Bottom tiles around shower came loose and off, the backing "adhesive"was damp, how can i fix it?

Question

there is a small space at the bottom of where the tile was that you can see into the wall.

Answer 1

Yeah, this isn't going to be nice.  You use a water resistant board, sometimes called a blue board instead of drywall.  Best get to it before mold develops back there.  

I'm not even going to think about a shower pan problem.  

Wherever there is water you need to be vigilant about maintaining the chaulk and mortar.......and praying you don't have a plumbing leak behind the wall.  

Oh, aren't they joyous answers......sorry.

Answer 2

If you are renting then Call the landlord....it is his responsibility.

If you own, or are buying....then for heaven's sake...check the rest of the wall for leaks before you trust any suggestions on here.

If there is DRYWALL and not Hardibacker, Hardyboard, Greenboard, or a waterproof backerboard there, then you will have to to remove the rest of the tiles and have it done right.

We had to do that in our shower. Old house, done wrong and cheap. Not now...we did it the right way. So check it out first, and call for reinforcements if you have to....Friends, family neighbors that have re done this type of work. Good luck...

Answer 3

That's going to be a booger.  The wall board, likely dry wall is wet.  You'll probably have to redo the whole thing.

Answer 4

Yup, they're right.  What you can see is the tip of the iceberg.  At a minimum you'll have to remove the tiles and backer to solid, dry studs, then replace the drywall/sheetrock with cement board.

Before re-installing the tile, (if you're leaving the remaining tile in place) remove the old grout from the walls.

After re-installing the tiles on the patched area, regrout the whole thing.

Good Luck

Answer 5

You DON'T use drywall in a shower area.

There should be backerboard with no gaps behind all the tiles. It sounds like a porr job. May have to be ripped apart and redone, otherwise major mold and other issues in the future.

Answer 6

No, you don't need to rip out the whole job, assuming that there aren't water leaks or other problems (rot, mold, etc) behind the wall.

You can do a reasonbly good job by carefully scraping away the thinset cement and grout from the backer board and/or the tiles and re-cementing them using a small amount of thinset.  

When you re-grout, leave the bottom joint between the wall and the tub or bottom of the shower stall ungrouted - that should be caulked with a flexible silicone caulking.  

Often the problem you describe is actually caused by grouting the wall to floor joint - when a little building settling or an earthquake occurs, that joint will often see a fair amount of movement, which can break or dislodge tiles if there's no flex in the junction.