Let’s start with the great news —- We did it! We managed to completely overhaul the master shower at the Forest House over the course of a few weeks! Expanded size, new tile, new fixtures, and a new glass door.
Next up…the sad news — We only got to live in the house for a few weeks after we finished the shower because we sold the home quickly! But those few weeks were wonderful y’all! LOL
Now the sobering truth —-This was (hands down) one of the most difficult projects we have tackled to date. We made some construction choices we wish we hadn’t, and we learned SO SO SO much.
Once it was completed, it looked great, worked great, felt great, and also represented an important accomplishment for us on many levels. We have also decided *to take a little break from shower reno* on our new Midcentury home! We can wait a while!!
We hope this post will help you avoid some of our mistakes and mitigate some of your frustrations. Oh, there will be frustrations. There’s no getting around that. It’s tile!! But, if you approach the project with that understanding, you will get through it with your sanity (and relationships) intact. Plan, plan, plan some more, prepare, get the right materials in the right amounts, and go with the flow!
Shower Before
It’s difficult to look at these pictures now. It’s hard to believe we showered in this tiny, awful, builder-grade fiberglass drop-in for over 2 years. The shower was almost impossible to clean and keep clean. When you lifted your arms, they would hit the sides and soap would not stay on the curved “soap” tray. I understand why builders use these. They are easy to install, just nail to the studs and plumb. Also, these are much less expensive than paying for tile and the labor to install the tile. Plus, no design required.
Yes, we get it, but these are terrible for the end-users (i.e., people that have to use them every day). Also, as we learned, they may be simple to install, but they are not easy to remove!
Demo Time (aka Point of No Return)
We quickly discovered that we were not going to be able to just pull this out in one piece and set it on the curb. To combat this beast, we chose to use the best tool ever invented: the Sawzall (or as we say “saa zaa”).
This is the point of no return. This may be the most important phase of any DIY project. Moving past this point is empowering though!
What about the mental/emotional barriers that prevent you from making a cut like this? What if we can’t put it back together?! What if we cause or uncover other, much more expensive damage?! What if…What if…
Trust us. We have these same doubting thoughts. But, the more you push past these moments the easier it becomes to just start demo-ing. You may never reach some zen-filled state at the beginning of a project, but your anxiety will subside and your confidence will expand! And, remember, it’s not rocket science. You will find a way to put all the pieces back together.
Our mantra: It’s going to look better than it did.
(Which was a very low bar TBH!)
See?! It ALREADY looks better!!! LOL [insert nervous laughter]
Rebuilding
Next, it was time to clean it up. Out with old and in with the modern.
We used 1/4″ cement backerboard sheets to prep the shower for tile. Working with backerboard is similar to working with drywall. Using a metal T-square, you score the cement with a utility knife and then snap it off. You also tape the seams with backboard tape.
Sometimes people tile over drywall, but we don’t think that’s the best way to install a water-proof shower that will last forever. We wanted to do it right, so no one would need to go through this process again for a very long time! In hindsight, we could have used drywall as a backer, but only with the Schluter-Kerdi shower kit (more on this below).
We’ll refer to this as mistake #1.
The most important thing to do when installing the cement backer board is to make sure everything is as even (or plumb) as possible. Especially at the seams where sheets meet, you want everything to line up smoothly. Just slide your hand across the seams. If you feel the slightest bump, you need to tighten or loosen the screws. If the bump is 1/4″ or more, you can use composite shims behind one of the boards.
This process can be a little tedious, especially if the studs are not plumb like ours, but having a flat surface to lay the tiles will save you so much time and trouble in the end. So, prep and prep again. You will thank yourself later!
You could tile directly onto the backboard or take it a step further. We wanted to make sure the shower was completely leak-proof. We decided to use the Schluter-Kerdi products. Make sure you watch a few videos on this before you begin.
We began by covering the walls of the shower with the Kerdi waterproofing membrane. You hang the membrane much like hanging wallpaper. Cover the backerboard with thin coat of thinset and then apply the membrane (Kerdi) to the wall. Use a joint knife to smooth out the membrane and squeeze out any extra thinset.
However, Kerdi sells a kit with a pre-installed membrane. We would 100% recommend buying the entire kit and skipping all these steps.
We pieced it together as when went along (hence the many 2 hours + round trip excursions to the tile store). Mistake #2
The styrofoam shower tray is really simple. It gives you the perfect surface to lay the floor tile with a gentle slope. It makes laying the floor tile almost DIY mistake-proof. We used a non-Kerdi brand so, as you can see, our styrofoam did not have the Schulter Kerdi membrane (see mistake #2 above).
