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