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Bathroom reno help

Hi everyone, I’m hoping for some advice as I don’t seem to be getting anywhere with the tradies I’ve contacted so far. Sorry about the long post but tried to include as much info as possible.

I’ve started a bathroom reno and wasn’t expecting any major problems as it was renovated a few years ago before I bought it (house is c. 1960s originally). But the floor/walls aren’t in great shape.

The floor is basically a concrete slab with what seems to be a sand based screed on top that is coming away in clumps as I remove the floor tiles. The plumber who capped off the fittings advised to completely remove the screed and then apply a new layer of concrete over the existing slab to prepare for tiling - which seems fairly sensible and straightforward as long as the slope is correct.

Not sure what to do with the walls though - there is a mix of rendered parts, sheeting, and grey blocks. I think the original bathroom had a built in tub and it looks as though a sand based render was applied to the original blocks to fill it in to the same level as the rest of the wall (see photos of lower 60-70cm of the wall). Similar to the sand based screed on the floor this has been falling away in clumps as I remove the wall tiles.

The rest of the wall has a thin pinkish cement based sheeting over the grey render that was easy to remove in some parts but pretty well stuck in others (see photos of some remaining sections and where this has been removed).

My plan at the moment is to remove all of the loose sandy render and the pink sheeting down to the grey render. But should I also remove the original render down to the blockwork (this is what the plumber suggested)?

I had planned to do the waterproofing/tiling and get someone to do the plumbing/electrical. Ideally I would get a professional to prep the walls/floor but the couple of builders I’ve spoken to don’t want to be involved unless they are doing the whole reno themselves with their own tradies.

- Does the plan for the floor sound ok? Assuming use of a primer before the new concrete is added, and that the slope is good.

- What to do with the walls? Remove all the render and then decide or ok to leave the render and bring the bottom part of the wall out to the same level? Apply primer and then cement sheeting? Or new plaster/render?

- Is it all too hard and I should just admit defeat and let someone take over the whole project?

All advice greatly appreciated!

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Jason

Hi @WAbec,

Welcome to Workshop. We are looking forward to seeing how your bathroom renovation comes together.

We trust the community will have some great advice for you. Let me tag @ProjectPete, @gippslandhome and @redracer01 who might like to kick off the discussion.

Feel free to post anytime you need a hand. And please let me know if you ever have any troubles getting the most from the Workshop site.

Jason

gippslandhome

Hi @WAbec and thank you @Jason for tagging a few of us members in.

I've done many of these types of jobs with different substrates where you need to decide where you start and where do you finish.

You have a mixture of different wall substrates and one of the main questions we used to ask ourselves is could any of the existing substrates let go at some stage after disturbing them during renovations.

You could spend thousands of dollars on your bathroom renovation only to have the old substrate fail and ruin your renovation.

I guess in a nutshell unless you have solid substrates that you can tile too it isn't worth risking.

With so many varied substrates as shown in your pictures personally as a tiler and bathroom renovator I always go back to a solid substrate. Even if you do damage the existing solid substrate you can always render or patch that up.

I hope it all works out for you and I look forward to seeing more of your posts

Regards Rob 👍

WAbec

Thanks @Jason and @gippslandhome - so that would be down to the block wall right? And then redo the render?

gippslandhome

Hi @WAbec yes we would normally in this instance go back to the block from what I can tell.

All the best with your project.

Regards Rob 👍

CeeBee

I would also really like to see an answer to your query about floors as after removing the old 70s mustard mosaic tiles have discovered a similar sand based subfloor but my walls are back to the bricks in some areas. Like your plan, I’m planning on retiling myself so currently looking at the prep required before the next step of waterproofing systems.

WAbec

Ok so after contacting multiple builders to try and get someone to come and assess the situation/repair the walls +/- floor I got a bit demoralised! No one wanted to be involved unless they were project managing the reno....so I got a plasterer to come and sort out the walls (yay) and managed to remove most of the floor screed myself. The plan from here is to get the rest of the screed off the floor down to the concrete slab and then assess the height/ slope etc.
Will keep you posted!

WAbec

@CeeBee I managed to remove most of the screed myself with a rotary hammer, and have a floor removal guy coming this afternoon to either remove the rest the same way or grind it off so it’s back to the concrete slab.....glad for you that your walls sound like they’re in better shape!

Galvanise

Get all the screed off the floor and then buy a bag of ardet mate, not sure if i spelt that correctly but its just the self levelling cement, dont worry about your slopes and stuff now just self level it and then you can do the bedding for the tiles later on and get your levels and fall correct. Another option on the wall to mate depending on room but just frame it up again to the old existing wall then you have a straight level wall ready to sheet and waterproof plus you can put niches etc in if you frame it again so the space lost is added again in a sense. Hope this helps mate

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