Home DIY

Bit late, but I've had exactly this setup previously. Works well.

Reassuring nonetheless, thanks

@macaroon. Thanks,helps to type out what I think I need to do!

Another probably a daft question for a DIYr , but is there a good way of knowing how much of the existing stuff to remove? It seems fairly stable but when tapping a little hollow sounding suggesting it's came away from the brickwork. I guess it's probably original plaster from the 20s when the house was built. Figured the tiles didn't fall off the wall beforehand so it can't have been failing entirely.

Found the pics of when I did mine of a similar size - frame under marine ply, then weak sand/cement mix to support the tray.

Having a friend help out was invaluable.!

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When I've done this I never bothered PVAing anything - I'm not convinced splashing PVA everywhere is a good idea even though people seem to love the stuff.

I just soak the bricks with a spray bottle so that they don't immediately suck all the moisture out of the plaster, then slap bonding on. Walls haven't caved in yet.

I'd leave it if it's solid but hollow sounding. If the plaster has gone "mushy" then I'd remove those patches and replace. You could end up plastering the entire room otherwise.

as above, I've used bonding without PVA plenty of times, works fine. It makes more sense with a skim coat though.

How heavy are the new tiles? Are you planning on fixing anything to/around the hollow sounding areas? Living in this house forever? I started off being all "if in doubt, hack it out" but am tending towards "fix it when it actually falls off the wall".

Sweet, just checking I'm not overbuilding the thing to the nth degree. I aim to do tasks like this so i'm not going to have to do it again, or redo due to leak/issue for a few decades.

Product advice pls

Where I’ve got a big gap between brick and wooden door frame what kind of product should I fill it with? Previous just slapped silicon to seal it and that’s fucked the frame and the cill where it’s let water in then trapped it.

Was thinking some kind of filler to back whatever seal that I then put on top.

How big?

Backing rod with caulk / silicone is the answer for up to around 50mm

About 30mm so that sounds good.

silicon sealant

Has poor unprimed adhesion to most commonly encountered building substrates.
Backer rod ensures that whatever sealant is used it is bonded on only two sides.
This allows the sealant to cope with any change in the joint width,
normally due to different coefficients of thermal expansion.

Any damp material, (plaster, building rubble, etc., between the brick wall and door frame), needs to be removed. IS the door frame only anchored by a couple of screws/wedges?
You may consider filling the bulk of the void with anything you have to hand, (end of a bag of plaster etc.)

Soudal Fix All High Tack Adhesive & Sealant, (Toolstation 84704),
has much better unprimed adhesion than any silicone sealant, I have used.

A 30mm wide joint will need a bead of sealant at least 15mm deep to give a longlife waterproof seal.

Go old school with oakum to fill the void, then burnt sand mastic to seal.

Or just use expanding foam.

I should consider an alternative

https://www.protilertools.co.uk/product/wedi-tile-backer-board-2500mm-x-600mm--choice-of-thickness---individual-

Being an external wall, an insulated tile backing board would keep the tiles warmer than being onto plaster.

It would mean stripping the wall, so more mess and its going to be more expensive upfront. Though less condensation on the wall and reduced heat loss in the future

Nice. Make sure the backer rod is thicker so that it’s a tight friction fit. 35mm min but probably 40mm ideal

I'd probably be doing this - it looks like lime plaster & mortar, suggesting a solid wall - Condensation / cold bridging is going to be a problem if you are sealing with impermeable materials.

Which could be why the lime plaster crumbled - it looks like it has been skimmed with gypsum at some point - water gets in through holes / condensation permeates the soft brick & mortar, but then can't escape anywhere, and the mortar & plaster suffer.

Backer rod ensures that whatever sealant is used it is bonded on only two sides.
This allows the sealant to cope with any change in the joint width,
normally due to different coefficients of thermal expansion.

Any damp material, (plaster, building rubble, etc., between the brick wall and door frame), needs to be removed. IS the door frame only anchored by a couple of screws/wedges?

Yep, just some packing and a couple of screw fixings.

You may consider filling the bulk of the void with anything you have to hand, (end of a bag of plaster etc.)

First thought was expanding foam but would look in to it to ensure it won't draw moisture from the brick out towards the wood.

Soudal Fix All High Tack Adhesive & Sealant, (Toolstation 84704),
has much better unprimed adhesion than any silicone sealant, I have used.

Yep this stuff is great, have used it around the place.

A 30mm wide joint will need a bead of sealant at least 15mm deep to give a longlife waterproof seal.

Just measured it again, it's 15mm at the worst, but will still need a big old dollop of sealer.

I've got one controlling my bathroom extractor now, nice not having it linked to the lights and firing the fan up when I go for a wee at 5am. Have considered relabelling poo/shower to remove any confusion on the requisite time to clear the room of various gases.

This was my other thought. Take it back to brick and stick insulated plasterboard up to tile over. The tile backer board looks like a great shout. Having never used it before would that just be a case of sticking that to the brick with some adhesive?

just use expanding foam

Make this a pinned post and close the thread

I haven't used it, but will be when I redo the bathroom. Although we have timber frame to fix onto.

I believe solid walls would be a few dots of adhesive to level the boards on the wall.
Then fix inplace with the large headed dowels (hammer in rawl plug style)
Depending on the manufacturer, theres probably a minimum thickness of board recommended for solid walls. Thin boards may flex too much as the dabs and dowels only offer local support.

Porch macgyvering - discovered roof was not connected to drain pole - faffed around with in and ended up using a cut off kids vitamin bottle and gasket from a water butt - wrapped it in petrotape and stapled up some tyvek. Next to sort out the side outlet to reach a new hopper, plus battens, cladding, coping etc

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Never even thought that those poles were the actual downpipes for guttering. TIL.

My little Bosch green impact driver has given up the ghost. Randomly decides that it doesn't want to go unless I swap the battery, regardless of charge level.

Hovering over the checkout button on the below, re-kindling the cordless tool brand debate.

https://www.toolstation.com/milwaukee-m18fpp2a2-502x-fuel-gen-3-combi-drill-and-impact-driver-kit/p29527