Help!!!

[Johnandcami]

We just bought a house...A real fixer upper. We kind of got in over our little novice heads with the bathroom.
The bathroom is in sad shape.
It has a tile shower in it and there are a few of the floor tiles missing. When I investigated the floor under the tile it was soft concrete...I need to replace the entire floor before I can retile and reseal right?

[HayZee518]

a tile floor in a shower stall had to be installed in stages. the sub floor of wood or mdf particle board goes in first. then a semi dry sand/ portland cement mix goes in with a 3/8 mesh screen in between. a final semi coat of sand/portland goes on top. this is hammered tight and left to dry. the concrete/sand mix dries rock hard. the pan or membrane goes in next, followed by yet another coat of concrete/sand mix. quickset goes on and the tiles are set into the quickset. finally the grout goes in. the shower pan sub floor never dries out they say. so unless you can sufficiently dry the concrete/sand sub, next thing would be to remove the whole thing and start over.

[pushkins]

If the shower base (pan) is cement based and soft then it needs to be removed and re done, it should in no way be soft.
Is this shower on a ground floor, concrete floor, crawlspace ? if it's on a crawl space have you looked from underneath to see what condition the sub floor is in ?

[Johnandcami]

It is a 1 level house on a slab. Thank you for the replys. I gues I know what me and my father in law are doing this weekend!
Stay tuned I am sure I will ned more advice and help as I tackle more rooms!!!

[HayZee518]

OK, next, is the drain line embedded in the slab? Cold be just a matter of the quickset just softening up. In any case, the quickset should set up rock hard. maybe the installer used an acryllic adhesive, the wrong type.

[Johnandcami]

Ill check that tonight and report back. I took up about 2o tiles and when I saw it was soft, I stopped working on it so I didnt ruin sanything further.

[dkpbxman]

Mastic?

Is it maybe that the concrete is hard but that the tiles were put on with mastic?

You can't use that stuff in a bathroom because if it comes in contact with water it will re-emulsify (soften).

Maybe there was a problem with the grout and it let water get past it and then ruined your tile job.

Using mastic is easier-don't have to mix the thinset, that's why lazy people use it but it's not worth the risk in wet areas.

If that's the case, unfortunately you'll have to rip it all out and do it right with thinset. It comes as a dry powder and you mix it with water before troweling it on.