Bathroom Remodel: How to Tile a Shower

shower tile header

 

DIY Shower Tile

Tiling a shower is where the fun really comes in. We’ve been so excited for this phase of the bathroom remodel. And for good reason! It’s actually starting to look like a shower. Joe’s dad gave us a huge hand so we were able to knock out all the tile in a weekend. Check it out!

 

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Bathroom Remodel: Priming and Painting

priming and painting header

Project Updates

Let’s step back and recap: We are unfortunately way over budget, but hey, we’re ahead of schedule! We should be done by May 1. We had a lofty goal of $2,500 for our bathroom renovation, but we’re currently around $3,200. This was our ambitious plan, but we realized all the little things we forgot to take into account along the way: Nails, screws, bags of mortar, caulk… That stuff adds up fast! We do have returns to make which will hopefully bring some balance back to our universe. In the grand scheme of things, that’s still extremely inexpensive for a whole new bathroom that we DIY’d. We’re almost done, and we don’t expect to exceed $3,500.

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Bathroom Remodel: Knockdown and Niches

DIY shower niches inset

Niches get Stitches

First things first. We had in mind that we’d like some shelves in the shower, right? Not any after-the-fact shelves, but real built-ins. There are a few ways to get recessed, inset shelves installed from the get go. Let’s explore the options.

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Bathroom & Shower: Taping and Mudding Walls

shower walls header

Mud and Tape

The natural next step after pouring the shower pan is? You guessed it: Adding shower walls. And you can’t just use regular drywall, you need to really waterproof that new shower of yours. It’s a high-stakes job, but you can do it!

Here’s a glimpse of us mudding and taping (with a little help). It’s in reverse order, so you’ll see the shower walls up first, then the rest of the bathroom. Enjoy!

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Shower Pan Part 2: Lining and Final Pour

pouring a shower pan

 

Insane in the Membrane

The shower “membrane”, that is. After your shower pre-slope is fully dried— you waited 48 hours, right?— you can place the shower liner in and do your final pour of shower mix (sand and cement mixture). Then it’s smooth sailing. Honestly, don’t skip the pre-slope! Without it, your water will sit and mold will grow below your shower’s surface. Ewww, nobody’s got time for that.

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Pouring a Shower Pan

pouring a shower slope

Pre-Slope

All we do is work work work work work. Thanks Top 40 radio for that one. We’ve been listening to the same 40 songs all spring break due to limited music options. But, back to the task at hand.

This video is lengthier, so feel free to breeze through it at your own pace. The pre-slope is a one night project, but it’s important to give it plenty of time to dry (48 hours to be safe) before advancing to the rest of the shower pan. We’ll walk you through the steps.

 

 

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Bathroom Remodel: Plumbing, Electrical & Exhaust Fan

bathroom remodel lighting, plumbing, fan

 

Status Report

Joe says we’re half way done with the bathroom! I’m wary of this prognosis; I think we’re still a little shy of the halfway mark… Luckily, it’s basically uphill from here. We’ve done most of the dirty jobs already. Very dirty indeed: Demo, rerouting the drain, reframing, and now we’ve finished up the electrical, plumbing and the exhaust fan.

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Bathroom Remodel | Framing the Shower

framing the bathroom

We Have Walls

They’re up! We just have to get them covered with sheetrock, but they’re looking good already. I’ve never done this, so it was all a learning experience for me. I even got to use gunpowder to nail into the concrete! It took me a few tries, but I finally made it through.

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Bathroom Remodel | Shower Drain

Shower Drain Bathroom remodel

 

The Drain Game

We knew moving the shower drain would be difficult, but this was one of our biggest challenges. Usually when people move a drain, they only move it a few inches. We needed to move it a few feet. It’s time to crack through some concrete!

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Bathroom Demo | Phase 4: The Big Kahuna

bathroom demo phase 4

 

Last Demo

I find smashing walls infinitely entertaining, and I’m a little sad to be ending demo. But alas, all good things must come to an end. If you’re tired of seeing us crash through walls, on the other hand, good news: this is the last one. At least for the bathroom… We have a whole lot of building to do, so we really need to get a move on. These bathroom updates will be coming in rapid fire – I really need to keep up!

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