Damp and tiles?

[TimHardusty]

Our 17th century Portland stone cottage has a sloping-roofed single storey extension at the rear (probably 19th century) that we want to turn into a downstairs loo/shower room.

The rear wall suffers a little damp (no damp proof course), and the side wall has a damp problem that is probably a leak in the roof structure that I will fix.

In the rest of the house, we are very conscious that allowing the walls to breath has made a great difference to the dampness compared to when we moved in (vinyl paper, gypsum plaster, etc.), and if we were keeping the space at the rear as "generic" living space we'd do the same.

But, as a loo/shower room we will need to at least part tile it.

Long introduction to a (hopefully) simple question: if a wall has no damp proof course (or foundations to speak of), is made of limestone, and - ideally, I assume - needs to breath, what actually happens if you fully tile it?

Do the tiles drop off after a few years? Does the water rise all the way up and rot the roof?

I have considered battening the wall and lining it with a board of some type...but does the water then condense, run down, and seep under the (screeded) floor?

Am I over analysing this!!??

Help!!

 

[livias]

How about lkme plastering the walls and then having a shower cubicle that is free standing away from the wall. Do you have enough space to do that?

 

[TimHardusty]

Yes, that's one option, especially as I will probably have to replaster this room anyway since it's all falling off as we remove the heavy duty wallpaper complete with its lashings of vinyl silk paint!

At this stage we haven't fully decided how to "equip" this rooom so still exploring options:

- will definitely have a washbasin and WC
- will have a decent extractor venting through a vent slate in the room's sloping roof
- will also have a washing machine and tumble drier (of the condensing/plumbed in kind) in a cupboard
- maybe a bath rather rather than a shower
- probably a floor drain so we can wash the (small) dogs down after their daily walk rather than plonk them in the kitchen sink (as now) or the bath in this room (if we fit one).

Easiest/probably safest is lime plaster and part tiled where it needs to be, even if we do go for a floor drain since this is more for dog-splash than showering purposes.

But, one extreme is to consider it a wet room in which case the fully tiled approach makes sense...hence me pondering what happens to the moisture in the walls if I were to do this? To rule it in or out as an option.

 

[Zebra]

Have I gone mad, or do I seem to remember a link to a video about some sort of lime / possibly hemp shower enclosure? Can't remember. Was it Italian? (I might have made that bit up.)

 

[livias]

Well you may be mad but certainly less mad than the person who did that. In theory lime could be used as a shower lining but I wouldn't trust it. On the plus side it can cope with repeated wetting and is antiseptic being alkali but in reality the water would scour the surface and so however well polished it was to begin with it wouldn't stay that way. I had a client once who wanted a lime plastered shower and I refused to do it. Maybe if they had been prepared to allow one year of not using the shower while it set really well ....

 

[bennoa1]

Have I gone mad, or do I seem to remember a link to a video about some sort of lime / possibly hemp shower enclosure? Can't remember. Was it Italian? (I might have made that bit up.)

Presume venetian plastering. I am considering it for a wet room in the shower area, but wont be doing for a year or two.