Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - fractured ceramic tile - repairs
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09-24-00, 03:14 AM
please provide advice regarding repairs of cracked (I believe due to minor shifting of foundation due to drought conditions) ceramic tiles. And the cleaning of tile, grout, etc.
removal of inset toilet holder in drywall/sheetrock....what to do? remove and replace?
removal of inset toilet holder in drywall/sheetrock....what to do? remove and replace?
09-24-00, 10:45 AM
Ehpsydoc:
"please provide advice regarding repairs of cracked (I believe due to minor shifting of foundation due to drought conditions) ceramic tiles."
Sorry, but you really can't repair a cracked tile. I don't even know of a way to decently patch it. The only repair I can think of is replacement, and this is often impossible because even if the name of the manufacturer and style and dye lot number of the tiles were known, they are likely to have been discontinued and no longer available. Tile manufacturers change their lines as often as the dress designers in Milan do. You're best off to buy spare tiles for this purpose when installing the tiles.
"And the cleaning of tile, grout, etc."
I can't speak for cleaning floor tiles, but I can talk about cleaning wall tiles and grout.
First, give the wall a good cleaning as you normally do to remove the soap film. Next, get a phosphoric acid based grout cleaner and an old tooth brush and clean the grout lines. The acid will dissolve an imperceptible amount of grout on the surface, opening up the porosity of the grout.
Next, go over the grout lines with the toothbrush dipped in bleach straight out of the jug. This will wick into the grout and kill any mildew present. Repeat the application of bleach in mildewed areas until the mildew is removed. A second application of grout cleaner in these areas will only help the bleach penetrate into the grout if the surface of the grout is still clogged up with dirt, soap and such.
Rinse the grout off well with clean water and allow a day or two for it to dry.
Apply a grout sealer to the grout to prevent mildew from returning to the grout. Silicone based grout sealers should be banned because they can't be removed and once applied, they prevent you from using a better grout sealer. For a bathroom the best grout sealers are penetrating sealers that penetrate deeply into the grout and change the wettability of the grout so that water just beads up and drips off the grout. On a kitchen counter or a backsplash, I wouldn't use a penetrating type sealer because they leave the surface of the grout porous, so food will get into there and rot and create a health hazard to the poor bugs that thrive on it. On a counter top or backsplash, I would use an acrylic grout sealer that coats the grout and leaves a smooth, easy to wipe clean surface.
A GOOD penetrating grout sealer should cost more than you think... try $55 (Cdn) per pint. Ceramaseal is a division of the Bostik corporation and specializes in grout and masonary sealers for the construction industry. Go to Bostik's web site and follow the masonary sealer link to Ceramaseal's page. E-mail them from there to find a distributor of their products in your area, or phone 1-800-523-6530 and ask for customer service. One of the reasons I use Ceramaseal in my 22 bathrooms is because they have a phone number I can phone to ask questions of someone knowledgeable about their products. With other grout sealers, you only find an "Imported by" label, and you're left relying on the experience and wisdom of the 19 year old working at the Home Center that sold it to you.
As far as the toilet paper dispenser goes, if it doesn't have any screws holding it in, it will have been mounted by the "fling and moosh" method. This is where the contractor cuts a square hole in the wall to accept the toilet paper holder, flings a great gob of plaster or tile mastic into that hole that stick to the back side of the drywall or plaster on the opposite side of the wall, then pushes the dispenser into place so that it mooshes into the wet stuff, and finally the contractor puts masking tape over the dispenser to hold it in place until whatever he flung into the wall dries.
I am not a proponent of the fling and moosh method. If you're going to replace the dispenser, enlarge the hole in the wall to the closest wall studs, attach 2X2 spruce nailers to these studs with 3" drywall screws after having predrilled and countersunk the holes so as not to split the nailers, then attach a piece of 1X4 to the back of these nailers using 2 1/4 inch drywall screws in predrilled and countersunk holes in the nailers, and finally attach a piece of drywall to the front of the nailers with drywall screws. Now, when you cut a square hole in that drywall panel, there will be a 1X4 board behind the hole that you can screw the new dispenser to through the holes provided in the new dispenser.
