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Bathub leak repair, Should I two-tone tile, or put in a tub surround?

Bathub leak repair, Should I two-tone tile, or put in a tub surround?


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Old 01-04-16, 08:22 PM
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Bathub leak repair, Should I two-tone tile, or put in a tub surround?

Hello,

Me and my wife moved into this house two years ago and long story short we just recently noticed that the bathtub tiling has been leaking pretty badly for quite a while now. Most likely since before we owned the house.

It was leaking real bad at the two back corners of the tub, and when we started tearing into the tiles to have a look, the drywall behind it was destroyed. Soaking wet and just falling apart by itself as soon as we pulled out a tile.

So we tore out the tile a few feet up until we reached dry-drywall. Pulled out the old tub, and we are redoing the piping also. We know there is almost no chance that we will find this exact tile anywhere. So our original plan was to install a new tub, and then do a new offset tile from the old tile down. This time with proper waterproof backing (probably durock and red guard).

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Here is a quick photoshop of how we planned on doing the new tile. We wanted to keep the new tile INSIDE of where the glass door will sit.

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Im pretty sure that if its done with a nice quality brown tile, that we could make it look nice. But we are also worried that it might end up looking like an obvious repair was made. Which might hurt if we try to sell the house at some point.

This is our only shower, and I am pretty busy. So I don't want to tear down / redo ALL of the tile. And hiring someone isn't an option.

So now I am debating on whether or not I should just buy a tub surround. The tub surround would eliminate the need to do ANY new tiling. I could use the existing old tile to go around the tub surround and we would be set.

We can't decide. Should we go with the tub surround or the two toned tile? Benefits?
 
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Old 01-05-16, 04:56 AM
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The drywall needs to go completely, that means take out the upper tile as well. Or you will be doing thins again down the road when the upper section fails. You also need to waterproof the walls and the seam will be challenging. At this point, it is an easy demolition. You then go back with a cement backer board. You probably could have saved some money by having the tub re-glazed instead of replaced, but that is past us now.

Welcome to the forums!
 
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Old 01-05-16, 06:38 AM
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Agree with Czizzi. Replace all with concrete board and use a large tile (at least 12 x 12) for a more up to date look and easier installing, and cleaning. Tile all the way up to ceiling. About two thirds up you can add an accent tile to break up the pattern, then continue to the ceiling. Here's an example:



If you don't already, install an exhaust fan/light in ceiling above the tub area. When you demo the old tile and wall board, this might be a good time to consider replacing tub/shower valve set with an up to date unit (Moen, Delta, Am Std.). In your case it's pretty straight forward. You have three sides that are all symmetrical.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 09:27 AM
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Thanks guys,

The current tile is also on the ceiling above the tub. I didn't really want to tear that down and have to re-drywall the ceiling.

I would love to tear it all out and retype with a more modern tile, but I have never done tile before and since this is our only shower, I don't want to go months without a shower. We're already showering at my parents house everyday right now, which will get old quick.

That's why I thought maybe a tub surround would work. It would allow me to take most of the tile out (up to over 6ft up). Without retiling for a long time.

But I keep reading mixed things about tub surrounds too. So I'm torn on what to do right now. I guess I could build/put a temporary shower in my basement and just do a full new tile job and take my time with it. I just don't want to install the tile wrong and be in the same boat next year.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 10:05 AM
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I understand your predicament. Having two baths is a God's send now days. Tub surrounds are fine, but you need to use common sense with them. Generally speaking price will reflect quality. Never use scouring powder or harsh chemical cleaners. Use only Bon-Ami cleanser. Careful installation is imperative. You still need or want concrete or similar wall board.
Suggestion: Do a temporary fix for now. Then install a basement shower like you said. Then plan on doing a full scale remod on the main bath. Tiling is not hard. We can walk you through it. Plenty of experts here to help.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 01:51 PM
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It appears that you have a standard 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" glazed ceramic tile. Those are a dime a dozen and can be found most anywhere. Big Orange carries some and ig Blue carries some also. There area different shades of white and also there is gloss and matte finish. So replacement tile can be found. Take out the existing up to the level around 5 ft above the tile. Replace your tub, add backer board, mesh tape and thinset the seams and corners, paint on redgard and then tile. Your toughest part is replacing the tub. I wish you had left the old one in.

