What do you think of this layout?

[Tool Guy - Kg]

But I still think it’s time to shop for new tools. Never mind the pipe wrench, as you got that loose. You can look for other stuff. It’s always a good day to look for new tools. And I bet you haven’t gotten any since last year.

[tomaskroupa]

Hi!
How are you all feeling about Schluter All-Set thinset and glass tile over Kerdi? Schluter obviously says "call us" but I am wondering what the conventional wisdom is. I am thinking it will be OK but wanted to ensure.

The glass tile is 4x12 and has a white coating on the back with little ridges.

[jadnashua]

With glass and translucent tile, you want a white thinset and full coverage. If you don't compress all of the trowel ridges, they can show through the tile somewhat in some lighting circumstances, and with some, in a shower, if you don't get full coverage, you might end up with some water behind which will make the effect worse.

I'd burn some thinset on the back of the tile and then make sure you slide the tile back and forth across the notches to try to ensure you've collapsed them all. This will take more work than you'd think. I'd also look into maybe picking up a slant-notched trowel. Rather than leaving peaks and essentially voids, the notches are taller, slanted, and fairly thin. When you move the trowel out of the way, the notches fall over, making an almost flat surface, which makes it much easier to get full coverage with less work while gauging the needed thinset on the surface.

[tomaskroupa]

Hey everyone! I am ready to start cutting and tiling my new shower and wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the layout I picked. My shower is quite small (57" wide x 66" tall back wall) and I had trouble figuring out how to position everything around the niche that I really didn't have a lot of choice positioning elsewhere.

My tiles are 12x24 rectified porcelain and I'll be doing a 1/8 grout line.

For that reason I decided to position the first tile below the niche around the center so have a 6" tile around each side of the niche and then I went from there...

Any thoughts from anyone?

[cx]

Welcome, Tomas.

I've combined your first four threads on this bathroom project so folks can see what you're working on and what's been previously asked and answered. A moderator can give it a more generic title any time you'd like to suggest one.

As for the layout, if Mrs. Tomas likes it, I like it.

[tomaskroupa]

Thank you!

Yesterday I started tiling but I think I mixed my thinset way too dry - I had so much trouble collapsing ridges on the tile that I ended up taking everything off and washing the tile to save it. I used Schluter All Set, mixed 10lbs and added exactly 1l of water which is exactly on the low side of Schluter's recommendation...

This morning I decided to sacrifice another 10lbs and do a test with a scrap kerdi board, I mixed with 1.24l of water which is exactly on the high side of Schluter's recommendation and I think the results were much better - I think I got much better coverage (picture attached) and the thinset was easier to work with.

(Tile is 12x24, 1/2 x 1/2" trowel, backbuttered the tile to fill ridges)

Hoping everyone agrees with my assessment of the situation

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Looks a tad wet. It’s acceptable. And the batch will slightly dry over its pot life as you’re installing tiles.

Can I ask what tools you’re using to mix...and how long you’re mixing...and if you’re giving it slake time and re-mixing? I want to ensure that your first batch wasn’t prematurely drying out on you due to a shorter pot life than you should have due to incomplete mixing or lack of slaking and remixing.

[tomaskroupa]

Using a drill and a mixer pad, following instructions from the bag - 5 mins mix, 10 mins slake, 3 mins mix.

[tomaskroupa]

Folks,
I am finishing up our new bathtub shower and getting offers for a bathtub sliding door. The space between the bathtub and the ceiling is 66" height. One of the offers I got is for a sliding door 62.5" high so leaving around 3.5" inches of space. I am a bit concerned that won't be enough for the air from the shower to escape towards the fan. Does anyone know if there is a code requirement for this?

Thanks so much!

[cx]

No such code requirement I'm aware of, Tomas. That should be adequate space for venting the shower to the exhaust fan. And you'll want to leave the shower door open while running the fan after shower use to help it dry.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[tomaskroupa]

Thank you!