Tiling in Wellington
TILING & TILE REPAIR IN WELLINGTON
Tiling for tough but beautiful protection
Few surfaces around a home have to put up with as much as tiled floors and walls. Bathrooms, showers, kitchens and other wet areas face water, moisture, heat, cleaning products and impact. That's why tiles need to be installed properly, with a sound substrate, strong adhesive and properly formed grout joints.
Ironically, what makes a tiled surface so hard-wearing also makes it difficult to repair. Tiles are designed to stay firmly attached, while grout is designed to resist moisture and movement. Removing one damaged tile without damaging its neighbours, the waterproofing membrane or the substrate can therefore be much harder than it first appears.
As a result, damaged tiles are sometimes left alone - particularly when the repair looks difficult or the original tiles are unavailable. But a cracked or loose tile can allow water to get where it shouldn't, and a small defect can become a much larger problem.
Southerleigh carries out both new tiling and tile repairs, with the same attention to what lies beneath the finished surface. For new work, that means getting the underlying preparation, waterproofing, adhesive and grout right from the start. For repairs, it means looking beyond the damaged tile to the protective system around and beneath it.
Tiling in Wellington is seldom just about tiling
The tiles may be what you see, but a successful job depends on everything around and underneath them. Because tiles are geometric and usually laid in repetitive patterns, even small variations in level, alignment or spacing can easily attract attention. That's where careful preparation and attention to detail makes such a difference.
The older the house, the less square it will be
In an older Wellington home, timber framing, floors and other building elements tend to move or settle over many decades. Walls may no longer be flat, and corners will not be perfectly square. Tiling over those surfaces requires more than simply following the existing geometry if the finished result is to look right.
Edges, trims and transitions
The places where tiles finish are often the most noticeable parts of a job. Tile edges need to meet walls, floors, doorways and other surfaces cleanly, while trims and transition details need to suit both the tiles and the surrounding finishes. Touchups to the plaster and paint are often necessary after tiling.
Grout and silicone - the first line of defence
Grout is not simply there to fill the gaps between tiles. Traditional cementitious grout can deteriorate, particularly when it has not been properly sealed, and damaged or missing grout can allow moisture to penetrate. Depending on the location and the demands placed on it, Southerleigh uses either traditional cementitious or epoxy grout. Silicone sealant is used where tiled surfaces meet baths, trays, basins, walls and other changes of plane, and like grout, it eventually needs to be renewed.
Tile repair and replacement
Replacing a single tile sounds simple until you try to remove one that has been firmly bonded for years. A cracked tile should also be dealt with promptly, particularly in a wet area, as water can penetrate through the crack and cause damage beneath the tiled surface. Care is needed to remove the damaged tile without damaging neighbouring tiles, the substrate or waterproofing beneath it. Matching an older tile can present another challenge, particularly when the original product is no longer available.
What looked like a small crack wasn't a small tile repair
The crack in this shower tile looked relatively harmless. But a crack in a tiled wet area can allow water to get behind the tile, where it can be difficult for the moisture to escape. Here, water travelled downwards until it reached the cement floor, then spread horizontally rather than draining away. From there, it was absorbed into porous plasterboard, causing the damage seen when the tile was removed.
The moisture also reached the steel corner bead behind the plasterboard, causing it to rust. Had the floor beneath been timber rather than concrete, the consequences could have been considerably more serious, with prolonged moisture potentially leading to timber decay.
What appeared to be a simple tile replacement therefore involved much more than replacing the cracked tile. The damaged materials had to be removed and the underlying area properly repaired before the tiled surface could be reinstated.
Tiling in Wellington's wonky homes
With age and seismic activity, older Wellington homes tend to settle and change shape over the decades. Walls may no longer be perfectly flat or vertical, and floors may have developed their own variations in level. Tiling over these surfaces takes more than simply trusting the surface that's there — the substrate may need to be repaired or re-levelled, tiles carefully trimmed or the tile layout adjusted so the finished tiles look straight and deliberate. Southerleigh specialises in working with the realities of older homes, combining careful preparation with practical tiling techniques to achieve a good-looking result even when the building itself isn't cooperating.