Tile Popping off Strand Board in Shower

[Justwondering]

What?
Another project standing between me and the fifth avenue saga... yes .. yes there is.

About 5 to 7 years ago when my mother's health began declining, my dad doubled the size the the bathroom and it was all tiled with a shower and separate walk in tub.
The room is huge.. easily 12 x 12
He told the construction guy to make it quick and don't spend a lot of money.

The corner they cut was to use untreated strand board for the walls and directly mortar the twelve inch tiles to the board. Floor is cement and completely tiled with the same tile.

Now 5 years later, all the east wall tile has popped off or pulled away from the strand board. The same cracks and bowing are showing on the other three walls. I already have about 14 tiles off the first wall and laying on the floor.
No mold, none of the strand board is wet or damp.

I realize I'll have to pull all the wall tile.
Here are my questions:

1. Do I need to pull all the strand board down and replace with greenboard?
or do I lay greenboard over the strand board and rework the pex plumbing to accommodate?

2. Do I pull the tile off and paint the strand board with red guard?

3. What do I do about the 90 degree corner transition from the wall to the floor?

4. Do I bust out the first row of floor tile and run a membrane across that joint or do I paint it with red guard or ignore it and put a hell of a lot of silicone down the seam?

Please his heart, my dad really knew how to cut corners but as the trustee for the estate its now my problem to fix.

Lemonade::: gives me a chance to put some decorative (colorful) tile in there to break of the monolithic tan/light brown tile.. He will be rolling in his grave soon.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Are the tiles coming off because of a glue failure, or is the substrate coming off with the tiles?

 

[droptop]

Tile must be put on concrete backer board with a vapor barrier under that. If not you will continue to have issues. Take it all down and do it right.

 

[Aspen500]

In a wet area, like a bathroom, it's a must to use a water proof membrane on the floors and walls. I think the main brands are Ditra and Kerdi. It's made to have tile put over it. Using this, you can stick with wood substrate on a wall. On the floor, cement board is highly recommended under the membrane, mainly to prevent grout cracking.

 

[Justwondering]

All the reading I did last night, it would appear the problem is the untreated strand board and the grout was not sealed. Nor was there polymer additive put in the grout.

Looks like this week is:
1. shut off the water & remove hardware
2. remove tile on walls and first row of tile at the base on the floor
3. remove strand board
4. put the hardware back so I can turn the water back on.

5. check on the insulation
6. put in greenboard
7. buy red guard and paint the walls/floor
8. clean the edges and back of the tile
9. put it all back together

 

[Aspen500]

As long as you get the substrate water proof, either with the Kerdi membrane or the paint on stuff, you should be good to go. Cement board would be best behind tile because it isn't affected by moisture and, it's a lot stiffer but the green board will be OK with the waterproofing stuff. Contrary to popular belief, tile grout isn't water proof, even when sealed. Some moisture will still find it's way through and, once it gets to the substrate, it'll never dry out and the rot/mold will start.

When you're done with yours, want to come up here to north central Wisconsin and help with my bathroom? I'll be honest, it will be a gut job and then some. It's what you would call, functional but not a place you want to spend time in. Maybe it's semi-functional. The sink is unusable due to a drain problem i haven't got to yet. The pipe plugged up all of a sudden and a snake comes to a dead end about 4 feet in and will not go any farther no matter what you do. It was flowing fine one second and then the next, plugged tight. WTF???? Been trying to get my ambition up to cut a hole in the den wall to access the sink drain pipe to replace the whole works with PVC from the sink to where it connects under the tub in "the pit". Sink drain actually runs above the floor, inside a double wall. Kind of an odd setup. (slab on grade house)What the heck, it's only been 3 months now and I'm getting used to not having a bathroom sink, lol.

 

[Justwondering]

oh lordy..
You know, I had to cut open a perfect wall in the closet so I could add reinforcement blocks for the shower door hinges. I nearly cried. I now have a beautiful shower door and two patch jobs to do on the backside at my house.

Then I find my dad's addon shower (10 foot by 9 foot to accomodate mom's wheelchair and walk in tub) has to have all the tile and walls pulled. Bleh.

I just want to get the white barn cleaned out down at the estate so I can have a covered, enclosed place to park the 5th avenue for projects (all window mechanisms and rubbers need to be rehabbed, I want to practice paint and clear coat on the exterior. Interior needs a little love as well-- rattle in the dash). Ah well.

I think I'd rather come up there and work on plumbing than try to match the 'orange peel' on the drywall repair. When you get the transporter working, I'm there!

 

[Aspen500]

I'm waiting for a new atom reintegrator module for the transporter to arrive from Galactia 4 so, no beaming possible at the moment.

