A number of the tiles in my circa 1930 tub/shower surround have come loose from the substrate and are being held in place by friction and grout. I pulled a few off and the substate is metal lath, with a scratch coat of mortar. The tiles were them indivually embedded in a pad of mortor about 1″ thick applied to the scratch coat. All of the mortar is in fine condition; the bond simply failed between the tile and the pad of mortar. It would seem that they can simply be “glued” back to the mortar. My question is the type of adhesive I should use. It seems that a thinset mortar might be a problem because it would be too thick and cause the tiles to stand proud of the surrounding, still secure tiles.Is there a thin mastic or other thin adhesive which I should use? The tiles are the typical rectangular subway tile. Also, there is almost no gap btween the tiles when installed. What type of grout should I use? Thanks in advance.
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Replies
Why is this posted under help wanted /
You need to make room for the thinset by scraping the old adhesive / mud bed with a carbide scraper. Check the thinset manufacturer's recommendations for wetting the old mud bed first before applying thinset. They may recommend this to prevent premature suction.
carpenter in transition
Use an unsanded grout for small joints (under 1/8" I think). You should dry fit the tile to see if it will go back in place. Sometimnes when I try to replace one tile, the spacing lugs interfere and I have to grind them off two sides, otherwiose the fit is too tight.
Do it right, or do it twice.