You can by tiles individally at the store. Go pic up one of each color white - ice white and snow white are two that come to mind and see if you have a match.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 03:18 PM
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Well it's hard to see in the pictures but the tile isn't solid colored. It's an off white with beige (almost yellowish) spots all over it. So that's why I figured that I wouldn't find it.

I know that I didn't really need a new tub, but the old tub didn't even have any foam or sound proofing on it and it was annoyingly loud. The finish had seen better days, but I know that it could have been cleaned up. I thought about it for like a day before I finally decided to buy a new tub.

It's good anyways because the old tub wasn't installed good. It wasn't sitting on the floor it was floating. Only the one edge was on the floor and the back side was only supported by two
upright 2x4s. I could feel the tub move/flex sometimes. And I'm not a heavy guy at 160 pounds. Lol. I was honestly worried that it was the floor possibly being rotted. But then I realized that it was just how the tub was installed.

As for putting concrete backer board behind a tub surround, would you do this even with the direct-to-stud type surrounds?? If I did a surround I would probably go with the direct-to-stud type and not the cheap adhesive kind.

We also already bought a new tub/shower valve set. The old one was terrible. We went with a moen that only has one handle for hot/cold. A faucet and a head. So we already ripped the old valve out, soldered in shutoff valves (that I didn't have of course, so the whole house had to be turned off. And set up new piping that we didn't solder in yet because we are waiting on my next move (decision on what I'm doing with these walls.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 03:22 PM
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Here is a picture of the tile to show what I am working with. Name:  IMAG3526.jpg
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Size:  14.6 KB It's a bit of an odd tile.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 03:32 PM
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Truth be told I'm not expert enough to say if you really should go with backer board if using a surround. Others here can better answer that. But I suppose manufactures recommendations are best.
You like the Moen valve set.

I see what you mean by that tile.
 
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Old 01-05-16, 03:57 PM
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If you go with a direct to stud surround on a 3 or 5 piece tub, they fine. I would steer away from the glue up walls. But yes to an integrated tub wall system that was built to go together as a unit. You can remove the tiles from the wall, keep the ceiling tile and install new white tile up to meet the ceiling tile and that would probably work. Otherwise, pull the ceiling tile and drywall the area.

I would say that a exhaust unit over a tub it not necessary. You can be served just as well with a unit that is central to the room. You just are trying to pull moisture out so the mirror doesn't fog or the wallpaper doesn't peel, not create a zen experience.

Pay attention to the installation instructions on the tub you choose. Make sure that it is or is not set in a mortar bed. That is what eliminates the bounce you described with your old unit.
 
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Old 01-07-16, 08:41 PM
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Well we thought that we were going to just go with a tub surround in order to save time.
We started searching for a tub surround and things got more confusing.

There are only a few choices of Direct-to-Stud surrounds and almost all of them are for the wrong tub size.

For instance, the Delta tub surround offered at Home depot is offered in two sizes (60x32 and 60x30). You would think that the 60x30 would fit my new 30" tub, but it won't. It's 30" to the outside flange and only 28" to the finished edge. Meaning that it would be too small for my tub. Reading a few reviews confirmed that from other users. Then the 60x32 is too big Again it's 32" to the flange that needs covered up, and 31" to the finished edge. So it would hang out past the tub about an inch.

Sterling doesn't seem to make a 60x30 (or at least one that can be found without ordering)

American Standard DOES have a 60X30 direct to stud but it has all negative terrible reviews and we also don't care for how it looks.

With that said, every single one of these manufactures claim that their surrounds won't work, or shouldn't be used with any other tub except for their own. Go figure..... Money grab much?

We could return the new tub, and buy a tub made for use with the surrounds, but the tub we bought is metal and foam insulated for noise reduction. Seems a lot higher quality than the cheap plastic tubs that the surrounds have.

So now it's seeming that our options are to....
1. Put in an improper sized surround (might hang out past the tub edge and inch or more)
2. Return the new tub, and buy the cheaper plastic tubs that are designed for these surrounds
3. Tear it all out and re-tile 100%
 
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Old 01-08-16, 02:56 AM
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There is a fourth option, don't buy a tub with integrated surround at a big box store! The only cater to the faster moving, DIY models (ie lighter plastic), and price sensative shoppers. Instead go to a plumbing supply house in your area who can order you in what ever you want. Ferguson is a big one,but you probably have other locally based ones. This is where builders send there clients and where plumbers shop. No one goes to HD or Lowes for this kind of stuff.
 
