Critique my Curbless Shower/Bathroom Layout

[grymes56]

Yea that is the way I make my mud screeds (in a u shape to start) - but the question was more related to the distance from the wall people place their mud screeds when they have a straight edge that is a foot or more shorter than the width of the room.

[ceramictec]

do them around the perimeter of the room and then a runner through the middle and pull off them.

[cx]

You doin' walls or floors there, Kyle?

For walls I want my screed sticks within about 6" of a wall, but if my straight edge won't reach from wall to farthest screed, I'd bring it in a bit. I like to be able to screed the whole wall in one action when finishing it up.

For walls too wide to do with a six-foot straight-edge, I'd want a center screed to allow me to do like above but in two sections.

Truth be known, if my wall is that wide, I'd generally want to hire someone else to do that wall.

Floors I generally make a wide mud screed at the wall and additional mud screeds wherever they seem necessary to get the floor flattened.

I don't understand what y'all mean by U-shaped screed sticks or layouts. Gotta give the old guys more hints.

[Higher Standard Tile]

Kyle
when I'm in that situation I go with your second option.

[tilelayer]

I would just use the appropriate edge that fits between yours screeds to fill in. If the edge is short since you have runners around the whole room it's easy to make em wide enough to get your edge to fit when filling in.


Posted via iPhone.

[John Bridge]

Hi Kyle,

Option Two sounds fine to me. The edge doesn't have to quite reach the screeds though. You can move it from side to side as you go so long as you don't dig out too much at a time. Eventually you'll wear the mud down to the screed tops.

[grymes56]

I am getting ready to install some Light Emperador marble tiles in different sizes in a bathroom. The Hexagon, basketweave, and 2x4 brick patterns are all on sheets that are fiberglass mesh backed adhered with some type of resin. The 4x4 are not mesh backed and have no resin. The manufacturer is AIM Tile and Stone - so I may call tem to see if it is polyesther, epoxy, or urethane resin.

The room is a wet room with curbless shower, so assume they will be in a wet environment. The entire room will be covered in Kerdi.

I generally use Versabond, even over Kerdi - but I am not sure that will work with these tiles. Do I have to use an epoxy mortar?

[Davestone]

Typically that isn't considered a resin backed stone,it's just sheet goods and a good modified thinset will work.But here's a good article on this....http://www.laticrete.com.au/pdf/techdata/tds109.pdf

[grymes56]

Thanks Dave. I actually called AIM Tile and Stone (the manufacturer) and the guy there was not very helpful. I don't have much confidence in his answer given that he kept thinking I was talking about epoxy grout, lol.

I would assume that with the small size of these tiles (2"x4" brick pattern is the largest size I have on sheets) that the mortar will key in to the mesh and the back of the grout spaces enough to make up for any lost adhesion.

I think I'll wait a few days before grouting to give the Versabond polymers some time to dry - given that they will be sandwiched between Kerdi and a resin backing.

[Crestone Tile]

I've installed resin / mesh back travertine rope pebble liners with Kerabond and Keralastic where I was able to pull them off the wall two days later without much effort. With Keralastic, that was a bit alarming.

I always test bond a sample now when I run into anything resin, so I know whether or not to go with an epoxy or not. I believe the only resin backed tiles that are good to go without epoxy for sure are those which have an aggregate broadcast throughout the resin backing. Even then, I would set a sample.

[grymes56]

Wow thanks for that tidbit. I've never used Kerabond or Keralastic but it is considered to be pretty damn sticky, correct? Certainly moreso than the Versabond I am used to.

I will definitely set a mockup with a scrap of Kerdi on some sheetrock, and the marble on the Kerdi. Thanks for the heads up.


***IF the Versabond fails my mockup test - what options do I have with epoxy? I see on custom's site that their 100% Solids epoxy has just been discontinued. Is there a good epoxy that is less expensive than Latapoxy 300? I have a good 100 sf of the mesh back tile to do.

[grymes56]

I am probably going to be using large format square tiles (16x16), with a cross made of 3x6 pieces for a 35" square shower floor. The pattern will continue up the walls and look like an inside out gift wrapped with ribbon.

My question pertains to pitching the mudbed. I generally make mud screeds around the whole perimeter and then screed off from the perimeter to the kerdi drain. This obviously creates a shape approaching a cone - which is fine for small format. With these large format though I would like to make just ONE diagonal cut in each of the 4 tiles. So - I will want my mudbed to be 4 converging triangles instead of a continuous cone. How should I adjust my screeding to make that happen?

[Old World Tile and Marble]

cut two plywood templates two create the pitch or use screed rails from corner of drain to wall do the mud screeding hard to the rails remove them and infill the voids after the mud sets up a bitso you can shape it without deforming it

[grymes56]

thanks. when you say plywood templates do you mean in the triangle shape or are you talking about wedge shapes to use as screeds along the diagonals?

[Houston Remodeler]

Yes Kyle,

The long sloped screed go where your dashed diagonal lines are. That way the perimeter of the shower pan at the wall can remain perfectly level.