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?