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Old 01-08-16, 04:48 AM
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Agree with Czizzi. It'll cost more but you should be able to get what you want. Or do a complete re-tile. That's what I would do.
 
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Old 01-08-16, 11:23 PM
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Thanks for your help so far, both of you

We talked some more today and came to a decision. Even with local plumbing supply stores (we searched just a little), we would most likely have to special order a surround. We really don't want to do that. We would rather see it in person first, and also taking that extra time to order it and wait for it, almost defeats the purpose of the tub surround taking less time than tile.

With that in mind. We have decided to just do it right the first time. We are just going to do a full re-tile now!

Tomorrow we are going to work on setting up a very cheap/primitive temporary shower in my basement. Long story short, threading a cheap shower head onto the utility sink threaded faucet end, creating a shower base with PVC pipe to a floor drain, and hanging a shower curtain. LOL It might not look pretty, but we don't have kids or anything yet and we rarely use the basement. So it should at the very least tie us over until the bathroom is done.

Its a bummer that our main floor 1/2 bath is so small. Otherwise I would have just considered putting in a corner stand up shower in there. But its a tiny little bathroom. Just a toilet and a sink/vanity, and not much leg room at all.
 
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Old 01-09-16, 11:45 PM
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Ok, so first we built our temporary shower. We decided to build our own instead of spending $200 on something that is cheap and is only going to get used for a few weeks.

We actually utilized the old tub. We carried the old bathub into the basement, created a frame out of 2x4 studs for it to sit on. We ran a pool hose from the bathtub drain into our basement floor drain. Then we screwed a small 15ft garden hose onto the threaded end of the utility sink faucet, and attached a shower head on the opposite end of the hose. We then rigged/hung up a shower curtain that had magnets in the base. It actually works very well. It may not look the prettiest, but it works great. Its just me and my wife and we rarely ever use the basement, so we don't mind it for now. The only down side is that you have to get out of the shower and walk over to the utility tub to adjust the hot/cold whenever you need it. But that really isn't so bad.

Primitive, but functional
Ill be honest, most of that was my dads idea.


Then we got all of the old tile and most of the old drywall out of our real shower. We have a little dilemma with the ceiling. Since they also tiled the ceiling, we had to remove those tiles. But we just recently blew 20+ inches of blown-in insulation into the attic. This stuff is a pain in the butt to move. I have tried to move it before and it basically just falls back in spot. So we really don't want to replace the ceiling drywall. I was very careful on the removal of the ceiling tiles, and took extra care not to damage the drywall.

The problem is, how they secured down these old tiles. It doesn't look like mastic, it looks like glue (almost like liquid nails). So I got the ceiling tile down without damaging the drywall, but there is so much rock hard glue on the drywall, that it will never come off or be able to get painted.

So we are thinking about possibly buliding a drop down above the shower. Basically building a small 3" frame and securing new drywall to that. It would look like the ceiling just drops down a few inches right at the start of the shower. Either that, or I get up in the attic and wrestle this blown-in insulation for hours in order to be able to remove/replace the drywall. It doesn't help that the shower is on an exterior wall, so its at the edge of the attic forcing you to lay down in the insulation as your trying to scoop it out of the way. Which is why im trying to avoid that

Anyways, we will probably be dealing with the ceiling and possibly put down durock tomorrow. We plan on using durock all the way to the ceiling, and then using redguard on top of that.

We are still trying to decide if we should use firring strips and bring the durock over the tub flange, or just bring the durock right to the edge of the tub flange. I have seen both ways all over the internet. Everyone seems to argue which way is better than the other. We are leaning more towards just bringing it right to the edge of the flange, because this will make the tile more flush with the rest of the drywall in the room. Instead of it standing out 1/2" like the previous tile job. What do you guys recommend, Over the flange, or up to the flange?

Thanks again!
 
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Old 01-10-16, 04:53 AM
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Building a false ceiling is probably a smart solution to you problem and one that will be seamless once completed. Many times the base layer of insulation is batt insulation and not blown insulation. In those cases, you can remove the ceiling without fear of the insulation falling down, You will need wires to hold the batts up, and some loose will get through, but it can be done.