Want to make your life easier? Make sure to purchase the modified thinset mortar designed by Schluter for this Kerdi system (look into Modified vs. Non-Modified). It works on the walls and the floor. If you use the wrong type of mortar, like we did, over the non-porous styrofoam shower tray, it will not dry for about 6 weeks…or basically forever.
So because we did it WRONG, we had to completely pull this membrane off, wash off the styrofoam tray, drive BACK to the tile store, buy Schluter mortar, and then redo the entire shower tray. Same thing with the shower curb.
So, yeah. Just buy the entire Kerdi shower kit from the beginning!
We finally got everything done the right way!
Tiling
To begin the tiling process, we started by screwing a board across the bottom of the 3 walls. The board serves two purposes: as a level place to start the bottom row of tile, and to keep the tile from sliding down the wall before the mortar has set.
We laid the wall tile out along the floor to see how they would all fit across the walls, especially the back wall. We didn’t want a small sliver piece on one end. If this happens, you’ll need to cut the first row of tiles so all of the tiles shift over. You will probably need to cut the last row as well, but it’s always better to have a 3/4 or 1/2 tile on the ends instead of a sliver.
We screwed the board a little lower (1/2″) than the full length of a tile. This meant most of the tiles on the bottom row would be too long, and would need to be cut, but this way none of the tiles would end being up too short. You don’t want to need a small sliver to fill in at the bottom either.
Do a little math and lay things out head of time to save yourself a headache later! 🙂
We started the tiling process with the floor. We wanted to get the drain set in place and make sure we had the exact height of the floor tile so we would be able to set the board for the wall tiles correctly. Make sure the floor tiles around the drain are at least 1/4″ higher than the drain so the water will flow across the tiles and not pool.
Also, we did not add the grout at this point. After the mortar set on the floor, we covered the floor with some old towels to keep debris from messing up the floor tile. Then, we grouted everything in the shower at the same time.
Caution: DO NOT use too much thinset mortar under penny tiles. If you do, it will push up between the tiles with the slightest pressure. So use the minimum amount possible and push it down very gently with a tile float.
As you start tiling the first 3 or 4 rows, it feels easy. You get into a rhythm. You are seeing real progress and actually start thinking, “Man, this is easy. We’ll be done in no time!” But, we are here to tell you, it’s not over until it’s over. You have a long way to go. Once we hit the soap tray inset, our easy-breezy attitude changed.
So many cuts, so many trips back and forth. Once you get the hang of the tile saw, you’ll be amazed at the kinds of crazy cuts you’ll be able to make. Chris was able to cut semi-circles out of the center of some of the tiles to accommodate the shower pipe. Be careful though. It’s still a saw!
It’s such a long and messy process, but it was slowly forming. At this point, we began to notice the way to lighting in the shower started to change. It was so much brighter as the light bounced off of the new tiles, even with the same old light fixture.
We used a metal strip (purchase at the tile store) to finish the ends of the tile. These trim pieces are available in plastic, but these seemed like they could crack or the color could fade or yellow over time. These are fairly easy to install. The circles set into the thin-set under the tiles. The drywall will meet up these.
Shower Niche & Caulking
For the shower niche, we used a plastic shower insert that can be tiled over. We also finished out the space around the niche with more metal finish trim.
We used contrasting penny tiles with a gloss finish in the niche. They are pretty simple to install, but the trim pieces are tough to get just right. Again – go easy on the thinset with penny tiles. It squishes out very easily!
The final phase is really the easiest part of this process. We just need to go around and make sure we calked around the seams.
Shower Door
We measured our shower rough opening and used those measurements to order the correct size of our DreamLine Unidoor Plus frameless hinged shower door.
Melissa drilled out the tile with a masonry bit and readied the wall for the new shower door. It wasn’t too challenging to install because our wall was plumb.
The shower door is MUCH taller than our old one for two reasons. First, we installed a curb to raise up the shower door. Second, we ordered a tall, 72″ door. Chris is 6’4″, and it’s taller than he is. All of this makes the shower feel grander!
Finished Master Shower!
That’s it!!! Haha. Okay, it was a lot! But we were so happy with the finished space.
The before and after really showcases the amazing change!
BEFORE AFTER
BEFORE AFTER
Vanity
While we were at it, we also snuck in a bit of a “refresh” (as we so affectionately call it) on our master vanity area.
Builder-grade everything was killing us slowly.
New lights, new fixtures, new mirrors, and new cabinet pulls for a nice refresh!
BEFORE AFTER
We hope you enjoyed this post and were able to learn from our mistakes. We also hope you got inspired to tackle your own bathroom in need of some attention.
Now that we’re getting settled in at the new Midcentury home, there is MUCH more renovation to come!
[…] greatly reduces the possibility of tiles cracking in the future. We previously used Schluter in the master shower at the Forest House and it’s SUPER easy to work […]