Ask the Builder: Whats really behind that tile? – Sun, 22 Feb 2015 PST

DEAR TIM: I embarked on a simple caulking repair around my bathtub thats now turned into a quest. While pulling out old caulk I discovered loose tile. After removing four rows of tile up from the top of the tub, I then was met by a crumbling wall surface behind the tile. I took out this material and have now installed new backerboard. The new backerboard is not flush with the old thats exposed just below the tile still on the wall. How do I remedy this situation? Money is tight so please dont tell me to

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DEAR TIM: I embarked on a simple caulking repair around my bathtub thats now turned into a quest. While pulling out old caulk I discovered loose tile. After removing four rows of tile up from the top of the tub, I then was met by a crumbling wall surface behind the tile. I took out this material and have now installed new backerboard. The new backerboard is not flush with the old thats exposed just below the tile still on the wall. How do I remedy this situation? Money is tight so please dont tell me to tear everything out and start over. That option is not on the wall, so to speak. Tim D., Everett,Massachusetts

DEAR TIM: Oh, youve got a problem, but the good news its not too terribly difficult to solve it. Before I tell you what Id do, I should discussbackerboard.

Im quite concerned that you dont really have a waterproof backerboard since you said it crumbled. My guess is that you might have some version of a water-resistant gypsum board behind yourtile.

If thats the case, then theres a good chance that the tile you still have on the wall will eventually fail when the water that penetrates the grout between the tiles degrades the paper covering the gypsumcore.

Lets talk for a moment about the old days. Houses built in the first half of the 20th century had ceramic wall and floor tile that was set on realconcrete.

The master tile setters would install wire mesh on walls and then coat it with two coats of coarse sand concrete made with real Portland cement, producing a smooth and plumb sandy surface that was perfect for the high-quality tile that loves to be set on surfaces in the sameplane.

The best tile setters did the work so that the tile was set on the third day from the start of the job so the cement paste they used to set the tile chemically and mechanically bonded with the sandy concrete mix that had just been installed the daybefore.

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Ask the Builder: Whats really behind that tile? - Sun, 22 Feb 2015 PST