As for the durock walls, what ever works best with the rest of the walls so you can blend the tile into the existing sheet rock is what I would recommend. As long as the tile clears the flange completely what depth the walls are around the tub really doesn't matter.
 
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Old 01-10-16, 07:22 AM
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Yea, I did the blow-in insulation. They only had maybe two inches of roll-out insulation and a lot of spots had no insulation at all. I can't recall for certain if the bathroom was one of the rooms that had a sheet or not.

It sort of sucks because all of that insulation that I put in is hardly eeven helping. Our house was built in 1965, and Michigan didn't require exterior wall insulation until 1970. And I found out that my walls are completely empty. No wonder why this gas bill didn't get any better after putting that insulation in. Lol
 
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Old 01-10-16, 07:49 AM
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Goes without saying, but I'm sure you will be adding insulation to the exterior wall in the bathroom. Box stores carry convenience rolls of insulation that will take care of your small wall. Have the paper side facing the inside of the house. I can't imagine a house in Mi without insulation in the walls. I smell a future project brewing....
 
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Old 01-12-16, 07:03 PM
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Yea, we are going to pick up a couple of rolls for the two exterior shower walls. I would love to add insulation to all of our walls....... but like you said "in the future". Im assuming that would be a bit expensive.

Ok, I have a few more questions and im sure many more to follow later on

I only have weekends to really work on this, so please bear with me if it seems like im making slow progress. We finally got everything tore out and prepped. We got the new bathtub placed down into its spot. Which was harder than we had thought. The room is 61" stud to stud, and the tub is 60". The only way to remove the old tub was to lift one side straight up until the tub was standing upright, and then carry it out. But because we only had an inch of wiggle room, we actually had to cut part of the old tub during removal because the outside corner was hitting a stud. There is no other way to get a tub in or out of the room. We lucked out with the new tub because it was one inch deeper than the old one (29" vs 30"). This somehow lined up perfectly to where the outside edge of the tub (the corner that would end up hitting a stud while flipping the tub down) was actually going to hit a sister-board that was only installed for the previous shower door installation purposes. So we cut part of that board out, and the tub managed so slide right in. Which was a big relief.

So the tub is in the spot, but it isn't secured down or anything yet.

We have decided to install the durock to where it almost touches the flange, and then let that tile row hang over the flange. As mentioned in a previous post, this would make the new tile almost flush with the rest of the drywall in the room (as opposed to being two layers deep like the previous tile job).

With that said, our room is 61" wide and the tub is a standard 60". Im assuming the correct way would be to center the tub and then install the durock? This should leave a 1/2" on each side of the tub, which should be just about perfect for a 1/2" sheet of durock right up to the flange, allowing the bottom tiles to go right over the flange.

We talked about possibly pushing the tub all the way to one wall and then firring out the other wall. But surely that would leave one tile wall sticking out further than the other?

Also, we noticed that our studs are not perfect (as to be expected in a 51 year old house). If we use a level or a straight edge and hold it up to the studs, there are a couple that are off just a little bit. Like maybe 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch. What can/should we do about that? If we install the durock on the studs as they are, will it give us problems while laying the tile (uneven tile lines etc)?
 
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Old 01-12-16, 07:27 PM
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Decide what you are to do, I am currently doing a bath where once we pulled down the mud bed wall and tile, the tile flange was too far away from the wall (similar to your situation). I put up 1/2" plywood strips on the studs to fur the wall out and then finished the transition back to meet the other wall. I tiled out 36" and the wall extended 38" so the tile finished on a flat wall and then did the necessary drywall work to make a quick 90 degree corner back to the original wall. I then ran crown molding around the room to save ceiling work as it was a textured ceiling.

How does your tub need to be secured? Have you read the installation instructions? Does it set in a concrete mudbed? Do you need a ledger board?
 
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Old 01-14-16, 08:51 PM
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The instructions for the tub didn't require a mortar bed. We just had to measure and install a couple of stringer boards. And then once it is in its final position, nail the flange with a few large head nails.

If I center the tub, it should fit perfectly with a hair under 1/2" on each side. The durock is 1/2" thick. So it should be enough to just bump right up to the flange on both sides of the tub. This would also keep the durock backerboard flush with the rest of the drywall in the room (keeping the tiles closer to the wall).

