# Forum Home Renovation Waterproofing  Drainage for bathroom

## phealey

Hi All, 
I'm starting a bathroom reno of my soon to be sold investment property. The bathroom is classic 1990 and reasonably small, so I thought I'd give it a crack at renovating. The plan is to gut it, leave all the existing plumbing in place and essentially just install new tiles, new vanity and new bath. All the same footprint but a few more tiles up the walls this time. 
I just have a few issues that I would like some clarification on:  *Floor Wastes:* The shower is roughly 900x900, with a waste in the middle. I intend on using 300x300 tiles, is this going to be an issue with appearance considering there needs to be a fall to the drain? Would it be better to try and find a matching or complimenting tile in a 200x200 instead?The main bathroom floor, which is roughly 1600x1700 has a floor waste. Does this mean I'm forced to screed the whole floor to fall to the waste?With the screed, is 3 to 1 suitable using brickies sand?   *The Bath*  I'm slightly concerned about installing a new bath, currently it's just a 1500 x 740 acrylic, about the cheapest thing in the world to replace - $89 at Bunnings!! I'm assuming this is sitting around a timber/villaboard/tiled frame - is the current standard to just sit this on a mortar bed and re-use or rebuild the timber frame?

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## Oldsaltoz

> I just have a few issues that I would like some clarification on:  *Floor Wastes:* The shower is roughly 900x900, with a waste in the middle. I intend on using 300x300 tiles, is this going to be an issue with appearance considering there needs to be a fall to the drain? Would it be better to try and find a matching or complimenting tile in a 200x200 instead?The main bathroom floor, which is roughly 1600x1700 has a floor waste. Does this mean I'm forced to screed the whole floor to fall to the waste?With the screed, is 3 to 1 suitable using brickies sand?  If you are set on using the 300 x 300 tiles, you can make life a bit easier if you lay them diagonally, this will also improve the drainage. Look for a washed sand, you want to avoid any clay in the sand, Screed mix is around 4 to one.   *The Bath*  I'm slightly concerned about installing a new bath, currently it's just a 1500 x 740 acrylic, about the cheapest thing in the world to replace - $89 at Bunnings!! I'm assuming this is sitting around a timber/villaboard/tiled frame - is the current standard to just sit this on a mortar bed and re-use or rebuild the timber frame?  After removing the bath you should see sections of the wall studs cut out and support timber in place, just inspect them for rot or splits etc, you should be able to re use the existing frame, don't forget to support the underside and connect the drain, then half fill the bath and check the drain for leaks before fitting the front panel.  Provided the wall to floor joint is waterproofed and you have a water stop angle in the doorway, I would not get too excited about screeding the floor in such a small area.,

  Good luck.   :Smilie:

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## anangia

I have just finished doing my bathroom. We used 300x300 for the whole bathroom including shower area (diamond shape 1100x1100). In my opinion if I had the chance to redo JUST the shower area again, I would: 
a. either use small tiles - e.g. 100x100 for the shower area (same profile as the rest of the bathroom)
OR
b. use 300x300 but user a linear grate for the catching water instead of using 100mm grate in the middle. 
It is bit hard to get the flow perfect with 300x300. 
Both options have pros and cons. On one hand if you go with smaller tiles, then you have the pain of buying 2 different sets (plus extra for error and future). If you go with linear grate, then they are expensive.

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## phealey

Thanks for the feedback guys. 
I have toyed with the idea of using a different shower tile ie 100x100 for shower and 300x300 for the rest. As you can see in the photos, there is a fair sized hob between the shower and floor so I might get away with it. Otherwise a 200x200 throughout would be a reasonable compromise.  
I'm not really locked in to anything just yet, so I'll continue the search.

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## phealey

So I have been playing around with the layout and the nice thing about 300 tiles in a 900 space, is that if I was to use a full size tile through the middle row and two trimmed tiles either side for uniformity, the drain would fall dead centre in that middle tile. 
I was thinking the invisible style tile insert drain would look good, Shower Grate Tile Insert 110X110mm - Masters Home Improvement.  
Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

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## Oldsaltoz

I was thinking the invisible style tile insert drain would look good, Shower Grate Tile Insert 110X110mm - Masters Home Improvement.  
Is there any reason this wouldn't work?
You might have to make a few saw cuts in the ring to allow proper drainage of the screed, it also helps if the whole thing sits just a few mm above the base, supported by a small amount of screed or even tile glue, both are porous. 
Good luck.   :Smilie:

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## phealey

Ok no worries. 
So the plan would look something like this:  Remove existing tiles, screed and hobInstall new hob with 100mm hebel blockWaterproof shower floor walls and bathroom floor (was just going to use a Crommelins kit with the bond breaker etc)Lay screed with one of the mixed products like Lanko 189. Was going to go with a 1:60 ratio here for the fall, which would be about 6mm rise at the shower edge to the drain about 400mm away

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## Oldsaltoz

> Ok no worries. 
> So the plan would look something like this:  Remove existing tiles, screed and hobInstall new hob with 100mm hebel blockWaterproof shower floor walls and bathroom floor (was just going to use a Crommelins kit with the bond breaker etc)Lay screed with one of the mixed products like Lanko 189. Was going to go with a 1:60 ratio here for the fall, which would be about 6mm rise at the shower edge to the drain about 400mm away

  have you considered replacing the old hob with a 50 mm angle? 
Less work and a better look at the end and step up reduction to about 35 mm. rather tan 85 mm with old hob. 
Good luck.   :Smilie:

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## phealey

> have you considered replacing the old hob with a 50 mm angle? 
> Less work and a better look at the end and step up reduction to about 35 mm. rather tan 85 mm with old hob. 
> Good luck.

