My parents (live in Belgium) have a shower that has ceramic tile mounted directly on the plaster wall over cement blocks, beforehand the tile installer painted the wall with what was supposed to be a "waterproof barrier." Since then, a few years has passed by and water has obviously penetrated this "paint" and moved to the other side of the wall e.g. the living room wall.
I'm fairly certain the whole shower area tiles have to be redone, and redone correctly. In the US they use this "cement backer-board" and vapor barriers to form a membrane. I would just like to get an idea for what a proper installation should look like. Vapor barrier, backer-board, tile?
Secondly, since this isn't a drywall/wood wall, the backer-board would protrude the tiles off the wall about 1/2 an inch, this is easily fixed at the top where there is a tile moulding but was wondering if there were any other elegant solutions?
Thirdly, wouldn't the backer-board cause something similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tl1-4FaxUU @ 32:32 with the backerboard and the plaster?
Side note: there are no leaks, and the pipes are not in the effected wall.
Best Answer
The proper installation order: vapor barrier, backer-board, tile.
Secondly, since this isn't a drywall/wood wall, the backer-board would protrude the tiles off the wall about 1/2 an inch, this is easily fixed at the top where there is a tile moulding but was wondering if there were any other elegant solutions?
I'm not sure that I understand this problem, but perhaps you need to run the backerboard to the top and corners of the wall. Use tile trim or bullnosed tile along the edges and in the corners anywhere it's necessary.
Thirdly, wouldn't the backer-board cause something similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tl1-4FaxUU @ 32:32 with the backerboard and the plaster?
That's drywall in the video, not backer board. The difference is like the difference between cement and chalk. Backer board is cement-like. Drywall (gypsum) is more chalk-like.