I for one certainly didn't suggest they were.

Surely it's not beyond anyones common sense to make sure they buy and use adhesives and grouts that have 'waterproof' and 'flexible' written on the packaging somewhere?? :rolleyes:

BobProperty

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

Surely it's not beyond anyones common sense to make sure they buy and use adhesives and grouts that have 'waterproof' and 'flexible' written on the packaging somewhere?? :rolleyes:

I have to disagree and say that in my experience not everyone notices these things and checks the details. On several occasions I have had customers say they will buy x,y, and z and do the removal of old/ prepare whatever/ buy materials/ do the tiling themselves etc. etc. and I have to check carefully what they propose to buy and use. Inadequate backgrounds/ bases, wrong products and not checking drying times are the ones that immediately spring to mind.

m_13

Barneysmom wrote: »

What a brilliant concept! Thanks for this, I think I'll use it when we reojig our upstaors loo after Christmas.
Can you tell me, how do you fix it up? Batons I think, and is it just siliconed to the batons?

Glad you like it! We loved the reflective white gloss and no grout lines to get grubby. It fixed to the battens with screws below the shower tray line and then with grab adhesive elsewhere. We bought aluminium trim for each side which covers up the edge where it's cut. The battens at the side were covered with plaster board strips and painted. I've been looking at my old photographs but the best I can find are this one of the board in place along with the shower tray:


And this is it finished. You can see the finished edge down the side of the door:


We did use tile behind the basin and bath but it doesn't get as wet as the shower!

Barneysmom

That looks really neat, thanks for showing it! :T :T