Category Archives: Tile

Tile work

Caulking Mess

Posted on November 22, 2018 by ellen

Have I ever mentioned I hate caulking? The family room shower is large and that meant lots of caulking. At the ceiling, at the floor, in the corners and inside the niches; all needed caulk. I used the same dark … Continue reading →

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Setting the Granite Shower Bench

Posted on November 21, 2018 by ellen

I had a nice piece of dark brown granite already cut for the bench. Originally I wanted to use left over granite from the sink top but it was not wide enough to completely cover the bench, and the narrow … Continue reading →

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Grouting the Shower

Posted on November 21, 2018 by ellen

It took me several days to get the family room bath shower grouted. My right arm got really sore. But after a few days it was back in shape. This shower took a lot of grout. I mixed seven batches … Continue reading →

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Shower Floor is Mortared

Posted on November 11, 2018 by ellen

The shower is getting closer to being finished! The floor layout has finally been mortared into place. I mortared the mosaic tile first, then waited a day to mortar the trim tiles. That way I could adjust them to the … Continue reading →

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Shifting Tile Layouts

Posted on November 5, 2018 by ellen

No matter what I do the tile in the family room shower is not going to be square. The walls are off square and my job is to figure out how best to hide the tapers. Of course I asked … Continue reading →

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Kerdi Shower Floor Installation

Posted on October 26, 2018 by ellen

The Kerdi shower floor is made of sloped pieces of EPS styrofoam that are fitted and mortared to the floor with a non-modified mortar. I had to trim the pieces of shower floor to fit my shower. The floor pieces … Continue reading →

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Leveling Cement on the Shower Floor

Posted on October 25, 2018 by ellen

I was fortunate to pick up a couple of free 50 lb bags of Mapei Novoplan 2 self leveling cement compound for free. I needed it to level the shower floor. Although some filling had been done with mortar, specifically … Continue reading →

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Wall Tile in Shower Completed

Posted on October 25, 2018 by ellen

The final wall area was around the shower head and under it on the bit of ceiling that has the shower light. I didn’t mix mortar for these two areas but used the acrylic mastic. Plain unmodified mortar is specified … Continue reading →

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Shower Niches

Posted on October 25, 2018 by ellen

Just before we left on our extended trip away from home I tiled the shower niches. These are Schluter Kerdi preformed styrofoam covered with the orange waterproof membrane. The niches were an area that the handyman who tiled most of … Continue reading →

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Tile Handyman

Posted on September 18, 2018 by ellen

When I hadn’t finished all three tasks from the final inspection list in April by the August 28th deadline I got to feeling desperate that I would never finish the building permit so I looked around for a tile installer. … Continue reading →

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More Tile in the Master Bath

Posted on March 12, 2018 by ellen

The master bath floor is finished. I just have to decide if I will use tile or baseboard in that room. I only have eleven trim tiles left. I could use them in the master but then I would not … Continue reading →

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New Switch for Tile Saw

Posted on March 8, 2018 by ellen

I bought a Husky bridge style wet tile saw for a bathroom remodel tile project in our Tempe house in 2007. That was the first really creative tile layout that I designed and it turned out pretty well I thought. … Continue reading →

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Master Bath Shower Grout

Posted on March 4, 2018 by ellen

The work on the shower in the master bath has been slow but steady. Bill recommended sealing the rough tile before grouting so the epoxy would not stick to the tile faces. I couldn’t find our concrete floor sealer to … Continue reading →

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Shower Floor

Posted on February 20, 2018 by ellen

On the last day of Bill’s visit the tile saw pump connection broke. It could have frozen as the temperature dropped from the 60’s to below freezing overnight. We couldn’t keep the water line connected so we stopped cutting tiles … Continue reading →

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Shower Tile Design

Posted on February 10, 2018 by ellen

This was a big week. Two shower designs were laid out and one shower was almost completed. Bill Boyd is our tile guy and also our nephew in law. Unfortunately he lives in California. But he agreed to come out … Continue reading →

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Shower Schluter

Posted on January 20, 2018 by ellen

I applied the Kerdi membrane to the large family room bathroom shower. Getting these showers tiled is a big job that will be done quickly due to having my nephew-in-law visit to do the job. Then we will be able … Continue reading →

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It’s a Shower Bench

Posted on January 16, 2018 by ellen

The shower in the family room bathroom is large. It takes up the whole side of the room about seven feet. There is plenty of room for a shower bench on one side. I want to use a leftover piece of … Continue reading →

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Master Bath Decorative Trim Tile

Posted on August 26, 2017 by ellen

I noticed these decorative tiles on Craigslist in early 2016 and they were reasonably priced leftovers. They were not far away and I bought them. I love these thick relief tiles with the western animal scenes and I had just … Continue reading →

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More Tile

Posted on August 17, 2017 by ellen

Unfortunately the tub drain still leaks but I decided to tile the second half of the bathroom instead of taking it apart again first. The wall near the sink plumbing was not square. Squaring the tile with the brick wall … Continue reading →

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Master Bath Tile Started

Posted on July 28, 2017 by ellen

Before tackling the tile in the master bath I put the thin Schluter membrane over the foam edges of the floor. This is installed with unmodified mortar. The east side strip is narrow because we used 1.5″ polyiso over the … Continue reading →

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