Temporary tile repair
What follows, is for sure, definitely not text book work and is most certainly not recommended. However, this all took place when Covid first began. So I was asked to come up with a quick, temporary repair job, as the family wanted me to minimise the amount of time I spent in their house.
Incorrectly using ordinary plasterboard, had caused damp and mould issues and had also caused the lower back wall tiles to crack and become loose (you can see the black mould building up in the grout lines) which was allowing water to leak through to the ceiling below. Being the only shower in a house occupied by a family of four, it was getting a lot of use and the leak was starting to get very bad, damaging the kitchen ceiling below and dripping onto the worktops.
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The bathroom is already dated and long since in need of re-modernisation. The original plan was for the family to go on holiday whilst I arranged for a team of us to go in, rip the entire bathroom out, fit new bath, shower, toilet and basin, new tiles and a new floor. However, Coronavirus cancelled that plan.
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They asked me to come up with a temporary repair which didn't have to look perfect as long as it would stop the water leaking below. And of course, being mindful of the virus, they wanted me to do an extremely quick job whilst they all isolated up in the attic. Advising them that I couldn't guarantee how long it would remain watertight, I undertook the following . . .
First I removed the bottom two rows of loose tiles.
I removed the incorrectly fitted and very mouldy section of plasterboard.
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And sprayed the insulation with anti-fungicide to prevent further mould growth.
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I bought the most expensive and highest quality recommended mastic that I could find. Cut and fitted two layers of wedi board, which I screwed directly onto the exposed framework whilst simultaneously pumping in excess amounts of mastic, so as to create a stable, waterproof base for the new tiles to adhere to.
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It was at this point, the tile just left of centre above the wedi board came loose. So I pulled it off, cleaned off the backing and the exposed area of board, then re-attached it with mastic.
I then covered the entire section of wedi board with mastic, which I used to stick the new tiles on with.
The next day, I used white silicone sealant to seal the gaps between the tiles and all the edges.
At the time of writing it's been nine months since I made this repair and it has remained watertight.