Tiling Over Existing Shower Wall Tile

Let this dry before moving on.

Tiling over existing shower wall tile.

Typically screws secure each of these items in. Scrub the wall tiles with diluted degreasing cleaner and a nylon scrub brush. Make sure you ve filled in all the grooves and any openings on your existing surface. Skim coat over your existing tile.

Layer newspaper on the floor across the bottom of the tiled wall. Remove the faucet handle face plate spout and shower head. Mix degreasing cleaner with water in a bucket using a dilution recommended by the cleaner manufacturer. Instead of removing the old tiles you can often update them by tiling over tiles.

Then rinse the wall with a water dampened. The proper way to tile over a fiberglass shower pan is to remove the pan. This isn t especially problematic if the pan was installed separately from the shower walls but it can be tricky if the pan is part of a one piece fiberglass stall and it may need professional expertise. Most people dread re tiling because it often means that you need to remove all the old tiles first.

This essentially means laying a new layer of tiles over the old layer. This assumes that the floor underneath is solid concrete and that there are no cracks in the existing tile indicating underlying problems in the concrete. Scratch the tile with sandpaper to rough up the surface. My fil uses and recommends laticrete 272 mortar mixed with 333 additive.

If your old ceramic tile is worn or dated you can lay new tile right over the old and avoid the huge job of tearing out the old tile. But this isn t always the case.