Bathroom tile - what happened here?

13 years ago

My home was built in 1940 and only has one (small!) full bath. Originally the bath had tile surrounding the tub/shower and halfway up the wall all around the room. The daughter of the original owner of the house has told me that it was a 4" x 4" gold-flecked white tile. At some point, a previous owner of the house removed all of the tile from the walls, leaving a very thick stucco-like material that's tough as nails. You can still see imprints of the backside of the original tiles. This stucco-like material was a dingy white when we moved in, so to bring in a bit of that south-of-the-border flair that I enjoy throughout my house, I painted the walls vibrant colors, and now the stucco stuff is turquoise. It's not great, but I've been able to live with it as sort of a Band-Aid fix for now.

Now, what I don't understand is just what this stucco-like stuff is, and why it's so darn thick. It's at least an inch thick ... why would the original tile have required that much "goop" on the walls to hold it in place? I would think trying to chisel it off would damage the wall beyond repair, so have been wondering if it would be possible to apply tile on top of it - ? If that were possible, with the depth of the compound to affix the tiles and the tiles themselves, that would leave a pretty large "shelf" around the room where the tile ends and the wall begins. Would there be any solution to covering that up with some sort of tile piece?

I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well, but here are some pics of the "stucco stuff" that may help.

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In my perfect world, I'd have something along these lines on my bathroom walls, instead of weird turquoise stucco.

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Comments (5)

palimpsest
13 years ago
Your tile was applied to a mortar bed (cement, essentially). This is how my bathroom was done. Under the cement was wire mesh, and under the wire mesh was the studs or lathe. When the bathroom was remodeled it was easier (in my case) to get back to the wire mesh and pry the whole thing off.

If your tile was intact, it would be relatively easy, I am told, to go right over it as it forms a solid base. In your case I am not sure that it would be so easy to go over the uneven mortar. Post on the bathroom forum. There are some real tile experts over there.
User
Original Author
13 years ago
Oh wow, Pal - that looks like a major project! Unfortunately, I am afraid that doing what I want would not be simple either, as you say. Thanks for suggesting I cross-post on the Baths forum - I did just that.

I can't for the life of me understand why someone would have removed those white tiles. So maybe they weren't all that fab, but surely they were better than what I'm left with now. **shaking my head at some of the things POs do to houses**
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User
13 years ago
Wow Jen, I feel for you. I hope someone over on the bathroom board can help you figure a somewhat easy way to fix this. What a mess! I'd say that PO is Pretty Odd.
User
13 years ago
If you leave all the underlayments as they are (lathe, plaster and mortar) and then add more mortar and new tile, you will end up having to change all the trim around the doors, baseboard and window. The new mortar and tile will increase the depth of the walls, which will throw the profile of the existing trim out of whack.

However, if you tackle the removal of it all, you'll have to deal with the same thing. The good news about removing it all is that you'll increase the size of your bathroom by the thickness of it all - a couple of inches in each direction:)

We are also in an old bungalow and gutting our 4' x 5' master bath is on our to do list. One thing that we're including in our planning is our furnace. Why? Because the chimney comes up from the basement behind the bathroom wall and out thru the roof. When we redo the bathroom, we'll also be getting a new furnace which is energy efficient and side vents out the basement, eliminate the chimney and then add the space that the chimney currently occupies into the area of the bathroom.

Don't know if you have a basement or how your furnace is set up. This may be food for thought...
jejvtr
13 years ago
AJ

Can you take more pics - further away that reveal more of the bathroom?

I would suggest doing that & do a separate posting - "Calling Bill V" Old tile underlayment question - Post either on kitchens or Baths where he hangs out most - Our resident tile expert.

There is also another forum - John Bridge - linked below who is the guru of tile - that's where all the "tile junkies" hang

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: JB forum

Bathroom tile - what happened here?

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palimpsest

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palimpsest

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