Chris' Orange Tile Project San Jose

[cpad007]

Hello Folks,

I'm new to posting to the forum but I've been reading for a little while.

I've got an 8x10 master bath that I gutted. I designed it based on the Schluter System as I've got the following to install:

(1) Shower ramp with end-drain (Kerdi-Line)
(2) Kerdi Membrane
(3) Ditra Heat

I expanded my shower from 32x32 to 55x42. This was the main driver behind the remodel.

I did everything in this bathroom (gut, framing, plumbing, electrical, hanging 'rock) and I'm also building all the cabinets.

I draw the line at mud/tape and tile. I've got a buddy finishing up mudding/taping this week and next is tile.

However, I've brought in 3 tile setters and as soon as they saw all the Orange stuff, they balked. They all have their own way of doing things and SS isn't a part of it.

Anyway, I need some help and guidance and a couple names of some good guys who like Orange. I had no idea I was pigeonholing myself when I went the Schluter route but oh well.

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area and more specifically in South San Jose. It would be great if I could have this bathroom done before Thanksgiving so I'm not in a screaming hurry but I'm basically ready to tile right now.

I still have cabinets to build but that shouldn't hold up the start of the tile. I know the floor will need leveling as it rolls like a golf course. My wife and I have all our tile picked out but haven't purchased anything yet but most stuff is a week to order so no big deal there.

Thank you!!!

Chris

[lati_cz]

Hi Chris, I can look at it. PM me if you interested. Michal

[cpad007]

I thought I'd let everyone know I found someone through the forums here and he'll start this Saturday for me.

I will take pics and post pics and start a thread. It should be FUN!

[Marge]

Hi Chris,

Glad you found a pro.

You can keep this thread. We can change the title to something more appropriate. Just let us know.

[cpad007]

Here we have a perfectly working yet boring and "I need to put my touch on it and can't leave well enough alone" master bathroom on the second story of my home. My wife and kid are reflected in the mirror there...somewhat.


Another shot. See my camera phone (Samsung Galaxy S2...yeah, a dinosaur but it works fine) and my hands!!!




Anyone familiar with Sketch-Up?! I love it. It is free and pretty easy to use. These are all renderings of the existing set-up in my master bathroom. The shower stall is 32x32 and way too small. I need it bigger!!!

[cpad007]

Demo!!! I started by removing the pocket door. I managed to get $20 for in posting it on Craigslist.


Here the partition is fully gone along with all the carpet. I still need to move the plumbing. This pic was taken BEFORE the next pictures as I had a little bit of damage to fix first.


I pulled all the drwayll/tile/32x32 fiberglass shower pan (got $10 on CL for it!). Gee, each corner where the shower pan met the wall has damage. Go figure....

Oh, and we have these little varmints called TERMITES out here on The Left Coast that find the cellulose in wood rather appetizing and tasty.

I thick the wood-soaked plywood was even tasty for them despite the glue (which the water probably dissolved away) there.

[cpad007]

I LOVE my Bosch multi-tool (MX30E) as it sure made the task of cutting out chunks of damaged studs and sill plates relatively easy. However I found out that these blades don't last too long and they are pricey as heck!! STILL totally worth it!

Fun fun fun as The Beach Boys like to say....

[cpad007]

All the damaged wood has now been removed. My roof may now fall down! BTW, my house's exterior finish is stucco. This MB is on the second floor and the second floor extends beyond the first by about 2' so what you see there is the backside of stucco as it is pressed through the wire. It kind of looks like a giant wasp's nest. I thought it was cool how they chopped a joist and let it hang there to get the drain line through but I guess it must've been all right...been like this since 1973 when the house was built.


Ah, a fresh piece of "not quite" 5/8" plywood to mary up to my "quite" 5/8" plywood. Sill plate replaced, too. I took this piece of 2x4 from the partion wall and reused it here. In fact, I reused a fair amount of the wood from the pocket door/partition wall. Oh and remember, I'm in California...lots of Redwood 2x4s in my house but they do mix in some Douglas Fir here and there.


