How to replace a chipped bathroom tile?

[MatthewD]

 

We have a chipped tile on the floor of the shower and I’m wanting a little advice before we tackle it.  My first question is: how urgent is it to address this? Is the exposed corner of the tile letting water through to whatever is underneath it?

My second question is: when repairing, I’m assuming we need to be careful of the waterproof membrane or layer beneath the tiles - so what’s the safest way to remove the tile and prepare the surface?

I may have a whole lot of wrong assumptions here so I’m looking forward to some advice from the community.  Thanks!

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @MatthewD 

Firstly  that chip wont leak water so no dramas there. Non  urgent.  Non  urgent and can  be wet all  the time.

Repair option

 I would use some araldite and color it off white using a little acrilic paint and repaint that petal  shape neatly maybe mask the out line first.

Now once that araldite  dry 24 hours.  Mix and color  some epoxy  to match the gray and mask it and add it also masking grout lines.

How to mix  paint match  get acrilic craft  paint and mix the colour on a  plate untill you have a  match then add it to glue.

Replace  tile option.

Remove grout from around the tile using a multi tool only go 5mm deep.

Tap the  damaged  tile with a hammer until it shatters. Use hammer edge as a better to crack the tile.  

So  now remove pieces and finish cleaning  where the tile  came out. 

Use the multitool at a angle and dig out some old tile  glue not deep if you start seeing membrain stop.

Test tile in position when  dug out if  its sitting lower or even to other tiles  your good to go and re glue tile in .

You will not need to dig deep just  enough for a good smear of  glue.

The dunlop below  will glue it in  for you.

But you will need to add some  grey paint on a saucer to the dunlop to  try match your grout color so you dont have to ny a big bag of  grout. Or  let  it be white and it will self dirty in time to off white.

Dunlop 250g White Ready To Go Tile Adhesive And Grout  I/N: 6650178

$13.58

Hope  this  helps  guide your  success.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @MatthewD. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about replacing a tile.

@Jewelleryrescue has provided an excellent response, and I agree with the method suggested. The damage certainly isn't letting any more water through than what your grout would be, and that water is collected by your membrane and sent to the drain. 

If you were to replace the tile, I'd encourage you to get a couple of quotes on the work. If you were to damage the membrane in the removal of the tile, the correct fix for that would be removing all the tiles on the floor of the bathroom at least and re-waterproofing it. You can't just repair damaged sections. That's a big risk to take on a D.I.Y. job.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[MatthewD]

That’s really helpful, thanks so much for your advice @Jewelleryrescue  and @MitchellMc