Greg's New Shower Project

[gcc]

Decided to fix the slope with Kerdi board over the bench.


I wasn’t so much worried about the screws at this point but the slope. I know the outside aren’t waterproofed correctly but that is past the screws anyway and waterproofed already. Slope is much better. Started tiling - hopefully everything is ok with all of this.



Thanks


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[cx]

Should be fine, Greg.

[gcc]

Hi all,

Tiling is coming along. Have made some dumb mistakes but nothing terrible so far. A few questions moving on:

1. When I finish tiling the walls I will pull the ledger boards. I haven’t done the bullnose trim yet. I am waiting till the curb is done to do that. Once I pull the ledger boards can I cover the holes with Kerdi band patches and immediately do the mud bed? It may be close enough to overlap the seam that will be there between the floor and wall - may have some build up but shouldn’t be too bad. (One of those stupid mistakes - meant to cut a 1/2 off each 8 inch tile but marked it at 6 1/2 instead of 7 1/2). Luckily it hasn’t messed up anything too badly so far.

2. After I do the mud bed I will let it dry over night and cover with Kerdi. Can I tile immediately over the Kerdi or does that have to dry first?

3. I plan to grout the wall corners. I know they are supposed to be siliconed but I just think grout looks better. What do most people do with niches and benches? Do they grout or silicone those change of planes? I’m still undecided on the floor to wall transition. I grouted my shower 5 years ago there and it still looks fine, but I may silicone that just to be safe.




Thanks,



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[ss3964spd]

Making progress, Greg!

An observation, if I may; the cut out for the shower valve looks a bit large at the top. Have you verified that the trim plate will cover it? Does the trim plate have a gasket around the perimeter just to the inside of the edge and, if so, can it make a seal on the tile?

[gcc]

Originally Posted by ss3964spd

Making progress, Greg!

An observation, if I may; the cut out for the shower valve looks a bit large at the top. Have you verified that the trim plate will cover it? Does the trim plate have a gasket around the perimeter just to the inside of the edge and, if so, can it make a seal on the tile?

It does have a gasket. I will check it when I get home - I hope it covers!! I was so focused on the other cuts I didn’t even notice that might be an issue! Ugh!

If the gasket is an issue I can silicone around the escutcheon plate - I’d rather not - but...


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[gcc]

Ok so the trim plate does cover the tile. That's a relief. It's close but it covers it.

[gcc]

Hey guys,

So I have kind of an issue that might be too late to fix. We put up the glass accent strip and I tried taping the back when cutting but still had some instances where the black backing tore. Between the thinset and the spacers I didn't catch all of them and unfortunately it is worse than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure if anything can be done about it but I will attach some pics. I also have a few other questions. First, the glass:






1. Some of the glass is beveled and some is not, so that might help the overall look, but am I just out of luck with those corners?

2. I am thinking of grouting the black glass with a black grout. I'm using flexcolor CQ white on the field tile and was originally going to use it on the black as well but I think it may emphasize some of the "imperfections". LOL I don't know how it would look on the black glass so I am thinking of just using an unsanded black grout for that. If I do, do I just tape off the areas I don't want grouted? Might be challenging. Any tips for how to do that without having it bleed together?

3. The ledger board screw holes will be patched but this one in the bottom left corner is in the corner seam. Too much buildup to patch there? Should I just use kerdi fix?



4. I was thinking of using kerdi fix on all of the holes before patching anyway. Any issues with that? I figure you can't have too much water proof protection.

Thanks,

[gcc]

Hi all,

Before the thinset hardens even more (it’s already hardened) I was wondering how difficult it would be to just bust out the corner tiles and try to replace those small pieces. Is that even possible without ruining the kerdi board?

I can then try to cut the glass differently for those few pieces. Here are some more pics / the only real issues are the corners. The weirdness you see in the main field of glass is just the beveled ends on some of them reflecting light differently. But I think the corners might be too much to hide under a bead of silicone or grout.






