mud in a shower niche

[Rob Z]

John

Have you ever mudded a shower niche? I'm wondering how I could get trowels, etc inside a small area.

Rob

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[John Bridge]

Hi Rob,

Yeah, the end of the flat trowel, a margin trowel, a blunt stick and a couple of index fingers (no fair using thumbs). That's how you do it.

Oh, and put a bucket down below to catch all the mud you drop.

[Bud Cline]

NOW SEEEEEE? You guys already got me! Twenty-five years in the trades and I'll be damned if I know what a shower niche is. I think I thought I did, until you suggested putting a bucket under it.

So.....What's a shower niche? (Or do I really want to know?)

[John Bridge]

Hi Bud,

Don't feel alone. I just guessed what Rob is talking about. You see, he's up in the Washington D.C. area, and things get a little strange in that part of the world :-)

Actually a niche is a rececessed area in a wall. In an entryway, for example, it may hold a small vase or nic nacs of some sort. Niches very popular back in the days of plaster walls.

In a shower the niche will hold shampoo bottles, soap, etc. Some of them have shelves. Now you know what we're talking about.

Around here we call them shampoo recesses or shadow boxes. They are framed in between a couple studs, and can come in very handy. They can also be a tremendous source of leaks if not done correctly. Mud it, and you don't have to worry about it.

Folks, check out Bud's site at: http://budclineonline.com/

[Rob Z]

Hi Bud and John

Yes, the Washington, DC area is a world unlike any other. Bud, all of my family is from the Midwest (Kansas, mostly). My Dad went to high school in Omaha.

I've never attempted to float mud in a shower niche. John, I guess my main question was how to get little float strips in the back of a small opening and then screeding the mud. It sounds like a bit of freehand troweling works in a small area.

My method (usually) is to build a plywood box and line it with cement board and then install it in an opening in the wall that I have prepared. Sometimes, I'll figure out grout lines in advance so that the "niche" corresponds to whole tiles. I then waterproof the whole shower, including the niche, with a liquid applied membrane such as Laticrete 9235.

The new Proform niches from BONSAL may cause me to quit doing things the old way. They are inexpensive and quick to install. I just haven't had a job yet where the standard sizes would fit my particular application.

BONSAL'S website is http://www.bonsal.com.

Rob Z

[Bud Cline]

Well OK then....

As it turns out, I've been there a million times myself,(well maybe not a million) but I have never thought about working those areas as an issue I guess. Oh sure, they get challenging at times but as John says, margin trowels are great little tools.

I swear by 9235 for such applications always creating the slightest slope so that the shelf doesn't have an opportunity to hold water.

More and more, "surface mounts" are being used here because the retailers recognize an opportunity to sell yet another item. This in fact reduces the installers "task load" a little and "reduces the installers risk (potential for leaky niche) a lot".

Since I am not usually the one that determines the location of these disruptions (niches) in the wall surfaces and no one but me even thinks about how these holes will fit a tile layout, I then usually purposely layout the niche tile so that grout lines don't line up but stager by half tiles when it can be done so that it is visually pleasing to the eye.

[John Bridge]

No, I don't use float strips in the back of the box. It's simply a freehand operation using a small stick as a straightedge. Trial and error until you luck into a surface that will support tile in a somewhat eye-pleasing manner.

The sides, top, and bottom are easy, however, if you plum/level a short straight-edge on the wall surface and use it as a guide for your trowel. I float the box after having floated the shower wall itself. I have my helper hold the straight-edge in place.

So that you don't have to scroll through a bunch of products, the Bonsal niche is located at:
http://www.bonsal.com/proform5.htm

And oh yes, I put a pretty good slope on the bottom shelf to make sure the water gets out of there in a hurry. Your shampoo bottle stands out of plumb, but hey . . .