Nic's 6x8 bathroom from the ground up

[NicJames]

Hi all,
I'm new to the for but have been browsing for a long time. Finally thought it was time to get the most out of it. I started this project awhile back and just recently got back at it. In this new bathroom I'm building a relatively small 48 by 30 shower. The room is 6ft wide so I built a new wet wall so I could create storage behind the shower. The bathroom is located on the second floor with 2x8s 16oc. The floor is 5/8ths ply glues and screwed. I put another sheet of 3/4" over that and screwed it only to the plywood and not the studs. There is another bathroom on the opposing wall the is essentially being mirrored. That bathroom has a tub and this one will have a shower...obviously.

There's all the background. Because of the toilet location, things are a little tight. I am trying to match the spacing on the opposite bathroom because I know it works for my small frame even though it's not the recommended 15" on each side of the toilet.

I had to use 1x6" blocking in some places because of the baseboard heat pipe. I tried to notch the corners but nails seem to be a common hinderance. I plan on putting in a niche and durarock for the walls with redguard. I do have some curb questions I'll ask later.

So I think I'm ready to get my preslope down but I want to make sure everything "looks" ok before I start. I have a bunch of other questions to come.

Thank you very much,
Nic

[NicJames]

I am fairly confident that everything is okay to put the preslope down.

1. My biggest concern is that will only be 1/2" thick at the drain. Seems that a lot of people aren't too concerned about whether or not it cracks as long as it doesn't go anywhere. Is that the general Consensus?

2. When putting down the liner, should I apply an adhesive to make the membrane stay tight to the preslope and to get the wrinkles out easier? If I am using an adhesive, what do you recommend? Standard construction adhesive?

3. I am still in the air about the curb. I only screwed down the top 2x4 because I am worried the curb is going to be overly high off the floor. After it gets a mud job (or CBU with redguard?...or a preformed curb overlay? any thoughts?) and marble slab it will be about another 1.5" taller off the floor. That will put it about 6 inches off the ground less the backer and tile for the bathroom floor. Can I get away with only two 2x4s?

Thank you again

[Kman]

Welcome to the forum, Nic.

1. If you set the drain with plastic nubs on the subfloor, I think the flange sets 3/4" off the subfloor. You really want it at least that thick. If you're measuring up from the top of the lath, that may be where you're losing the 1/4".

2. No adhesive needed. When you set the mud on top of it, it'll flatten out. To make installation a little easier, heat it up with a hair dryer to get it to lay flat. Do so before you attach it to the studs, and before you cut it at the curb.

3. It's not unusual to use three 2x4's for the curb. By the time it's finished with tile, it'll be 5 1/2" tall, give or take, but then you would add some height to the floor, so the curb doesn't look so tall. You can stick with just two 2x4's but the finished curb has to be at least 2" above the drain. You may not be able to do that once you have the pre-slope, liner, and mud bed in place.

Don't use cement board on the curb. It's the cause of many failures that we see around here. I don't know anything about the pre-formed curbs to give you any advice on that. My advice would be to make the curb out of mortar mix. You would do so by forming the lath over the curb after the liner is in place, then put mud over the lath and shape it as needed.

[NicJames]

Thank you for the reply! Just laid first mud...hope it's good. I set my pitch at about a 1/4"/ft and leveled the mud around the outer edge. But I did only make it 1/2" thick at the drain because I recessed those little nubs oops. Guess that wasn't a good idea. I will stick with the three 2x4s for the curb since ita seems like such a common practice. I know the final curb height will be more than 2 inches over the drain with 2 2x4s but not the vinyl level of the curb. I'm not so confident with my mud skills so I ordered a Nobel curb overlay for a reasonable $35. They recommend a thinset between the curb and overlay. Will that thinset actually adhear to the vinyl? Does anyone have experience with these curbs?

