Reinstalling one tile

[leftcoaster]

i was removing The grout on my shower floor and one tile came free. It’s undamaged and I was able to clean the mortar off the back side to where I can see the waffle pattern.

any special considerations for laying a single tile? I doubt I can get a trowel in there to notch the mortar, so I guess I will have to use a pencil to draw notches?

for leveling my thought was to use carpet tape to stick a piece of wood to the face and have that extend over the adjacent tiles.

i‘ve never laid tile myself, so any/all advice is welcome!

 

[arctic bill]

clean up the tile and the space where it fits. buy some tile adhesive and spread it with notched
trowel, install tile and wait one full day, install grout and wait one hour then clean up mess and wait one more full day to dry .
there are video on how to do this

 

[leftcoaster]

clean up the tile and the space where it fits. buy some tile adhesive and spread it with notched
trowel, install tile and wait one full day, install grout and wait one hour then clean up mess and wait one more full day to dry .
there are video on how to do this

I wish! However from what I see the mastic products (tile adhesive) aren’t OK for use on a shower floor. So, I get to buy A 50 lb bag of thinset and use 1 pound. Premixed thinset is apparently also mastic.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

You’re right. Pre-mix or mastic isn’t appropriate for a shower floor. A bag ( yes, 50#) at my local HD is $5. The white stuff is $13. The special flexible stuff, $31. Don’t forget you’ll probably need grout, too. At least that comes in smaller packages.
Use what you need, save a few pounds in an airtight plastic container for the next time—and throw out the rest. In the paper bag it comes in, it won’t last very long. It absorbs moisture and hardens in the bag.

 

[leftcoaster]

You’re right. Pre-mix or mastic isn’t appropriate for a shower floor. A bag ( yes, 50#) at my local HD is $5. The white stuff is $13. The special flexible stuff, $31. Don’t forget you’ll probably need grout, too. At least that comes in smaller packages.
Use what you need, save a few pounds in an airtight plastic container for the next time—and throw out the rest. In the paper bag it comes in, it won’t last very long. It absorbs moisture and hardens in the bag.

Thank you for this.

I have a second issue …

This particular tile is adjacent to the drain, for which there is a square grate meant to be secured in place with 4 bolts, 1 per corner. A few problems…

1) I need to bring the surface below the grate to a height that will support the grate such that it is level with the surrounding tile.

2) Grout is supposed to go around the grate edges, but will it hold up if the grate is removed to clean the drain? How do I even form the grout without it sticking to the edges of the grate?

3) there’s nothing for the bolts to screw into.

for 1), will thinset (versabond) work to support the grate? My plan would be to use stiff cardboard in the drain pipe as a sort of concrete form and establish the fill level so that the mortar will, when dry, support the grate at the proper height. Does this make sense?

for 2)… help?

for 3) I could further complicate the “form” in (1) and block mortar from getting to where the nuts are supposed to go. Later I could epoxy nuts into those gaps. Or I could plan to drill into the mortar after it is dry and epoxy in the nuts. This seems way too complicated- is there an easier way?

 

[CT18]

They didnt use the correct shower drain body. That grate sits in a body that the screws would screw into. I am not sure what you could with it now

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

In the several showers I've owned and worked on myself, the grate was held on by:

1) screwed into the funnel-shaped shower base drain body adapter. In this model, molded into it were two bosses then accepted screws.
2) my current unit has a drain grate that snaps into the pipe, also with an adapter.

Personally I'm not liking what I see in that drain, but without actually being there I'll reserve judgment. There may be a way to install a drain body, I don't know; it depends on what's below I suppose, and how the entire thing was built.

You don't have many easy choices. You will have to seriously clean that area up and remove loose mortar. You can build up what you need with a thick mix of thin set. You can drill through the mortar when all complete, install some "lead screw shields", seal it all well, and use stainless screws.

Kind of peculiar that they (whoever did this) didn't put in a proper drain body as @CT18 indicates.

 

[havasu]

I'm gunna guess you have or will have leakage soon. Are you on a slab?

 

[leftcoaster]

So my GC is a good friend for over 20 years. This shower was done about 9 years ago.

I told him what was up and he sent over the guy who installed it. They removed the other three tiles around the grate, cleaned out the blocked weep holes, and are replacing the assembly that the grate bolts to (and whose flange was under the tiles around the drain). The blocked weep holes explain my grout problems (which is why I was replacing grout). So this is no longer a DIY effort and I’m glad - I was in over my head the moment that tile came loose. I would some day like to trylaying some tile, but this is double black diamond stuff for a guy who wasn’t planning on owning a trowel 72 hours ago. Lucky I have that HD receipt!

thanks to all here for the guidance

 

[havasu]

Those weep holes get most folks in trouble not realizing how important they are.

 

[leftcoaster]

Those weep holes get most folks in trouble not realizing how important they are.

Yeah either the drain weeps or the owner weeps. There’s no third option.