If the new dispenser doesn't have holes because they want you to use the fling and moosh method, then stick it into place with a bead of construction adhesive applied to the back side of the mounting flange of the new dispenser, clean away anthing that squeezes out from under the flange with paint thinner and secure with masking tape until the adhesive sets up.
"please provide advice regarding repairs of cracked (I believe due to minor shifting of foundation due to drought conditions) ceramic tiles."
Sorry, but you really can't repair a cracked tile. I don't even know of a way to decently patch it. The only repair I can think of is replacement, and this is often impossible because even if the name of the manufacturer and style and dye lot number of the tiles were known, they are likely to have been discontinued and no longer available. Tile manufacturers change their lines as often as the dress designers in Milan do. You're best off to buy spare tiles for this purpose when installing the tiles.
"And the cleaning of tile, grout, etc."
I can't speak for cleaning floor tiles, but I can talk about cleaning wall tiles and grout.
First, give the wall a good cleaning as you normally do to remove the soap film. Next, get a phosphoric acid based grout cleaner and an old tooth brush and clean the grout lines. The acid will dissolve an imperceptible amount of grout on the surface, opening up the porosity of the grout.
Next, go over the grout lines with the toothbrush dipped in bleach straight out of the jug. This will wick into the grout and kill any mildew present. Repeat the application of bleach in mildewed areas until the mildew is removed. A second application of grout cleaner in these areas will only help the bleach penetrate into the grout if the surface of the grout is still clogged up with dirt, soap and such.
Rinse the grout off well with clean water and allow a day or two for it to dry.
Apply a grout sealer to the grout to prevent mildew from returning to the grout. Silicone based grout sealers should be banned because they can't be removed and once applied, they prevent you from using a better grout sealer. For a bathroom the best grout sealers are penetrating sealers that penetrate deeply into the grout and change the wettability of the grout so that water just beads up and drips off the grout. On a kitchen counter or a backsplash, I wouldn't use a penetrating type sealer because they leave the surface of the grout porous, so food will get into there and rot and create a health hazard to the poor bugs that thrive on it. On a counter top or backsplash, I would use an acrylic grout sealer that coats the grout and leaves a smooth, easy to wipe clean surface.
A GOOD penetrating grout sealer should cost more than you think... try $55 (Cdn) per pint. Ceramaseal is a division of the Bostik corporation and specializes in grout and masonary sealers for the construction industry. Go to Bostik's web site and follow the masonary sealer link to Ceramaseal's page. E-mail them from there to find a distributor of their products in your area, or phone 1-800-523-6530 and ask for customer service. One of the reasons I use Ceramaseal in my 22 bathrooms is because they have a phone number I can phone to ask questions of someone knowledgeable about their products. With other grout sealers, you only find an "Imported by" label, and you're left relying on the experience and wisdom of the 19 year old working at the Home Center that sold it to you.
As far as the toilet paper dispenser goes, if it doesn't have any screws holding it in, it will have been mounted by the "fling and moosh" method. This is where the contractor cuts a square hole in the wall to accept the toilet paper holder, flings a great gob of plaster or tile mastic into that hole that stick to the back side of the drywall or plaster on the opposite side of the wall, then pushes the dispenser into place so that it mooshes into the wet stuff, and finally the contractor puts masking tape over the dispenser to hold it in place until whatever he flung into the wall dries.
I am not a proponent of the fling and moosh method. If you're going to replace the dispenser, enlarge the hole in the wall to the closest wall studs, attach 2X2 spruce nailers to these studs with 3" drywall screws after having predrilled and countersunk the holes so as not to split the nailers, then attach a piece of 1X4 to the back of these nailers using 2 1/4 inch drywall screws in predrilled and countersunk holes in the nailers, and finally attach a piece of drywall to the front of the nailers with drywall screws. Now, when you cut a square hole in that drywall panel, there will be a 1X4 board behind the hole that you can screw the new dispenser to through the holes provided in the new dispenser.
If the new dispenser doesn't have holes because they want you to use the fling and moosh method, then stick it into place with a bead of construction adhesive applied to the back side of the mounting flange of the new dispenser, clean away anthing that squeezes out from under the flange with paint thinner and secure with masking tape until the adhesive sets up.