I sympathize with all the work you need to do. I've got the bathroom, the upstairs need a bunch of work (mostly cosmetics), most of the finish trim for the downstairs is stacked along one kitchen wall (for almost 10 years now), the shed dormer on the back of the house needs a new roof, soffits and eaves, the storage shed needs a new roof, the big garage/shop will need a new roof soon, the utilty room needs at least the ceiling replaced, parts of it are held up by bracing...........Then there's the fence that needs replacing, a garage that needs the interior finished off and painted, the front door and jamb need replaced, the upstairs huge window needs a screen/storm window custom made (non-standard size), really should replace the part of the furnace flue that protrudes form the roof, need to put gutters on the house, shed and garage, and,,,,,,,,AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH Hardest part? Making up my mind where to start. Can't afford to hire it out either. Basically, a person gets overwellmed and nothing ends up getting done. Sigh..........................

 

[Justwondering]

Good news here ...
I stopped by the place to pull the tile from the base and there is a 4 inch concrete footer all the way around!! go team go.
Means my joint issues between floor and wall are much reduced.

I hear you on the cosmetics. I still need to finish out the baseboards on the baths and bedroom. But everytime I go to work on them I just get all kinds of pissed off. The guys helping us were told to double the baseplate. They did not. So if I use a nail gun I have to lay on the ground and aim low or I miss the plate. Waaa Waaa Waa.

But I just picked up a new water pump, thermostat, and fluid for the silverado... its been sitting in the driveway all summer since dad died.

I think you pick the project that is smallest first.
Kinda like paying off credit cards. lol

 

[7T8 Custom]

I know where both of you are coming from. Working outside today because it`s not currently raining but it will be later, and the forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain. Still trying to get the rest of the windows changed and all the siding back on the second floor of the house before full winter hits. It takes so long working from ladders and scaffolding. My knees are not a fan of all the trips up and down either. Not getting any younger. Just came in for something to eat, now back to work before it gets dark.

 

[Aspen500]

About 15-20 years ago, I burned myself out working on this house. Other than the bath, I gutted the entire 1st floor, replace all the plumbing and electrical, put a new support beam in the center on one half, building all new stud walls, all new insulation, sheet rocked the whole works, built kitchen cabinets, etc, and started on the finish trim. Before doing that, I stripped the outside, replaced all but one window, put 3/4" rigid insulation on (concrete block house), firring strips with 1/2" rigid between them, vinyl siding, eaves, soffits, etc. Reframed most of the roof, and of course roof deck and roofing (had help on that of course), built a storage shed, wired and sheet rocked the big garage, did literally tons of landscaping, completely replaced the front and side yards which included 20 yards of soil moved a wheel barrow load at a time, etc, etc, etc, all single handed (except for the roof and concrete on the front and rear driveways). This was over the course of about 3 years and then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I just couldn't do it anymore so here it sits 15+ years later. When thinking of it, I really don't know how I did it all. Being in my early 50's now instead of early 30's, I could never do it again. Problem with doing the bathroom is, there's only just the one. How do you gut it, cut the floor (concrete) and trench for a sink drain pipe (plan on moving the sink to a much better spot), and do all the other work needed? Going without a kitchen for a while is no big deal and I did for an entire year, but going without a bathroom? Not really possible. Sigh.............

 

[7T8 Custom]

Moved into my current house Dec. 1st last year and have done nothing but work on it since then. I have a total of 38 windows to change (it`s a big house), and all the cedar siding has to come off first so I can redo all of the roof flashing (whoever did my roof rode the short bus to school). Turned 49 this year and have spent the last 30 of them working on heavy equipment at work and the last 20+ renovating whichever house we have lived in. The spirit is willing but the body is really starting to protest the constant abuse.

 

[Aspen500]

The 30+ years as a professional auto technician hasn't helped my body feel young either. Also used to be able to stay up until 1am working on the car, house, whatever and then get up at 5:30 to get ready and go to work, come home almost 10 hours later, grab some food and be back at it until after midnight again. Now I'm lucky if I can stay awake past 8pm, lol.

 

[Justwondering]

Today was a good day.
Got the entire west wall of tile and hardware off the wall.
Good news is there is a 4 inch concrete footer so my joint issue is less of a problem.

Now I still need to to the north, west, and south walls but I won't have to do the floor tile. Only regrout.

I did bust 2 tiles but I have a plant for that.

Took my laundry down and got 3 loads done, 2 of them dried before I left.

Then headed out to the backhoe and opened up the pitcock for the fuel, used the hand pump to get the air out of the fuel line. 20 mile round trip to get diesel, cleaned the posts on the battery, sprayed panther piss on the air intake and she roared to life!

Exercised the cylinders to get the air out of the lines.

Then nearly rolled the front tire off -- it was nearly flat.
What's that?? Why yes, the pressure switch is out on the air compressor.

I cleaned up and loaded my laundry and came home.
So I could put up the laundry and start dinner.

I hear you when you say your day is never done.
We have overnight stay for early doctor visits this week before Thanksgiving. So this is probably my only day to get things done.... we'll see.