OMO: Bathroom refit help!

[Brettus]

Right, another maybe less ambitious plan from my last decking balcony, I'm wanting to refurbish my bathroom. I'm considering LED strip lighting for the ceiling as the single fitting in the middle of the room leaves it quite dark behind the shower curtain.

The floor could do with some smartening up as it has hospital grade plastic tiles (the bathroom was created by the wheelchair bound previous resident) I'd like something a bit more snazzy, I'm pondering if I'm up to tiling it myself as it doesn't matter if it is out of action for a while as we have another bathroom.
Oops, forgot the picture:

Check them out, glamorous or what!

My main question is, can I just rough up those existing plastic tiles or do I have to completely strip them as they look pretty immoveable!

Wall tiles look easy enough to remove, I'd like to update them but there is a lot of them to replace so I'm not sure budget will stretch just yet.

Not really many questions as yet but I'm just outlining my intentions and would like some advice on if and how I should proceed from the tradesmen and DIYers of the org please!

Suppliers, products, brands, anything appreciated!

I'd get rid of the tiles if i were you mate, god knows what the floor is like underneath. Would be a shame to tile over it and then find you have to rip it all up when you find a damp patch ohh err..

[widepants]

Where to start ? First of all there are two more common types of tiles that yours could be , it is difficult to tell from the pic.The older type are thermoplastic tiles and are a bit thicker and brittle and easy to strip. The newer ones are vinyl , a bit thiner and tend to be more flexible and therefore harder to remove.
If you really struggle getting them up then prime them with unibond or SBR (I find SBR better) or a bonding agent made by the adhesive manufacturer.
Now to the new tiles.Care must be taken to make sure you know exactly what the new tiles are made from , because this will determin the adhesive used.
Ceramic tiles can use a standard slow set or rapid set adhesive.
Porcelain tiles MUST use a modified adhsive such as a BAL product.
polished porcelain tiles should also be sealed after fixing.
If using a pale grout or a natural pale stone tile such a travertine , then a white adhesive is recomended.
hope thats enough to get you started. Give me a pm if you would like my trade number to get some discount

[Brettus]

Originally Posted by widepants

Lots of stuff I don't yet fully understand

I sense some googling of those key phrases coming on tomorrow, thanks! will have to have a peruse of some tiling places to get an idea of what I might like.

Some sound advice from mr widepants there, I fit a lot of bathrooms, my main bread and butter tbh so I'll add.

You could leave them in place and overboard with 6mm exterior ply which is what I do on all bathroom floors anyway.

20mm screws every 150mm will make a strong floor.

Flexible rapid set adhesive and flexible grout, you'll never have a problem.

I'd stick with ceramic too, cheap so won't break the budget, easy to drill the toilet down etc.

[widepants]

looking at the fact that you have heather brown quarry tiles , and can see the bumps through the vinyl , Id say you have a solid floor .If thats the case then no need to mess about raising the floor with ply, its a lot of work to screw it at 150 mm centers onto concrete,screed etc.

Originally Posted by widepants

looking at the fact that you have heather brown quarry tiles , and can see the bumps through the vinyl , Id say you have a solid floor .If thats the case then no need to mess about raising the floor with ply, its a lot of work to screw it at 150 mm centers onto concrete,screed etc.

Yep, if it's quarry's underneath then screwing ply isn't an option.

Could kango quarries up no trouble though.

[Brettus]

After a quick investigation tonight with my widgy bar it seems I've got the thermoplastic ones as they flake as they are lifted.

It also appears they are laid directly onto concrete as scraping a little of the black adhesive away just digs into coarse (what I guess to be) concrete, I'd expect smoother consistency if it were self levelling compound or something. (but then what do I know, I'm posting this thread )

Anyway, for your expert opinions, here is a pic of the excavations:


I've been browsing tiles but I'm still not decided on a colour, shape or material yet.

I'm slightly more convinced on heated flooring even though laying the boarding, the wire and the tiles will likely raise the floor by a couple of CMs. Seems too much like hard work to scrape the floor down so it would be level and it is an off shoot room in an extension so the height discrepancy doesn't really bother me.

As usual any thoughts or suggestions appreciated, thanks for all the responses so far too!

Its more than likely not concrete, more probably screed.

Sorry, cant add any advise regarding tiles and how to lay them but please explain the OMO in your heading (google didnt give me much bar washing powder )