I am assuming there are no other options, right?

If not, how difficult is it to break out those pieces and fit new ones in?


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[ss3964spd]

I agree, no options. Git 'em out right away. Be sure to suit up before you do.

[gcc]

Gotta wait til tonight when I get home. Screw driver and hammer to maybe chisel? Kerdi fix any damage?

Just a thought - could I use Kerdi fix to adhere the new tile? They are such small pieces I am wondering if some Kerdi fix back there to seal any potential damage would be able to hold the tile as well - but I dunno.


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[ss3964spd]

I would probably try a nail set (punch) first, Greg.

Kerdi Fix any damage, but I probably wouldn't sweat it too much, those are pretty high on the wall and won't be seeing much water. I'd opt for mortar to re-set them though.

Eye protection, probably skin protection too.

[gcc]

Well - it took forever to do what seems like very little tile but I’m done. All of the tiles were able to be coaxed off by prying with a screwdriver. I used a scrap piece of Kerdi board up against the wall to protect the tile above/below when prying.

It pulled fleece off the Kerdi board in some areas but like you said, it’s high enough where it will see very little water. I used Kerdi fixed where I thought the worst spots were but there weren’t many places I used it. I’m hoping everything is ok. The bigger issue was trying to get enough of the dried thinset off to allow the new tile to sit flush. Did the best I could with that. The rubbing brick worked ok when it would fit but that was rare so I ended up scraping with a small screwdriver. Hope I didn’t do any damage to the Kerdi board that way, but again, it’s high.

The good news is I learned how to cut glass better without having the backing rip off most of the time. I am hoping I was able to get enough thinset on some of those tiny pieces so they stick and I can wash them better tomorrow and get a good look at the corners. I’ll take a pic and send it tomorrow - fingers crossed!


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[gcc]

Assuming everything went ok with the replacing of the tiles yesterday, I was thinking of grouting the glass accent tile today. That will be a black unsansed (keracolor u) grout. The rest of the shower will be flexcolor CQ white. I’m a little nervous about grouting two different colors. I still have to put the shower floor in, tile the floor, curb, and bullnose along the ends of the side walls. If Grout the black now, then do the rest, will that allow for a better chance at not having the grouts bleed into each other? It would be at least 4-5 days before I would be able to grout the white at that point.

Also - I was just going to mix the keracolor with water since it is so high up. Any need to seal it?


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[gcc]

Well good news and bad news. The tiles came out much better. I’m glad I switched them out!! Bad news is that I am absolutely terrible at grouting with anything but flexcolor CQ. I went with Unsanded for the glass tiles - black. And I was accurately aware that there was great potential for washing out of the color. But it’s like watching a train coming for you and not being able to move. I guess I just don’t take enough grout off with the float or something because I seem to have to keep washing it snd it makes a mess. Anyway - the grout doesn’t look great but I don’t think there is much I can do about it. It’s washed out - but all in all - I don’t mind the lighter color, I just wish it were uniform. I do need to get the haze off though - I’ll try again tomorrow but I’ve wiped it down so much and can’t seem to take it all off. A lot came off already but it would look better if the glass was nice and shiny. Oh well - unless anyone has a good idea to help I’ll just move on with the mud bed tomorrow night. I saved a little grout for touch up so I’ll do that first I guess.





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[gcc]

It may be hard to see in the pics but I used grout refresh to seal the grout and so far it looks much much better!

1. Next up is mortar bed tomorrow. I’ll let it dry overnight. When I put Kerdi on the floor and kerdiband the seams, can I tile right after?

2. I’ve never used a ledger board before so I am wondering the most efficient way to proceed. I have to put the bottom row in and the floor. If I put the bottom row in I’ll need spacers so that would block me from putting the floor in. If I put the floor in I won’t be able to reach the wall and put the wall tiles up. How do you all do it? Just wait the day? (Trying to get this done before Christmas!)

Thanks!

Latest pics:





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