The Shower, A Re-tiling Story: Part 2, Tiling

Wait! Before you read this, check out part 1 if you haven't already. Okay, moving on to tiling.

Kristen and I decided to go with large format tile for the shower and tub. We selected an 18" x 24" pattern, and brought home some heavy freaking boxes. Seriously, each of these weighed about 70 pounds, and they were wrapped together in 2-packs. I won't tell you how many trips to Lowe's, Home Depot, and Menard's I took during this project. Yes, all three. And yes, it was many, many times.

We got a porcelain tile, which is notoriously hard to cut (this will be important later). We also got a tile leveling and spacing system called Lash. It is really good, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is tiling. For mortar, we used one made especially for large format tiles, so that they would stick to the walls (did I mention that they're heavy?). And we used a pre-mixed, colored sanded grout from Mapei that didn't need to be sealed (yay!).

Three rows in the shower down -
used the laser level to set the first row

So one August morning, I got up early, went to the Home Depot, and rented a huge wet tile saw for 24 hours. Then I came home, set up shop, and started cutting. Kristen helped me where she could with spreading mortar and placing tile, when the children didn't need attention.

This is part A of the Lash leveling system (it needs two parts)

I had to modify my design right away. I realized that because the inset shelves were slightly off-center, the design would look awful with a brick-type pattern (with 1/2 tile offsets), because the center line on the wall would not be in the center of the box. So I ended up going with 1/3 offsets, which proved to be a little trickier to plan (and a bit more cutting), but looked great.

We used a mosaic tile for the box

The biggest challenge was timing. We only had that saw for 24 hours, so we cut and placed tile as quickly as we could. I think I still ended up going to the hardware store(s) 3 or 4 times that day, which made the time crunch even tighter. I don't remember eating that day (except breakfast before starting).

What also made things tricky was cutting holes for hardware to poke through. The diamond hole saw I got for the pipes worked great, but the diamond cutting wheel I bought for my Dremel (to cut the boxes for the handles) wore out after one hole was cut, so I ended up cutting the other hole by cutting one tile piece short, then cutting a square box on the edge, making short passes with the wet saw, then knocking out the remaining pieces.

Everything tiled, finally

Remember how I said we started around 7 a.m.? We finally finished up about 2 a.m. that next morning, and then I was up early to go return the saw. It was quite a day. There were a few small details I still needed to do the next day, and I used a friend's small tile saw to do those (cutting bullnose tiles for the edges, cutting the mosaic tile to fit the sides).

And remember from my last post, where I said my first and third mistakes were about not making sure the cement board was even? Yeah, that made it a lot harder to make sure the tile stayed even on top of it. The Lash system helped, and so did adding a generous helping of mortar behind the tiles, but it was still tricky to get the tile looking how we wanted it to. I recommend making sure the wall is as flat as possible before moving on to the next step.

Lash spacers knocked out (no grout yet)

But in the end, we were both pretty happy how things turned out. A couple days later, once the mortar was dry, we knocked out all the spacers/tile levelers and start grouting. But let me say this - I don't ever want to use a pre-mixed or sanded grout again, if I can avoid it. Sand was everywhere! And because it was pre-mixed/didn't need sealing, we had to work much faster than usual. Which meant way more stop and go, switching from grouting to smoothing with the sponge.

Oh boy - I didn't even mention the door (nor do I have any photos of the process unfortunately). So...I used our existing door, because shower doors are apparently super expensive! But I had to modify it for the new space, which meant cutting and trimming the aluminum, which wasn't a great experience without a table saw. And because I'm an overachiever, it also meant painting everything (door and the fixtures). It was a lot of headache, but eventually it all worked out. I basically followed these two tutorials (the key is, the painted surfaces are now waterproof). Oh, and to attach the door to the wall, I had to get an extra diamond hole saw (the other one I had didn't work) to get through the tile.

All grouted, window frame not attached

Okay, one last thing before the finished look. take a look at the picture above, and then at the very similar one two above that. Can you see what's different? Check out below the window frame. Let me take you back to my #2 mistake from Post #1. I put the tile up too high. So high, in fact, that I couldn't reattach the window trim.

So to fix my error, I bought myself an angle grinder and a diamond cutting blade (to cut through the really hard porcelain tile), plasticked off the tub from floor to ceiling, then went to town. Kristen and I suited up (masks, goggles, etc.), and cut the tile around the window so we could reattach the trim. I cut while she continually sprayed the blade with water to keep it cool. Then I was able to attach the trim, do all the caulking of the corners and the base of the tub and shower, attach the baseboards, and texture/paint the new wall.

