Saturday, February 28, 2009

Shower

Tiling the shower was another one of those "not-absolutely-necessary-but-would-be-nice-to-do" kind of projects. The old tub wall surround was a cheap plastic glued-on kind which was decent enough to do its job. But slowly, the glue started to lose its stick and the piece that connected the plastic to the cast-iron tub was coming off. It was time for an upgrade.

At first, Talyn absolutely didn't want tile because of the bad experiences she's had with tile showers in the past. For example, our old apartment had mold in the grout that they had simply covered over with clear caulk. You could see the mold just fine but you couldn't do anything about it! Talyn likes a clean bathroom, and if the shower can't stay clean, nothing else matters. Well, turns out that if you seal the grout well, you shouldn't have to worry about moldy grout. Our neighbor Chad convinced us that tiling was easy to clean & fun to do. And if you're willing to put in the time & effort (which we were), it's not too expensive.

We chose the least expensive tile at Lowe's - 4x4" glossy biscuit glazed ceramic tile for only 14 cents each, plus got some Mexican tiles online as accent tile. The total for all of the materials - the tile, new backerboards (to protect the studs, etc.), new faucet kit, and other supplies - cost us a little over $400. Add to that 50 hours of work, and it's not a cheap project, but not too expensive either.

Before

After

It was a huge relief to finally get it done.

If you look at the bottom of the studs, you can see some black mold...ewww... Just spray it with a 1-to-1 mixture of bleach & water and scrub with an old brush (which you should throw away afterwards), and you should be good.


We replaced the old galvanized steel pipe with flexible PEX piping and replaced the faucets too.

Since houses from the 1950's generally didn't have much insulation, we got some and put them into the exterior wall (right) and the wall that the baby's room shares. Then we put on tar felt, which acts as a moisture barrier in addition to the hardiebacker board.

The hardiebacker & the tar felt protect the studs & walls from moisture.

After laying the tile, before the grout, sealer, & caulk are applied.

The finished product!

I really didn't know how long this project would take, but I didn't think it'd take this long! Since I could only work during the evenings & on Saturdays, it took me about a week and a half. During that time, we never took a shower... (don't worry, we still took baths)

And...to see for yourself:


So now that I have bricklaying, electrical, plumbing, and tiling under my belt, what's next?

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11 Comments:

Blogger Mikey said...

hey kevin, it looks really good. I am really impressed

10:12 PM  
Blogger Kristi said...

It looks great! I really like the accents.

12:44 AM  
Blogger shawnajctenney.blogspot.com said...

It looks really nice, good job! Since you've done electrical, I'll have to ask you a question some time when I see you!

8:34 PM  
Blogger El Chambon said...

Welding, that should be next. Weld something, and you become the ultimate man. Well, there is glass blowing, too.

2:13 AM  
Blogger Wongs D & MV said...

Another project success. Nice work!

9:33 AM  
Blogger Noelle said...

nice work. Tiling does take a lot of time. Especially those little tiles. I'm impressed.

10:08 AM  
Blogger Cary said...

My absolute favorite part was listening to the movie. Kevin's voice was so calm that I felt like I had gone back in time to the good ol' days of Bob Ross on PBS. Send them a clip and I'm sure you'll be famous in no time. . . .talking about different showers.

7:34 PM  
Blogger Kevin said...

Hmmm...am I supposed to take this as a compliment? Bob Ross? Okay, so I enjoyed watching his show, but I don't know how I feel about being compared to him. Maybe if I continue to grow out my hair and get a perm like my dad used to have in the 80's.

7:47 PM  
Blogger May said...

Congrats! You did a good job. The bathroom looks great. I like the color accents. So is it easy to clean ?

8:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another job well done, Kevin. We like the accent tiles.

Mom & Dad Wong

10:43 PM  
Blogger candice said...

WOW, looks fantastic! Where did you learn how to do it? Neal always talks about re-doing our kitchen (and bathrooms) but i'm petrified at the thought of him doing it! Not through any fault of his own, he has just never done any sort of repairs (in any sense of the word). I'll make sure to NOT tell him about your beautiful bathroom, so his hopes won't inflate. j/k :)

2:18 PM  

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