Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Refinishing a cement block shower

I have a cement block shower in the basement that gets frequent use. The paint in peeling badly and I want to refinish it. I have two options:

(1) Repaint: I have seen painted cement block showers that look pretty nice, but I haven't been able to find the right kind of paint to use at home depot. They tell me they don't know what to use. Should I use a tinted masonary sealer? Would that work for the floor as well?

(2) Tile: Tile seems like a good solution. Can it be applied directly to the cement block and cement floor, or should I use a backer board?

Any advice is appreciated!

As for the paint, you should go to a professional paint store. They should be able to help you better.

As far as tiling the walls and floor, they are the ideal surface you would want to tile, assuming they are nice and flat. However, if those surfaces have been sealed, you might have a problem getting the tile to bond properly. Therefor, you would need to get the floor and walls free of the sealer.

You can do a test with a tile and a good modified thinset by setting the tile. Let the thinset completly dry then see how well it bonded. hopefully someone else will have a quicker test.

Thanks - I was going to get rid of the sealer and start fresh anyway.

The walls are flat except for the the mortar joints (I assume that isn't a problem). The floor is somewhat curved for drainage... would that be a problem for tile?

You want the floor slopped to the drain. You don't want the water to puddle.

Yeah - that's what I thought... I think you just inspired me to tile!

Go for it!! The possibilities with the layout of the tile can make the diff. in your room. You can add borders, diamonds, colors, textures and anything else you can come up with. Just take your time with the layout and in the end you can "I did that."

good luck and ask questions on things your not sure with.

Im trying to understand the anatomy of this shower. What do you know about the shower floor and the drain? Is there a pan liner under the concrete that catches any water that seeps through the concrete and diverts the water into the drain's weep holes (this is what should be there)? Or is this just a sloped cement slab where any water that seeps into slab hasnt caused any problems in the past because it is used infrequently? Id find this out before you proceed to do any tiling. Also give some thoughts to the drain/tile floor transition and how you will accomplish this.

If you plan to tile the block walls that have been painted then youll have to mechanically remove all the paint. Also block tends to suck the moisture out of thinset so you may want to dampen the block before tiling.

As to the floor, put a few drops of water on the floor in various places and watch it. If it seeps into the floor then its ok to tile. If it beads up then its got some kinda sealer on it that has to be mechanically removed.

Sounds like I need to put a little more thought into it.

This is what I know:

Not sure if there is a pan. From the look of the drain, there may not be. The strange thing is that there are a couple holes in the floor. Looks almost as if somebody drilled them. How can I tell if there is a pan and if not, will I have to remembey that?

THere is a cement lip that divides the show and the floor. I will tile that too.

Oh... I will accomplish the drain/tile floor transition with a drain extension, I think.

To see if there is a liner you would need to unscrew the drain. Look between the vertical pipe and slab for the liner (if there is any room between the two). I highly doubt there is a liner. From everything I have read about a shower on a slab, they felt no need for one. Its was done that way for years. If you were to lay your tile with a good quality thinset and seal the grout I don't think you will see any problems. However, what you can do is buy something like Kerdi and their drain system. If you have a 2" drain you can use the drain and instal Kerdi. You will not have to worry about water ever getting to your slab when installed correctly. Below is a link for Kerdi. Theri site has instal instructions and videos. You can also give them a call and tell them what you want to do and they will help you. I used kerdi, for my niche and it was easy to instal. Check it out.

http://www.schluter.com/english/products/2002/sectionh/overview-h/Overview-components.html

Thanks alot! I looked last night and I don't think there is a pan.

Thanks for the info... I would not have considered this otherwise (the price I pay for being a novice!)