Here you have it - a completed shower and tub. It took way more time than the day or two I thought it would, and cost a whole lot more money, but I am very pleased with how it looks. I hope you like it too. Thanks for reading - if you have any questions, please reach out!

Completed shower

Completed shower and tub

The Shower, A Re-tiling Story: Part 1, Demolition & Prep Work

I had 12 weeks of paternity leave when my little boy was born in June. It was amazing to be able to bond with my little one, but I still had extra time to get some projects done. In fact, my last three posts were done when I was on paternity.

This project was not supposed to be a big project - I wasn't planning to take on any "big" projects while on paternity, just projects I could get done in a day or two. But sometimes things get away from you.

I've never really cared for this shower. I don't like the shiny metal of the door, the white tile is boring, and the grout work has been chipping since we moved in. I filled it in with caulk and redid the caulk along the bottom once upon a time, but it didn't take very well (read: got mildewy).

When we first moved in

But the plan was just to recaulk, clean out the grout and re-grout it, and take out a couple rows of tile and add an "accent row." But after a couple hours trying to chip out the tile, remove the grout, and remove the silicone caulk, I'd had it. The tile wasn't coming out (it was pulling the cement board behind it out), the grout saw attachment I had was chipping the tile edges, and the silicone was not cooperating.

"Honey, I think I'm just going to rip it all out," I said.

"...Okay."

And thus began my adventure. I took out the shower door and half wall/window, and got to work chipping out tile. As before, it wasn't going well, and I ended up pulling off the cement backer board with the tiles still attached instead.

We had a soap dish and weird towel bar
IN the shower, glued to the tile

Half wall with frosted glass window 

You can see all the mildew on the silicone

Just ripped the whole board off the studs

I ended up ripping out the drywall above the shower head too

I went around the whole shower, including that half wall, then made my way to the bath tub side. The tile on that side still looked nice, but I couldn't have two types of tile in the bathroom, so out it went too.

All the tile ripped out

Next, I decided that I didn't want a half wall - if I was retiling this thing, I was going to make the shower go all the way to the ceiling. So I framed in a wall (which was pretty cool). I also ripped out the drywall above where the tile had ended, so I could tile all the way up.

Drywall above ripped out

We also decided we wanted a shelf of some sort (since we ripped out the weird towel bar we had been setting our shampoo and soap on). So I built a box out of plywood, attached cement board, and screwed it between the studs on the wall (as that's an outside wall, I just compressed the insulation behind the shelf box).

Framed wall with shelf built in

The next step was to put in cement backer board. This wasn't too difficult. It cuts pretty easy with a regular razor blade, though it dulls the blades pretty quickly (I went through a bunch). I think there are better tools for cutting, but it worked for me. For the holes, I first made a template using a cardboard box. Then I traced that onto the cement board, and used a masonry drill bit / a jigsaw with a masonry bit to cut out the holes. Made quick work of everything. But this is where I made my first mistake. I wasn't careful about making sure the cement board lined up perfectly, or checked that the walls were plumb. This was mainly an issue later when tiling.

After the cement board was in, on the joints I added mesh tape made specifically for it (super sticky - if you do this, wear gloves at this point for sure).

You can see I took off the window trim to get the cement board
in place - I also only did cement board partway up the new wall.
For the rest, I later added in drywall.

Here is the shower with joints taped 

Here is where I made my second mistake. When I took the trim off the window, I didn't mark on the wall where the tile should stop. This is going to be a problem later on.

But moving on. I watched so many tutorials on YouTube about how to make sure my shower was waterproof, and didn't leak into the wall, that I probably went a little overboard. But better safe than sorry, I say.

I first took some mortar I would be using for the tile, and mortared over all the joints. This is my third mistake, in conjunction with my first - I wasn't very careful about how I smoothed out / leveled the walls. I just assumed it wouldn't be a problem when I went to set my tile that the walls weren't perfectly smooth. While it's not a huge issue, it does make for a more difficult tiling experience.

One last thing for this post, and then I'll get to tiling in the next one: waterproofing. I went with a roll-on waterproof membrane made by Mapei called Aquadefense. It worked fantastic and was very easy to work with. It is super thick, but rolls on like paint. I bought a cheap, disposable paint tray/brush/roller, and used it the same way I would paint.

Waterproofing Action Shot #1

Waterproofing Action Shot #2

Completed waterproofing

Shot of the waterproofing in the shower

Drywall added above the waterproofed area

There you have it! Technically, I could have showered at that point, as everything is waterproof. But of course, I had to do more. I'll talk about that in the next post.