hello I have a tile in my bathroom that came out, them my whole soap holder came out later, its in there now but not secure.

My question is, Is this a do it yourself kind of job or should I call someone to fix this?

If its a do it myself, what cocking would you reccommend?

Without seeing what you have going on, it's a bit hard to give specific instruction.

Tile is set using "thin-set mortar" which is available at any hardware store. You mix it with water and trowel it on to set the tile and the soap dish. It dries and cements the items in place.

Tile in a bathtub is caulked using mildew resistent tub and tile caulk with silicone. Available at any hardware store.

If you have the pieces then you should be able to do this yourself. Perhaps go to the hardware store and see if you can discuss the situation with a helpful worker who can get more detail from you on the spot.

Thank you so much I will do that!

Actually there are products out there which act like an adhesive/caulk all in one. So instead of learning how to mix cement and all of that you just scrape the old thin set out of the area, apply the caulk/adhesive to the back of the tile and set in place - let dry and follow with a near matching color caulk for grout.

All of these options are available and could be explained to you by the clerk at say Ace Hardware/home Depot/Lowe’s/etc. I would recommend taking a bit of the grout (perhaps its still on the tile?) a bit of the back cement (Most likely it is grainy/sandy and grey, applied in lines on the wall, but could be stuck to the tile as well) having these samples with you will go along way in getting you matched for color (grout color) and also provide you with the right material/adhesive for the job… And tools plus you might just get a primer on how to apply thin-set/grout/caulk effectively.

If possible. Also check to see what kind of material you have behind the tile – is it drywall (green wall)? Is it cement backer board? Knowing that will help in knowing what you need to use to attach the tile. If you’re in an older house you may not have cement backer board behind the tiles, it may be just dry wall. Dry wall is basically chalk which comes apart when moist. Drywall (or green wall) is white, backer board is grey – it is concrete with a fiber mesh inside.

A picture is worth a thousand words – if you have a picture phone, you might want to get a few shots and take that along


However you sound like you have a little more than just a lost tile, it sounds to me that you have a growing problem – namely moisture getting behind the tile loosing things up.

Gently rap (with the knuckles of your hand) on the tiles – you will hear one of two sounds – a solid knock or a glassy clink. The solid “thud” sound means the tiles are stuck on the wall well, a “clink” or glassy sound means that the tile is loosely adhered to the wall. To understand the clink sound, set the tile on a table and gentle rap it – that is the sound of a loose tile.

Figure out how many tiles are actually being affected here, and then you can decide if you want to glue in place the tile that came out or if you want to have the loose ones attended to as well.

In either case I would examine the grout between tiles, examine the seam of tiles in the corners, and where tile meets the tub – and (if your tile surround only goes up the wall partially) at the top. Usually these areas are caulked with an elastomeric (rubbery) caulk that seals and moves with the tile/wall as it expands and contracts. It is not a perfect, long term seal, it will, over time, come loose and allow moisture to seep in behind the tile – it may be time to remove the old caulk and recaulk as well.

My rule of thumb – when caulk begins to mold/mildew (Not grout, caulk) its time to remove and replace it.

Grout = Is the lines between the tiles... just in case.