Bathroom leak/remodel with PICS

[am350z]

Tile went in last night. That was some hard work! And I am not very fast. It took me nearly 3 hours to tile 30 sq ft (Dont worry, I used two batches of thinset since I new I would be slow). The back buttering certainly did not help my speed but I could tell it made the tiles adhere to the thinset well.

At the very end of my second batch the thinset started to get a little thick but I was am hoping that since it is on ditra it will be okay as the moisture will be held to allow time to set. Also, I can see why a leveling system would be nice. The tile puck helped but still not absolutely perfect. I doubt anyone will notice though.

Is 48 hrs long enough before grouting? I used megabond unmodified with 13" porcelain tiles.

[kevinrmac]

Yes, You will be fine to grout after 48 hours.

[am350z]

48 hrs it is then.

Is it 24 hours before grout can be walked on?

[kevinrmac]

Some of it depends on temperature and humidity levels. I did light traffic on mine after that time with no problems. Although I wouldn't have tried carrying furniture, or my cast iron tub over it after just 24 hours.

[Chris123]

I am in the middle of remodeling my bathroom as well. I had a leak in the ceiling below. What I found is that it was the toilet flange. The guy that owned the house before me had a problem with the toilet. He decided to cut open the ceiling and wrap a rag around the pipe to stop it then snug up the closet bolts on the toilet. Bad homeowner bad.

So I took the toilet up. Didn't need to unbolt it because the flange came with it. My bathroom was 1-1/2" deck mud underneath the tile. Removed all the deck mud and the rotten ply below.

My piping was 3" copper and the old flange was cast. I couldn't find a suitable 3" cast replacement but I found something better. At Home Depot (not Lowe's) the have a PVC flange with a SS bolting ring. The neck on the flange is about 4-5" long so it will never come out of the pipe even if the closet bolts squeeze all the wax out of the toilet seal.

Anyhow if you get lucky; no floor rot and the flange is OK then why don't you try loosening up the mounting screws and raising the flange up. I used some 1/2" SS tubing as spacers underneath then packed in the mud around it. Another simpler way to go would be to add a flat ring and gasket ontop of the existing flange. $11 at home depot or lowes.

The flange should be flush to 1/4" above finished floor when you are done. If it's slightly under don't worry just get a thicker wax ring.

Chris

[cx]

Originally Posted by Chris

The flange should be flush to 1/4" above finished floor when you are done. If it's slightly under don't worry just get a thicker wax ring.

Properly installed, the terlit flange should sit on top of the finished floor, Chris.

[am350z]

My flange is currently flush or close. I think I will just get some of the flange extensions.

Here is a couple of shots. Notice my round cut around the flange. It aint pretty but I am quite proud I was able to do that without breaking the tile. I used a diamond jig saw blade from Lowes. It worked but was basically shot by the end of the circle. I also picked up the Husky tile saw here http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...0&marketID=282
Worked great. Much better than one of the 88 dollar varieties that I borrowed from a friend!

Also, I choose to make the last row small so that the first row which is most visible would be full width. I know others say to make first and last rows equal but that small row will be largely hidden by cabinet and toilet. Hopefully it will look good. As CX said this is the art side of it and I think it will look best.

[am350z]

Took awhile but here is the finished product. Thanks to everyone for the help. It goes to show if you take your time and listen to the pros here most can do a good tile.

[am350z]

More pics

[am350z]

Before