Flooring Tile - Ceramic Wall over Concrete in Basement Bath
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handyman_perry
10-06-06, 11:47 PM
Hello --
I have a small bath in the basement with an exposed poured concrete wall. The wall is well cured after 80 years and has several coats of paint on it now. Can I use ceramic tile over this wall, or do I need to frame out and put up new drywall or cement board. The wall proper is behind the toilet, which has only about an inch behind the tank. This is enough for tiles, but nothing too thick without having to dig up the floor and move the toilet flange and water lines. I would not expect this wall to get much moisture from inside the building. The main reason for tiles would be to cover the ugly concrete and make the room appear more unified. I am concerned about water seeping through the concrete and what effect it might have on adhesives. We have never had water come in the wall and it "feels" dry all the time, but there are some hair-line cracks, gouges, and depressions left from the concrete forms that are quite visible.
My questions are:
1. Can ceramic tiles be applied directly to this wall, or should a new surface be installed to support the tiles?
2. What type of adhesive or thin-set should be used.
3. There are some inperfections in the wall -- how do I fix them before tiling?
4. Can ceramic tiles be applied directly to a skim coat of cement or mortar which would be both an adhesive and leveling agent.
Thank You
I have a small bath in the basement with an exposed poured concrete wall. The wall is well cured after 80 years and has several coats of paint on it now. Can I use ceramic tile over this wall, or do I need to frame out and put up new drywall or cement board. The wall proper is behind the toilet, which has only about an inch behind the tank. This is enough for tiles, but nothing too thick without having to dig up the floor and move the toilet flange and water lines. I would not expect this wall to get much moisture from inside the building. The main reason for tiles would be to cover the ugly concrete and make the room appear more unified. I am concerned about water seeping through the concrete and what effect it might have on adhesives. We have never had water come in the wall and it "feels" dry all the time, but there are some hair-line cracks, gouges, and depressions left from the concrete forms that are quite visible.
My questions are:
1. Can ceramic tiles be applied directly to this wall, or should a new surface be installed to support the tiles?
2. What type of adhesive or thin-set should be used.
3. There are some inperfections in the wall -- how do I fix them before tiling?
4. Can ceramic tiles be applied directly to a skim coat of cement or mortar which would be both an adhesive and leveling agent.
Thank You
Tilebri
10-07-06, 11:05 AM
Best would be to shotblast the paint off the walls. As for the imperfections, well you'd have to describe them first in order to tell how to fix them.
handyman_perry
10-07-06, 02:02 PM
Shot blast sounds like a good way to get rid of the paint and get down to the concrete surface. I had considered chemical stripper but didn't like the idea of using it in the confined space.
The imperfections are :
1. In the concrete as it was poured where forms miss-alligned and resulted in up to 3/16 inch variations, most much smaller. The house was built before modern concrete forms were made, so the forms consisted of 6-10 inch boards.
2. Holes where something had been attached ot the wall. Most are in the 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch diameter. Some are bare concrete (or painted bare concrete) some have what appears to be lead anchors buried in them.
3. A Few places where it looks like concrete was hit by somethings and or scratched and small chunks came off. None over 1/4 inch deep.
4. A few areas have the appearance that they were coated with a sand and cement mixture to smooth the worst of the imperfections as is done by contractors today on new exposed concrete surfaces, but the composition of the materials is of course unknown.
5. Hair line cracks -- too small to measure, filled with paint now and no new ones have developed in 20 years since I moved in.
6. General wavy surface. I have held a straight edge against the wall in many places and the highest points to lowest are about 3/8 inches maximum. I assume the wall would require some leveling to make final tiles smooth.
All cocrete seems to be sound -- not flakey or crumbly. The few holes I have made proved the concrete to be very hard.
The imperfections are :
1. In the concrete as it was poured where forms miss-alligned and resulted in up to 3/16 inch variations, most much smaller. The house was built before modern concrete forms were made, so the forms consisted of 6-10 inch boards.
2. Holes where something had been attached ot the wall. Most are in the 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch diameter. Some are bare concrete (or painted bare concrete) some have what appears to be lead anchors buried in them.
3. A Few places where it looks like concrete was hit by somethings and or scratched and small chunks came off. None over 1/4 inch deep.
4. A few areas have the appearance that they were coated with a sand and cement mixture to smooth the worst of the imperfections as is done by contractors today on new exposed concrete surfaces, but the composition of the materials is of course unknown.
5. Hair line cracks -- too small to measure, filled with paint now and no new ones have developed in 20 years since I moved in.
6. General wavy surface. I have held a straight edge against the wall in many places and the highest points to lowest are about 3/8 inches maximum. I assume the wall would require some leveling to make final tiles smooth.
All cocrete seems to be sound -- not flakey or crumbly. The few holes I have made proved the concrete to be very hard.