Obviously the partition wall and carpet are still in. There is water/termite damage right at the end of the shower/partition wall there so that piece of sub-floor needs replaced, too. Finally, notice the new studs and a fresh piece of 14/2 pulled.


I cut out a few more slabs of plywood and extended the water lines and drain. Now you can see where the exterior/interior of my house is. I filled up the stucco bay with some spray can foam to seal it a bit and provide a bit of R. I DID add support to the water lines so they aren't just floating there.

[cpad007]

More Sketch-Up renderings of what we are hoping to achieve with the master bathroom remodel.

[cpad007]

Vanity/cabinets on the left, toilet on the right. I redid all the electrical and slightly massaged the plumbing. We plan to backlight the mirror with LED strip lighting. The toilet will get a small cabinet above it along with LED strip lighting.


The new size of the shower complete with showerhead and handshower. I also took the opportunity to put in a hot water return pipe to save on water. That one is the insulated pipe heading up into the attic. Notice the ceiling drywall patch of where the old partition wall used to be. She's going to be a nice sized shower!!


I plumbed in a Kohler mixing and transfer valve and the space above those will be the niche.


A shot from the bedroom looking towards the master bath. We had quite the large opening there. I will fill in the top of the opening with some framing/drywall so it matches the door height.


Here I used "Foam It Green" to give my stud bays north of R 20! I highly recommend this system...very easy to use. Cost me $410 for the kit (#202) & shipping.


And here is shot with all the drywall done and primered. See that I matched the door opening.

[cpad007]

Here is a shot BEFORE the slc went down. The whole bathroom floor kind dives off towards the toilet and vanity....


Kindly ignore all the Orange in the way but after the Mapei slc cured, I have a much more level floor to lay the wood-plank look tile on!


A shot of the "ready for orange/tile" shower stall. I have the ramp and curb in there dry fitted. The ramp was cut down from 55x55 to 55x42.


Here you can see the valve/niche wall. The Kerdi-line drain will go on this wall...right at the bottom of the ramp.


I TRIED to talk my wife into cutting down the curb height but apparently she wants to step over a small hill to get into the shower. So the curb is left at the stock 6" height. The wife is always right...right?!


A little boo-boo on my part. Per Kohler's instructions for the fancy chromed handshower elbow connection, the nipple must protrude 9/16" from the finished wall. WELLLLLL I guess I didn't measure very well but in the end, I needed a 2 1/4" brass pipe nipple and those aren't readily available. I decided to cut a small opening and shim the brass elbow in the wall out enough such that the 2" nipple I had on hand would work. Good thing kerdi and tile will hide this, eh?!


I made the niche as wide as possible on this wall and even presloped the bottom just a tad.

[cpad007]

I feel kinda funny being just about the only one posting in my own thread. But I guess I'm not asking any questions...yet.


Getting the Ditra-Heat mat ready to install. I have my heating cable and sensors taped up and out of the way. I picked up the Ditra-Heat kit...the one consisting of 5 mats and 88' of heating cable (and a thermostat). I ended up purchasing 2 extra mats to complete the square footage in my bathroom.




A few shots of how the cable laid out. It ended up being a little be shorter than I calculated so I had to steal some area from in front of the toilet to get adequate coverage in front of the vanity. My tile guy is shy and would only allow his shoes to be visible.

I'm looking forward to see how the warming goes once we get the tile down. This cable was very very easy to embed and rip up and embed again. Since my calculation were off, we had to do that a couple of times but it was a piece of cake. This was the first Ditra-Heat my tile guy has installed and he loved the ease. He has done plenty of Ditra and other cable warmers.


And the ramp and curbs and drain and some kerdi are glued in!!

[Mike Stacy]

Great play by play. I will be curious how the heated floor turns out. I have been thinking about it but as you know a cold day down here is 65. Kind of hard to justify the cost. I once lived in Ohio and I did it there and loved it.

[cpad007]

But peeps bundle up at 65 in SoCal, Mike!!

I'm originally from Colorado so I hear you.

My wife is cold-blooded...she'd keep the thermostat at 82 year round if I let her.

Thanks for the kudos and post on my thread!!!

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

Post away! The pictures are great.