It would require me to install the durock board up to the flange vs over the flange. Like in these photos that I found online:

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Is this acceptable?



The back wall of the tub however, has to be on the wall obviously. The flange being nailed down etc. Should I also install the durock up to the flange on that backwall. I would have a larger gap between the tub flange and the overhanging last tile. which I hope will be fine.

My biggest concern right now is the perfection of my existing wall studs. As mentioned in the previous post, a few of them are slightly off by maybe 1/16th or 1/8th. I want to tile using larger. Will this cause enough unevenness in my backerboard to cause problems with the tiling?


Our plan is to tile out to at least 34" maybe 35". We were going to run the new durock out to 30" because there is a stud there (otherwise we have to come out another 16" to the next stud. We want to keep the existing (good) old drywall beyond that point (since it would be beyond the tub anyways). We were still planning on putting redguard on that drywall too.
 
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Old 01-15-16, 02:42 AM
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Use a scrap piece of cement board to see where is falls in relation to the flange. Then take a tile and lay it on the cement board and make sure the tile clears the "radius" of the tile flange. If not, it makes installation difficult. Each tub is different. The current cast iron tub I am re-tiling I had to fur out the wall by 1/2" to clear the radius and then do a jog in the wall to return to the drywall level.

Correct any out of alignment studs or you will have issues with large format tile. If you can not correct, then switch to smaller format tile where a grout line is at the apex of the bump so that you can effectively bridge that area.
 
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Old 01-17-16, 09:03 AM
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Thanks for all the help so far czizzi,

We built and installed the frame for our false ceiling yesterday, we just have to put drywall up now. Then we are going to start trying to fix the evenness of the studs. We might just screw new studs onto the sides of the existing ones and hang them out just a little bit farther to create a brand new LEVEL wall.

We would have gotten more done yesterday, but we got sidetracked. I had ordered my wife a nice log dresser for Christmas that matches our bed. Well it came on Friday and they made it taller than it was suppose to be. It ended up not fitting up the stairs. After smashing some drywall, I decided not to take out anymore drywall, So we took out an upstairs window, and used a ladder and rope to pull it up into the window.

Now were back on track working on the bathroom.
 
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Old 01-31-16, 08:29 AM
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Well we got the boards up on the back wall yesterday. We decided to place them vertically instead of horizontally because it is 61" inches stud to stud, and it would have left a just 1/2" on each side for the side walls to join. That seemed to be cutting it really close, and we thought it might be better if we took the corners closer in, and then overlapped the side walls a little.

Afterwards we realized that may have been a mistake, that we probably should have just installed the boards horizontally because we had to join both boards together on a single stud which made screwing those edges in pretty difficult.

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The boards are up on the back wall, and I am hoping that this seam is ok. The screws were so close to the edge that they did smash/crack the durock a little bit. But the boards are very sturdy with very little give. Im wondering what the longevity of this joint will be. Will these screws wiggle out/loosen over time? We still have to thinset/tape/thinset the joints, and then put a layer of reguard down. Which should also strengthen the seam.

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The stud work that we worked so long and hard on, seems to be paying off. The wall is mostly flat. A few small wiggles here and there with a straight edge, but its only like 1/24" of wiggle room between 4 feet.

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We do have one trouble spot on our top piece. There is a high spot that seems to be coming from a stud. Even though the studs were all good, I think there may have been a piece of cement rock or something sandwiched underneath. We may try and take that board down and check it. It is causing about 1/8" of a raised edge right at the joint between the durock sheets. I guess we could tape, and thinset and smooth it out. But it may cause issues when the time comes to tile there.

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Old 01-31-16, 09:24 AM
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Drive a couple of galvanized roofing nails into the area near the screws, offset by 1 to 2 inches and you should be fine. If you had put the side walls up first then the back wall, the 61" would have turned into 60" and all would have been fine.

For that one area where is it raised, can you drive a screw into the original stud or whichever one is set back furthest to see if it would pull that area tighter in line with the other board.

This is just my OCD kicking in, but that is why I don't like niches, they always end up where ever the framing is and not really centered to the area or wall. Personally, I will only do niches if I get to reframe everything so that it is centered.
 
