Can I fix these tiling issues or should I leave it up to a professional?

SocialSpud

We had a bit of a cowboy tiler in, he was generally fine with the floors but lacked any sort of skill when it came to anything else. Here's are photos of the issues: https://imgur.com/gallery/z62lJVU

My main concern is the water getting in through the gaps in shelves we have in our bathroom where we shower. Can I fill these in myself or should I just leave it up to the professionals?

Cheers!

2011

Grouting is easy. However grouted tiles will not make your bathroom waterproof!

Waterproofing is all about the layer under the tiles. A bathroom needs to be tanked (sealed) properly before tiles are applied.

SocialSpud

Well then I could be screwed because I don't think any of that was done. Looks like he just applied the tile directly onto the wooden shelves: https://i.imgur.com/fvsgNp4.jpeg

2011

It will depend on whether the area concerned is going to get very wet or not. If in the shower area you have a problem, but if far enough away you may be ok.

TheBoyConor

Try your best, silicone the rest.

SocialSpud

2011 wrote: »

It will depend on whether the area concerned is going to get very wet or not. If in the shower area you have a problem, but if far enough away you may be ok.

Yea these are shelves inside a shower area so water will be inevitably splashing on it. Is there anything I can do bar having someone rip the tiles up again?

SocialSpud

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Try your best, silicone the rest.

That's certainly the way the tiler thought. Would something like this be ok? I have no experience in anything DIY really: https://www.tilemerchant.ie/accessories-botament-s-5-supax-silicone-sealant-charcoal-nr-26-300ml-tbot93176260055609.html

2011

SocialSpud wrote: »

Yea these are shelves inside a shower area so water will be inevitably splashing on it. Is there anything I can do bar having someone rip the tiles up again?

Sorry but I think you are in trouble here. In the short term it will be ok, but it is a ticking time bomb in my opinion. I have just done up my bathroom and the builder took these kind of short cuts. The floor actually rotted through! We ignored it for a few years until we had the money to fix it properly.

GolfNut33

You need to take it all up and start again.

Irish_peppa

Third picture from the bottom, Did the tiler actually install a tile with the corner surface chipped or is that some sort of light illusion or tile effect?

GreeBo

SocialSpud wrote: »

Yea these are shelves inside a shower area so water will be inevitably splashing on it. Is there anything I can do bar having someone rip the tiles up again?

The bad news is that those tiles are going to pop themselves off as the wood gets wet and expands.
The good news is that you wont have to pay someone to pop the tiles off as they will do it themselves.

If it was just a regular wall you might get away with trying to waterproof the grout, silicone the corners and pray, but an alcove like that will fail quickly and potentially be causing even more damage behind.


/edit
Ok I just checked the first set of photos...I'm afraid that all needs to come off.
The quality is shocking, you might get lucky and the tiles come away easily and you can reuse the full ones,(I'm not expecting any back buttering!) but his attention to detail (cuts, mitres, grouting, sealing) is atrocious.

Hopefully you haven't paid him in full?

Treppen

Rather than ripping it down would it be possible to tile over it again or use shower panel walls?

2011

Treppen wrote: »

Rather than ripping it down would it be possible to tile over it again or use shower panel walls?

Tiling over tiles that are not properly installed is making a bad situation worse in my opinion.

Not sure what you mean by “shower panel walls” but the images they conjure up don’t strike me as an acceptable solution

Personally I think it is best to get someone in that knows what they are doing. It won’t be cheap to do this properly. I suggest ripping everything out, replacing the wet area wood and plasterboard with cement board, sealing, tanking and re-tiling.