Tiled bathroom floor of 40yr old BV House.

[polony]

Hi, the small bathroom in my brick/veneer house has 4cm square tiles on the floor, all good condition, except of course for that one annoying little *!#!* right in the middle of the floor and.. cracked ! Does anyone have any thoughts on what to do ? the grout is rather mankie but can I refurbish it ? Is re-tiling a problem as I assume there might be a load bearing issue ? ? another question would be (sorry..:-.) what would the tiles have been laid onto ?? Any info would be fab. Thank yooz all !

[METRIX]

Hi Polony.

You can refurbish the grout if your happy with the current tile situation, this can be done either manually with a little tool called a grout scraper, these come ins many shapes and sizes, see below for example.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=grout+scraper&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=fm&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=giUJUOSmMY-viQfi79ndCQ&ved=0CG4QsAQ&biw=1054&bih=878

You can also use a tool such as a dremel to remove the grout, either method would be tedious and if the tiles are 4cm in size will take you a long time.

If you are patient and manage to remove most of the grout, you can then re grout the tiles with an appropriate floor grout [don't use wall grout] unless it is a wall and floor grout in your chosen colour.

If you choose to re-tile the floor, you can either tile over the old ones using special glues, or rip up the old floor and re tile on the substrate under the current tiles.

If you choose to rip up the old tiles, you should have the floor waterproofed, this can lead to a higher expense than you might want to actually do just to fix the old grout problem.

The substrate on your floor could either be concrete [possibility is low as you have a BV home and not Double brick], the other option is Compressed Fibro [possibly asbestos based], I have also seen many timber cypress floorboards under bathroom floors.

Can you get "under the floor", if you can you will see what it is, if it is either concrete or compressed fibro, these are easy substrates to re tile over, if it is timber then it really should be ripped up and replaced with new [non asbestos based] compressed fibro, then the entire floor waterproofed, and tiled accordingly.

[polony]

Hi Metrix, thankyou for your reply. I think regrouting is the best option in this instance so will investigate the various tools you suggested. Are some brands of grout better than others in this situation ? I need to get under the house and see whats there, access is quite good and will provide more info for any further adventures into reno land ! :wink:

[METRIX]

Hi Polony.

Yes regrouting is probably the easiest option, or you will be up for a lot of expense / mess, if you just want to freshen it up then regrout.

I like the Davco products for floor [Sanatized Colorgrout] heaps of colours
ParexDavco: Australia (http://www.davco.com.au/product.php?id_product=73)

For the walls when doing white ceramics I like the Dunlop Super White grout.
Different brands are all basically the same formulations and cement based but there are slight differences betweeen the brands.

I have been using ARDEX FG8 recently and this is also a nice grout to use, also a lot of other colours the Davco does not come in.
ARDEX AUSTRALIA (http://www.ardexaustralia.com/product_display.asp?prdid=83&catid=5)

For a easy grout application tool go for the pointed rubber type, such as the type below, these give better control of the grout and better finish, dont bother with the black rubber squeege type sold in the hardware shop they are no good.
Tiling Tools | Australian Retailer of Tiling Tools, Tile Cutters, Tiling Equipment, Laser Levels and Diamond Tools (http://www.tilersonline.com.au/products/product/GS-PRGB?category=SISNIWRQ)&