  I did consider that, and it would make it look a little more modern but I think I'm going to reuse the existing screen. Just looking at it, the border tile along the hob looks to be a full size 150 tile, that's a fair sized hob  :Shock:

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## Oldsaltoz

> I did consider that, and it would make it look a little more modern but I think I'm going to reuse the existing screen. Just looking at it, the border tile along the hob looks to be a full size 150 tile, that's a fair sized hob

  It being a 3 wall shower recess would only mean the screen would be 45 mm of the floor rather than 120 mm, so the whole screen just gets lowered, 
Also have a look at Streamline shower angles, they are available is straight lengths, corners and 2 corner configurations. 
Very easy to install and look very nice, avoiding all those cuts needed to tile a hob. By the way if you do decide to go with the hob, use Hebel stone and ensure the top tile spans over the vertical tiles on each side. 
Good luck.   :Smilie:  
Link for Streamline below.  Simplifying Shower Construction - Waterstop Streamline

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## phealey

So this morning I have managed to source the tile I want in a 200x200 so that should  make the floor a bit easier and I'll just use an 80mm or 100mm square  drain. 
I had seen the streamline waterstop before, looks quite nice but I wont have time to have it freighted here unfortunately. 
I'm all for removing the hob, however I'm a bit confused about not only where I can source a white waterstop to match the shower frame, but what's involved in installing it? My understanding would be that I'd sikaflex it the the concrete slab, then waterproof, screed over the top and then tile, leaving about 50mm exposed?

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## Oldsaltoz

> So this morning I have managed to source the tile I want in a 200x200 so that should  make the floor a bit easier and I'll just use an 80mm or 100mm square  drain. 
> I had seen the streamline waterstop before, looks quite nice but I wont have time to have it freighted here unfortunately. 
> I'm all for removing the hob, however I'm a bit confused about not only where I can source a white waterstop to match the shower frame, but what's involved in installing it? My understanding would be that I'd sikaflex it the the concrete slab, then waterproof, screed over the top and then tile, leaving about 50mm exposed?

  Your on the right track with sticking to the concrete using something Like Sikaflex 11FC (Fast cure). 
The angle is bit of bog standard mill finish angle, cheap as. 
Set it back from the face about 20 mm and letter sealant go off, about 15 minutes, then put a thin layer of sealant over the inside, this will help the membrane to stick when waterproofing. 
The shower screen fits inside (the wet side, of the angle), so when screeding you need to work out the finish height of the tiles, so thickness of tile say 10 mm and glus say 3 mm = 13 mm, we also need to leave the top 5 mm of the angle exposed so 13 mm = 5 mm will give us a seed level 18 mm below the angle. 
If you put  a saw cut in a small off cut of timber that is 18 mm deep you slide this along the angle over the screed so have a perfectly set base level.  
After tiles are down and cured, simply place it onto the tiles and against the angle and secure it to the walls as normal. 
To finish the front of the angle off just a bit of 50 mm powder coated angle of any colour you fancy, or even brass or Chrome plated. 
Trim one down to about 18 mm so it fits neetly between the two wall and sikaflex to the original andle and the run a small bit of sika along the top between the scree and the angle to seal it off. 
Also a lot easier to keep clean than all those tiny tiles and gout.  
Good luck.   :Smilie:

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## phealey

So just an update - started the demo today and ran into a few issues.  
The shower walls turned into a mission, basically tiles/adhesive/render all wanted to come off so I've basically taken it all back to brickwork in the shower now. The plan is to apply a render flush with the remaining wall (top tile to ceiling). Would need at least 10mm of render here. 
The floor was also a mission and is quite uneven, so will apply a self levelling mortar to sort that out. 
The bath is bricked in like someone was planning on stealing it. Same issue with the shower here too with half the render coming with it around the splashback. Haven't worked out the best course of action here. I can probably buy a new bath to the same spec and just re-install and patch the missing render I guess.

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## Oldsaltoz

> So just an update - started the demo today and ran into a few issues.  
> The shower walls turned into a mission, basically tiles/adhesive/render all wanted to come off so I've basically taken it all back to brickwork in the shower now. The plan is to apply a render flush with the remaining wall (top tile to ceiling). Would need at least 10mm of render here. 
> The floor was also a mission and is quite uneven, so will apply a self levelling mortar to sort that out. 
> The bath is bricked in like someone was planning on stealing it. Same issue with the shower here too with half the render coming with it around the splash back. Haven't worked out the best course of action here. I can probably buy a new bath to the same spec and just re-install and patch the missing render I guess.

  Just a thought: Rendered walls need to be fully waterproofed, you will find it is cheaper to line the walls with Villaboard, leaving you with a perfectly flat clean surface to tile to. You can do the same on the splash back, just cut the Villaboard 3 mm shorter than the tiles on the top and both sides, fill with sealant after the tile glue sets. 
Good luck.   :Smilie:

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