Clean Bathroom Tiles, and Replace Broken Ones
About to renovate a pre war co op. The bathroom tiles are 3/4 ” square. Just a few are broken. I think I can get replacements. Is this a plausible fix? Can the grout and remainder of tiles be cleaned to match the replacements? Simply replace the entire floor? Any estimates of comparable cost per…
About to renovate a pre war co op. The bathroom tiles are 3/4 ” square. Just a few are broken. I think I can get replacements. Is this a plausible fix? Can the grout and remainder of tiles be cleaned to match the replacements?
Simply replace the entire floor? Any estimates of comparable cost per sq ft? Thanks
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that’s ok..you needn’t replace it..
Beautiful bathroom, love this style.
I agree best bet is to clean thoroughly and regrout everything, just leave everything in place. I don’t know about dark grout, might not look historically right. Anyway the new grout will be nice and clean and stay that way for quite a long time.
I also agree the subfloor appears to not be level, hence the cracked tile.
I am surprised IMBY mentions the marble slab under the toilet — is it a marble slab or is that the mortar bed with missing tile? To me, it looks like missing tile. I would certainly fill that in with matching tile, which is so easy to do you could do it yourself.
If you are talking about cracked tiles on the wall, yes it is possible to chisel out the cracked tiles and replace them with new ones. However, it is not easy and you will most likely crack the ones around it and have to replace them too. Also, I’m not quite sure if you can ever get the mortar exactly level — not sure, because former occupants of one of my apartments appeared to have had this problem, and I looked into fixing it but never did. Maybe a really skilled tile person could do it rather than, say, the handyman they probably employed.
The floor actually seems to be in quite good condition even with a crack or two. I would just leave it. But if you want to re-do it, you would first have to create a level subfloor. You should consult a tile expert, who will know more than I do, but I would imagine you will have the choice of laying down plywood over the existing floor or jackhammering out the existing tile and laying down plywood over the existing mortar bed. The latter will raise the floor level slightly, the former a lot.
If you need matching tile, it is not available at Home Depot. The exact color, the flat (not eased) edges, and the unusual shaped baseboard and edge tiles are not available. Consult American Restoration Tile in Arkansas. They probably have this in stock. If not, you can extract and mail them the exact pieces you need and they will copy them exactly, down to the crazing. Takes about five weeks. Prices reasonable in small quantities, no minimum.
You could use an old and experienced tile layer for this, not some young guy who only knows how to install 12 x 12 eased tile in new developments. I have used a guy named Nick (don’t know his last name) at 718-497-8857. He is in his 70s or 80s. Hopefully he’s not retired by now. His wife answers the phone and speaks only Italian (he speaks a little more English but not much) so he is hard to get ahold of. His prices are extremely reasonable. He told me $100 to $200 to regrout my shower, I paid him $200.
Here’s the deal with your floor. The slab is cracked. Broken missing tiles most likely along fault line. Judging by the marble toilet base the slab was poured directly over the floor joists with the space between infilled with coal ash or wooden boards. Toilet most likely has original lead bend waste pipe. Plumbing supply lines might be under slab as well.
If I was you I would just have someone scrub the hell out of existing tile and regrout with dark grout. Seal grout to keep it looking fresh. Replace missing tiles as needed. It looks like there is no gap between wall tile and floor tile so floor is not going anywhere soon.
New tile will not match exactly but no one will notice.
Just clean it!! What a perfect bathroom – great tiles on the floor and walls. Love the window sill. You are making a mistake to change a thing. You might use a darker grout to highlight the tile. I’m envious.