Ahh, it seems like only yesterday we were two youngsters on a mission to renovate our basement bathroom, knocking out walls and digging plumbing. Almost two years ago already. Joe is reliving the good ol’ days, using his experience to help a friend with a similar shower. I guess you know who to call for any shower projects from now on!
Can you believe Thanksgiving is already next week?! I know we’re somewhere between Halloween and Christmas, but it does not feel like turkey time… Joe and I have been on a money saving/money making quest to prepare for some potentially big future projects (cross your fingers), so we’ve been pretty heads-down lately. While I’ve been cranking out Christmas crafts, Joe’s been helping a neighbor on a shower.
DIY Shower Pan
I believe this idea blossomed around 4th of July – a neighbor of ours was updating their bathroom and Joe offered to help DIY the shower. Since we did our shower last year, Joe can now basically do them in his sleep. We have all the tile tools, plus they happened to be using similar tile to ours, so it was a no-brainer for Joe to play a role in the project.
Pre-Slope
Here are links to our framing and pre-slope, and shower pan pouring for a full, in-depth tutorial. I think this is by far the hardest part.
The only difference between this one and ours was adding a curb it looks like. Oh and they didn’t have to reroute the plumbing or knock down any walls.
Start by finding a shower pan liner/membrane.
Fit it around the drain.
Level out the drain piece with pea gravel and test it.
Now pour your slope, gradually angling toward the drain. No not use self-leveler.
Tiling the Shower
This is definitely the more fun part. Still tricky with getting tile measurements correct.
Looks like they started with the floor: tiling and grouting.
Then they started with the walls.
First, you use a waterproof drywall, like denshield, using special mud and tape. Here’s a link to our resource on that.
Then you can start mapping out the tile pattern with spacers.
You’ll want to map out any niches for shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.
Then it’s as easy as using thin set and grouting once it’s dry.
Finishing the Shower
Wow, it looks amazing!
I’ll definitely try to get an update from them once it’s all finished.
It feels so much easier when it’s not happening in your own home. This of course happened over many weeks, but it’s fun to see the condensed progress. Nice job, Joes!
