Hi all. I'm new to this forum and also to DIY. I was hoping for some advice. I moved into a new house a week ago and discovered the shower cubicle in en-suite is leaking. So after inspection I decided to remover the horrible sealant strip to then find water underneath it and also sealant/caulk which I also removed. Also the bottom closest to the shower tray were all lose so pulled them off. Half of the area underneath the tiles is covered in more tiles and the section closest to the tray (approx 2inches) has soggy drywall.

Now my question is, could I get away with removing the soggy stuff and replacing this small area with something else then re-tile etc or do I need to strip the entire wall and start again?

Thanks in advanced for any advice. I'll attach some pics when I figure out how to do it.

 

Welcome to the forums! Sadly, even without seeing what you see, it all has to come out. Drywall is not an acceptable wet area backing for tile. If it has been tiled over tile, then there was an error that was covered up improperly. Maybe posting some pictures of what you have would give us a better insight as to your course of action. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

 

Yeah, as soon as you said soggy drywall, I knew you were toast. That was a construction method that has proven to be unreliable. Wish that inspectors would pay more attention to these things in homes built in the 60's and 70's.

 

Cheers for the replies.
Yeah I thought as much. Was not a job I was expecting to do!
I'm guessing I'll have to remove all the tiles in the en-suite as it won't be level if I just re-tile the shower. Shame because the rest of the room looks good.

I wil try to post some pic later when I am on my laptop. Can't seem to do it from my mobile.

Cheers again guys.

 

I'd be more concerned with matching the tile than I would about the not keeping it level. Most drywall is 1/2" thick and you can get cement board in the same thickness. Getting an exact match to the existing tile might not be possible.

 

I found out this weekend that Durock is 1/2" and Wonderboard is 7/16". Some guy in front of me was freaking out that he had Wonderboard on his float and it wasn't a full 1/2". When he turned his cart around, I left the line to talk to him about it and assure him he would be OK. Gee, perfection can go only so far, IMO.

 

I know every good tradesman strives to do a perfect job but in the real world that is rarely possible. I figured out a long time ago as long as the right materials/methods are used and the finish product gives the illusion of a perfect job - that's as good as you can expect!

 

Matching the tiles shouldn't be too difficult as they are just plain white.

Hopefully you can see the pics below.

 

Maybe you'll get lucky but there are a 100 shades of white. You'll need to take a clean tile with you to the store and see if you can match it up. Different brands are likely to be a different shade of white and manufacturing changes over the years can also affect the color.