Master bath on concrete slab

[pls]

I missed your question CX, we planned on a bonded mortar bed.

[cx]

Placing the second mortar bed adjacent to the cured first one will give you a cold joint there and technically you'll wanna honor that joint up through the tile surface with a grout joint in which you'll put a flexible sealant rather than grout. That will also be a slight change of plane joint.

Given the small size of what you're doing, could you get away with not honoring the mortar joint? Maybe, but why take a chance on it?

Understand, bonded mortar bed.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[pls]

We did the shower floor mortar bed today and tomorrow is my last day in Houston. We would like to do the bathroom floor dry pack on Saturday. It is a curbless shower. We put a board on the outside edge of the shower floor to support that edge. Can we remove that board and then use that edge to screed off of when doing the floor? If not, any suggestions on what we can do to do the floor on Saturday. We will start the floor 24 hours after finishing the shower floor. Shower dry pack is about 2in thick at the edge.
Thanks

[cx]

Should be firm enough to use as your screed by then, Phil. Don't abuse it, of course.

Cover the existing mortar bed with some polyethylene sheeting while it cures. Just fold that back while you're placing and screeding the new mortar bed, then cover the whole thing until you're ready to start tiling.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[pls]

Thanks so much for the quick reply. It has been a long week but my son has learned to tile and is doing a great job and we have made a lot of progress. Shower walls are over half tiled and he can finish on his own now. Also had a lot of trips to HD. It has been interesting not working out of my own shop and not having all my tools available
Thanks

[pls]

Friday we did the shower floor mortar bed and Sat we did the rest of the bathroom floor mortar bed. CX you were correct of course, the edge of the shower floor worked fine to screed off when we did the bathroom floor. As a first time maker of a mortar bed I have to say that it takes some work but it makes a great subfloor in a short amount of time. We used an auger mixer and I would say that is a must. It mixed batches quickly and thoroughly. We "cheated" and put a ledge against the wall and just screeded across the entire width of the floor.

[cx]

Using whatever means at your disposal to get the best results is not cheating at all, Phil. While sometimes it might be slower than an experienced mud guy might do it, if the result is the same and you didn't hafta pay large dinero to have it done, I say it was the correct method at the time.

You do just two or three more of those floors and you'll find that you, too, will simply mark a line on the walls, pack some tight screeds around the edges, and work off those to do the rest of the floor. But you'll get the same floor.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Davy]

Nice looking mud job.

[pls]

Not sure if this is a plumbing question or a mortar bed question. Toilet drain is cast iron. We were thinking of using a pvc toilet flange like the picture below. The mortar bed is 2in thick over concrete slab. How to we anchor the new flange. do we need to go all the way through the mortar bed with bolts and anchor into the concrete?
Thanks

[cx]

That would be the only positive way I can think of, Phil. The pull-out force for fasteners into dry-pack/deck-mud/floor mortar is gonna be minimal, I think. I've never actually tried it, though. Some long TapCons or similar would be my choice.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[pls]

Getting ready to lay herringbone sheet tile on a mortar bed and have never done either of these so I have some questions. Bathroom floor is a 2in mortar bed.
1 For laying tile on a mortar bed I assume we need to vacuum up any loose sand and wet it down with a sponge right before applying thinset mortar. Anything else we need to do?
2 Tile is 1in x 3in x 3/8in herringbone on sheets. I have never laid sheet tile on a floor. Should we start with a 1/4 x 1/4 square notch? Should we knock down the ridges before laying the tile?
Thanks

[Davy]

I would vacuum the floor but wouldn't wet it down. Don't spread more thinset than can be covered within about 10 minutes. You might lay out some sheets dry first to make sure you're happy with he way the cuts work out. You might want to get a piece of plywood about 12x12 to slightly press the tiles down with. I have a piece of marble that has a handle glued to it for doing this. I also like to lay a straight edge on the floor and set the first row if tiles against it.

1/4 x1/4 notch sound about right. I wouldn't flatten the ridges.

[pls]

Spent another weekend helping my son finish up the tile in his bathroom. We live in Maryland so we dont get to see him often enough. Had some quality time working on this project together. I kind of like tiling and grouting with a partner, used to doing it mostly by myself. He cut all the tile and set most of it. Their friends cant believe how good it looks. Just wanted to show off what my son has done with a some help from Dad. Still need to install shower door and vanity.

[cx]

Not a bad lookin' job, for a Yankee.