Anyway, tiling is a fun adventure especially if you have not done it before. If you have any skill in using a table saw, baking and making toast you should be able to tile. It's not really rocket science and doesn't take much skill but you will need some things to help ease the process. Just like baking a cake its necessary to have everything ready. If you know the pattern of your tile i suggest you start laying it out and then label the tiles into what position they are to go. This will speed up the process some as you won't waste any time by trying to match each piece as you go. Yup, I figured that out after the first row.
The thing I used was a ledger board (this is just a piece of wood screwed into the wall), it should be the length of the wall. Install these first before you tile. they should be placed the height of the first tile row from the bottom of the wall. For instance I used 12x12 tile so the top of my ledger board was 12 inches. Make sure you check the board to make sure its perfectly level. Whats the purpose of this? One, it allows you to make a straight row. Two, it allows you to have support for tiling vertically. Three, it allows you to maintain a space for the bottom row of tile. The ledger board I used I made from buying a 2 inch board @ 1/2 in thick I got from the place where they should know me by name. Yup, LOWE'S. Maybe I should buy stock or start my own web show about Lowe's. I bought three 42 inch boards and cut them to the length I needed, 36 inches, yes it's a small shower.
Next mix the thin-set:
The thin set, the glue that holds it all together. It's important that you follow directions on the bag. Nope I followed them to a T( who came up with that saying anyway). I did not use an additive in the thin set, as i purchased the MAPEI mortar with Polymer so all I did was add cool water. Its important to say at this point only make up the amount you need. The thin set (mortar) begins to setup pretty quickly and you don't want to end up with a bucket of rocks. Add water first and then add the thin set powder. Grab your drill and your paddle bit (yup got mine from Lowe's for 5.00, tip go to the paint department, no need to buy the 14.00 paddle when the 5.00 one will work just as well). I started off with about a 3 gallon bucket and filled it with 2 quarts of water and added the powder (flour) and mixed together adding more thinset as needed to make meet the desired thickness. What is the thickness? It should be like pancake batter just a little thicker.
Take the bucket, grab the trowel and on to tiling. Make sure you have the right tool for the job. Your trowel teeth should be appropriate for the size tile you are using. If you are not sure do like I did and ask someone at the tile store. No need to guess and have tiles popping off the wall.
Ok, we are ready to begin.
Tiling the Shower:
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| The ledger board was removed only after tiles were set. |
Now if you have perfectly square walls ( I DID NOT) you can pre-cut your tiles using a tile saw. DO NOT buy the cheap tile cutter you will waste so much time and may ruin your tile. Instead ask some one to borrow theirs or buy one. My friend Jennifer and her husband Allen allowed me to borrow theirs... borrowing allows you to rekindle friendships and fellowship some too. Thanks Jennifer and Allen for allowing me to borrow your saw. Ok, Shout out's over for now. :-)
Once you have the tiles cut you just repeat the pattern and continue. The tricky parts of tiling a shower is the Valves and the shower head. Now most people will cut the tile in half and then notch out the edges of each one to make the hole. Now you can try using a hole saw to cut a hole (I tried it, but didn't go so well) but us can also use the tile saw. Making a circle on a tile saw on the edge of a tile is simple it just takes time. Make sure you draw your half circle patter on the tile first then make straight cuts about 1/2 inch between each cut, when finished take an object and tap on the cut pieces and they will fall away. Use the saw and clean up the jagged edges.When I reached the head of the shower I make two vertical cuts in the tile and slid the tile under the head. I know you are saying why didn't i remove the shower spout before. Answer; it was secured in place really tight and I did not want to fight with it so I left it connected (yup I got lazy). So anyway, I cut a vertical rectangle out of my tile, I kept the piece I cut out, and slid the tile under the spout and replaced the cut out with the saved piece.
Save Room for Soap:
Ah the soap dish or rack, It doesn't matter what it is but you should take into account during the planning stage where you want to place the soap dish. You will have to mortar this in to make sure it is secured to the wall, but you will also need to notch out tiles on the tile saw to fit the tile over the soap dish. This is not hard to do at all. If your thin-set was thick enough it should support the soap dish without using tape to secure it to the wall. (I didn't use tape here, but when working on the outside trim and inside trim tape was necessary.
Tile Spacing:
I chose not to use spacers on my tile in this project. Grout lines are nice but the smaller the line nicer the look or at least to me it does. But don't take my word for it I am just an amateur. Make sure you determine the spacing of your tile before you start though, this will make it easier on you in the long run.
Now on my shower I decided that I am going to tile the entire thing, YUP that means the ceiling too. How did I do that... the main question is how the heck did i get the tiles to stay up there while they were setting up? After the first tile fell and hit me in the head I decided I would try to use a support beam. I had a long wood beam left so I placed the tile and set the beam underneath the tile adding pressure to the tile. Another thing is to make sure your thin-set is at a good thickness this will ensure that the tiles will hold more securely to the ceiling. Butter the ceiling and the tile ensuring the tile is fully covered. Press the tile in place and hold it for a few minutes then move onto the next one. It's easier if you cover the area of the ceiling you are working on with thin-set. Note you will want to cover the bottom of the shower with a tarp or like I used roofing felt. You don't want the thin-set on the shower floor yet. NOT YET.
Shower Floor:
So the walls and ceiling are done. All the cuts fit well. Well some i had to do twice. I knew I should have checked my measurements twice. Well the part that will go quickly is the tile floor. I hope you chose the mesh backed tile to do the floor and not large tiles. If not you may want to rethink your choice. working from the corner I troweled out the thin-set in the shower floor and laid the first mat. Do not press the mat into the thin-set so where it squeezes through tiles. Repeat. Repeat, Repeat! Ah the dreaded drain. I thought this out really well. Why get a cicrular drain that just makes for more precise cuts, so I got a square drain. Made it really easy. I sued the left over portions of the tile mats that i had to cut and placed these around the drain. Viola after 3 days of tiling the shower is done. All i have to do now is grout. But wait my project is not done.
When prepping to tile the bathroom floor I found MOLD on the sheet rock on in the bathroom seemed like I keep finding stuff.
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