[NicJames]

Just wanted to check back in and see what thoughts were on preformed shower curbs. I'm looking at the Noble curb overlay. Any feedback would be great.

[Houston Remodeler]

Not familiar with them but I can tell you there is no thinset that sticks to vinyl liners.

[NicJames]

That's what I thought...just curious why the manufacture recommends thin set. Maybe it just acts as a filler binding to the overlay and not the vinyl curb. I'm curious why they don't recommend construction adhesive or similar.

[NicJames]

Those PVC dam corners are way harder to glue than I thought. I really don't see how they help make it water tight. Your cuts are made above curb and I feel like water could get in you folds through the corner and travel up if it were to fill with water high enough. Anything I'm missing here? I just made 2 cuts in the liner in line with the curb allowing for one hospital fold back towards the shower pan.

[Kman]

Can you post a picture of the cuts you made? Once done properly, the cuts allow for a pre-formed corner to fit in place easily.

[NicJames]

I think I did the cuts correctly but it was hard to find instructions on that. I actually used a paper mock up to figure it out. I just felt it was hard to push the dam corner on especially after letting the glue dry for 2 minutes (as recommended and then holding it while the fold was bulging.

[NicJames]

Hopefully this is going the way it should. Ran into some confusion with the niche and whether it should be centered on the pan with the drain and shower body or should it be centered on the whole tiled surface including over the curb. Is there a set way of doing this?
I opted to frame it wider than I needed and I could cut the CBU out where needed and add the framing to the niche.

I started hanging the Durock and put screws in every 8" according to the manufacturer. The wall is not perfect so I ran into a couple spots where the screws pulled through. I tried added more screws and slowing tighted them. Do you think this will be a problem in the future? And do I need to add blocking where the boards meet? They seem a little flimsy.

[Houston Remodeler]

Nic,

1- You can put the niche any where you want. Might want to look at our niche pictures thread to get too many some ideas.

2- Yes, especially if you are using smaller tiles or if it makes you sleep better

3- Might want to cut the niche in after tiling has started so the grout joints line up perfectly

[NicJames]

So I've got everything ready to go for tile. A mad rush to get because my friend is only available one day to help. He has useful tiling experience. I put up my durarock. Taped and thinset all the seams. I hope the speed bumps aren't a huge issue. I am hoping when laying the tile I can account for this. Do you think it will be an issue?

I did the final mud job and im proud of myself. I think it came out great. I was worried about my ratios or moisture level because it stayed dark longer than expected but all seems good. The preformed curb seems OK. It is very fragile so you need to be careful working around it but I presume dents can be filled with thinset. I put down Redgard with 2 full coats with a touch up and seam coat between. Man the stuff smells awful. I hope my buddy doesn't complain. I only allowed the thinset to dry about 8 hours before Redgard. Everything turned white (im using whitr thinset) so im hoping for the best. Anyone run into problems putting redgard down to early?

I am installing subway tile and a marble mosaic accent and floor. I am using the tabs to space to tile. I want to go with a very light grey/off white grout. I think I could have a few large grout lines around the niche and larger grout lines on the mosaic. I'd like a grout that will work for both but I'm not sure if sanded grout will work with smaller subway spacing. What are your recommendations? Cement or epoxy? Single compound? It's all a little confusing.
Thank you in advance,

[jim_c]

Have a look at the colour "Frost" from Mapei. I'm using it right now!

[NicJames]

It's been awhile since I've posted where I'm at since I've been busy. I just completed grouting the shower and I became extremely frustrated and now disappointed with the results in turn over working the grout. After watching many videos and learning about the process and techniques, I'm left with large and I neven grout lines. I feel like I did not remove enough grout with my spongue but I felt that I needed to scrub to remove anymore grout. From what I observed, grouting just seemed to involve like swips or circular motions. I'm debating trying to remove all the grout and starting over...seems crazy. I'm very happy with how the tile itself came out. Thoughts? Any way to fix this? Am I being over critical?