weve just moved into our new house and have found a series of DIY bodge jobs! The latest is in the bathroom, we wanted to remove the discoloured beading surrounding the bath and the mouldy sealant. Now I've removed the beading I've found tiles over tiles and masses of sealant (about an inch thick) between back to the plasterboard and to the 2nd layer of tiles. Now, we're not quite ready to hack off the tiles and retile, but would it be best to remove a the old sealant and then pump some new stuff in there? Or do you keep the majority of the old sealant in there and put a new layer on and some new beading to hide the horrors! We'll probably redo the bathroom in a year or so, but there are other more pressing items we need to focus/spend money on. We're first time homeowners so apologies if this is an obvious question... I've tried a Google search but didn't come up with any answer that was useful! Thanks
Hi Doodle. Now't too wrong with tiling over tiles provided the total weight doesn't exceed the capacity of the wall (unlikely) and provided the first layer is well attached. But the siliconing sounds excessive... Again, tho', provided it's doing its job - sealing - then you can carry on until you refurb the whole bathroom. Ok, the sili is mouldy. But is it still attached? Can you see a narrow black line along where it joins the tiles or the bathtop? If you gently run a knife or summat along that line, does the sili lift? What I would do is to try and remove as much of the old stuff as possible, so that you end up with two clean surfaces to bond new sili to. I iften use a snap-off bladed craft knife for this - the blade will extend so's you can run it along the two surfaces in turn, keeping it scraping along these surfaces to remove almost all the sili. If you run it along both surfaces, digging the tip in to the sili, then you should find that the stuff comes orf in a long rubber band. You should also end up with a neat right-angled edge. Clean up further if required. Then get some decent quality anti-mould sili - Everbuild do a 10-year guarantee against mould one, and it's nice to use as well - not very vinegary. Also buy some of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yato-Sili...epid=0&hash=item33aa37263e:g:kN0AAOSwjL5ZHhVN or similar. I used these for the first time a few weeks ago, and, man, do they work . I used the 45o profile and it looks 'right'. You can afford to go larger profile than you think. Don't forget to come back with before and after photos so's we can have a laugh. I mean so's we can say 'well done'...
I often use an old flexible carving kitchen knife (not the best one ) cos you can get the end of the blade pushed hard in tight to the surface and the bendy knife still allows the handle to be handleable so you can slice the old sillycon off the tiles easier, but otherwise just as DA describes.