This master bath had a shower that was dripping and it was dripping through the ceiling below the shower. Time for a remodel….so we gutted the bathroom. started with removing the toilet by turning off the water valve, flushing the toilet and plunging it to get as much of the water out of it as possible. Then we unattached the water line and took the two mounting bolt nuts off the base of the toilet. Next lift the toilet up and put a trash bag over under the base of it to catch any water that may slosh out during the transport to a warm area out of the way.
Next up the Vanity. Turn the water valves off and unattach the hoses. Unattach the sinks drain trap. Next we want to remove the vanity top. This one had the back splash glued to the wall and then it lifted off. We cut all caulking and then i used a straight cut blade in a oclating tool to cut the glue behind the back splash, then i pryed and gently pulled it loose using a flat prybar. With the top off unscrew the vanity cabinet from wall and remove it from the bathroom. You may need to pull off any base quarter round trim first. We just pulled all the base trim in our case because were putting in bullnose base tile around the entire bathroom in place of the wood base mouldings.
Next we need to pull up the laminated floor thats glued to 1/4″underlayment, thats glued and screwed to the subfloor. Pull, pry, remove screws. It will come out in many pieces. A flat shovel works good for getting under it and prying up, then you can get any missed screws. Its not much fun. When done check it over for missed nails/screws, scrape, chisel, sand to get everything off and down to a smooth subfloor again.
Next we removed the one piece 36″ built-in fiberglass shower. start by removing shower fixtures and then cut the wall 1-1/4″ from the edge of the tub all the way around with the oclating tool. pull off the drywall, remove any nails/screws and then cut the tub in half with a sawzaw. Be careful of any wires/ductwork when cutting, also near the drain plumbing. Good to check the outer walls for outlets, ducts, wsll switches before doing any cutting. After cutting shower in half, pry, pull, carefully cut anything to work it out of its place until its out. Do that with both halves.
below, the shower cut in half and one half removed. This shower is all interior walls and doesnt need insulation. The original builders stuffed extra insulation scraps around the shower before the home was sheet rocked. We removed it all.
With everything out now including the mirror its time to do any plumbing you want to do. We replaced all the shutoff valves and sweated in the new shower fixture. We also fixed the leak in the shower drain. It ended up the drain pipe was never glued to the lower trap pipe.
Bavk to the bathroom floor, we covered it with 1/4″ rubberized underlayment for tile. Its like pressed drywall (gypsum) with a rubber coating on the top and a fiberglass mesh on the bottom. This gets cut and dry fitted first, then we lifted it out and troweled 1/4″ thinset on the subfloor, layed the underlayment down and screwed it all down good. Do this with all pieces. After that is done tape the joints with a mesh drywall tape and then lay a thin coat of thinset over the joints and screws for a moisture tight seal. Let it dry.
Since we’re building a tile shower we built a 3-1/2″ wide curb 4-1/2″ tall, once its wrapped with 1/2″ dura rock backer board on all 3 sides. We also laid 1/2″ backer board on the shower floor and cut it snug to the drain, screw it all down before mixing a morter base to build up and form a slight slope to the drain, this is a base for our rubber membrane that will go on later. So the morter needs to be flush with the drains base(has threads in it for screwing in the adjustable upper drain attachment).
Above on the wall you can see where we cut in a box in the framing for what will be two built-in shelves for shampoo and such.The box is centered, level and square.Make it whatever size you need yo fit. Make it bigger as it will get all wrapped with 1/2″ dura rock later.
Next after the first layer of morter on the floor is dry we need to install the membrane. It gets nailed to the studs and lays flat on the floor. Center and lay it flat on the clean smooth floor. The sides of the membrane needs to come up on the studs at least 2″ above the curb height minimum. Nail it to the studs as high as possible. Fold corners, do not cut. work it around to the curb, up and over the curb. You have to cut it at the curb top. They make a piece you can adhere to the memhrane to cover that cut. After that is set in place its time to install all the dura rock backer board on the walls and shelves of the shower. When thats all in place tape the joints with mesh tape and skim over it all with thinset so it looks like below.
Now its time for another layer of morter. We leveled a line 3/4″ up from the membrane floor all the way around and mixed some morter mix and spread it from that line to 1/2″ at the drain. Before doing that though cut out the membrane at the drain hole to where it lays on top and covers the drain lip. Caulk/silicone under the membrane to adhere it to the lower drain. Then screw in the upper adjustable drain to keep any morter out of the drain and to use as a guage for desired height and slope, should be about 3/4″ rise in a 1-1/2′ to 3′ from drain to edge of base. When done it should look like this below.
Next we are going to finish tiling the bathroom floor and paint on a waterproof paint over the entire shower area to be tiled.
came to the stool pipe and simply set the tile in place and marked the edge to cut. The diameter is 7″, so i easily moved my tape around the edge and marked the tile at 7″ until i had a circle. Then i cut it out with the wet saw. I cut all the pieces first, dry set them, then went back with thinset and layed them all down permanantly.
now back to the shower….I started by next painting on 3 coats of waterproofing. It went on pink and when dry its red. Smelly stuff, ran the exhaust fan for several hours. i had to put it on thick and work it into the pits in the backer board. Use a brush to get in all the corners and edges then brush it on opposite directions each coat, this helps fill in pits. Could lay a thin coat (skim coat) over the whole thing before waterproofing instead. But i would still paint on 3 coats. This coating will be your first defense against leaks.
Next is tile. Took 2 days to tile the shower. I started with the shelves and centered the decorative inlay around the 3 sides after marking a level line. Mixed the thinset thicker to help keep tile from sliding, had to go back and keep moving them as i tiled below them, until it set up. Worked my way down to the floor so the cut pieces will be at the bottom. Start in the middle and work out on the back and then work from the inside corner out on the two sides.
This is done. I used a new pre-mixed tub of grout that was pricey but it prevents cracking, staining, mold, mildew. Its an epoxy based product. Had enough left i was able to do the floor too. Thing is with this stuff it sets up fast, so i could only grout for a few minutes before stopping to sponge it off. if there was a film it would dry that way, so i would have to go over it again 10 or 15 min later to get it good and clean. When done let it dry a couple days.
If i had to do it again, which i will, i would make the shelf height taller. By the time i got it lined with backer board and thinset and tile it kept getting smaller and smaller. went from 11″ to about 9″.
Got the new vanity and top installed and stool set. Had to cut vanity base down so it sat flat/level on the floor before screwing it to the wall. Then put some caulk on top of the cabinet in spots before setting top on. then glue the back splash to the wall. use clear caulk to caulk counter top to backsplash and wall. After that i finished the bullnose base trim tile.
Just a few things to finish up now. install foucet, mirror has to be cut down and glued to the wall. the carpet to tile floor moulding installed. Then to repair the ceiling below the shower and that should finish it up. Quite a project, took me a good 8 days and 70hrs work.
fireballcarpentry 