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Old 02-08-16, 06:25 PM
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Thanks czizzi, I know what you mean about the niche. The niche was a last minute idea right before we started putting boards up. At that point, those two studs were the only with enough space for the niche. So we decided to just go with it.

We were able to fix that raised area like you said. We sent a screw into the old stud and it pulled the board in just enough.

We now have all the walls up, we also put tape and thinset in/over all of the joints and screw heads. We ran a bead of silicone under the durock sheets (in the gap between the flange and the bottom of the durock. After the silicone dried, I also applied thinset to the bottom of the durock down to the flange. I just put a little, not enough for the bottom tile to sit flush on yet, but just enough to cover the gap/silicone and allow me to paint redguard over it.

The next step is painting the redguard over it all and then FINALLY BUYING SOME TILE!

I have one question before I start painting on the redguard,
When we applied the tape/thinset, we did the best that we could to make sure it was all as smooth and flat as possible to avoid speed bumps. However, we still ended up with just a few raised areas. Most of it is completely flat. Should I try and add some more thinset to smooth/widen the few bumpy (high/low) areas? Or will the actual thinset on the tile work allow me to correct that?

Here are a few pictures of the walls:
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And here is the idea(s) that we want to try. We want to do a tan colored tile with a river rock/pebble accent line at about eye level. We also want to put the same pebble accent in the back of the niche.

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  #27  
Old 02-09-16, 03:56 AM
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Seem to be doing a fine job to this point. Take your putty knife and scrap the high areas, it is difficult to smooth out thinset. A small raise area should not cause too much grief. Depends on the tile you pick out and the layout if the raised area will cause issues or not.

River rocks are a challenge all in themselves - they are round, the tile is square. They also are usually not the same thickness. You will end up putting them up one at a time most likely and then figure how to hold them in place while the thinset cures. A feat on a vertical wall. Find a tile store that carries Mapei UltraLite thinset mortar. It is a hybrid and much stickier than regular thinsets. You mix in small batches a little thicker than traditional and it helps with a high initial grab. Could save you some headaches.
 
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Old 02-12-16, 10:55 PM
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Ok, we did some more tile shopping today. I didn't see that thinset there. But I can probably order it, since I have to order the tile anyways.

The tile that we really liked was 10x13. They also have the matching 2x12" bullnose. I bought one sample piece for now.

I like to plan everything out in photoshop. So I started making a real scale design to see how everything will line up.

Originally, we wanted to tile out 5 inches past the tub. With this size tile, that leaves a small 2.75" wide cut in the corner. Like this:

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But if we only go 2.75 inches past the tub, I could get away with using 3 full tiles plus the 2" bullnose. (No small cut in the corner). But then the tile will only extend past the tub 2.75". Which doesn't seem like much for waterproofing accidents with a shower curtain etc.

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What would be the better choice, dealing with the small cut in the corner, or dealing with only having 2.75 inches past the tub?


ALSO: It might not be noticeable in the pictures because I didn't put all the tile measurements down, but the bottom row of tiles is set up to be cut just shy of of the 13" tile height. I would probably start the tiling on the second row up, and then come back and tile the bottom. Just in case the tub is just slightly off level, it will allow for me to cut some tiles just a bit longer/shorter.
 
  #29  
Old 02-13-16, 01:59 AM
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Go with the first option small cut in the corner and 5" out. The second choice will leave you will your bullnose (2") and a small 3/4" cut of large tile tapered running down the tub next to the bullnose. Give yourself more tile to work with as you work your way down the side of the tub to the floor.

The rest of the plan sounds good. Also, make sure that the lay out works with the niche so you don't have any sliver cuts.
 
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Old 02-13-16, 07:58 AM
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Ok thanks, that makes sense.

So im working on the rough layout of the wall with the niche, and it all looks pretty good, but I ended up with one sliver cut. It was right at the bottom of the first niche hole, and it was only about 1/2" tall. I didn't like that, so I pushed ALL of the tiles down (making the bottom row of tiles a littler smaller). That made that sliver just a little over 1" tall.

I can't push the tiles down any farther because that would cause a sliver cut right below the accent line. Unless I also move the accent line down. I could do that, but its currently right at the eye level 1/3rd rule.

hmmmm, do you think the 1" cut would be a problem or look strange?

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Here is the full wall:
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Last edited by trumansnare; 02-13-16 at 08:37 AM.
  #31  
Old 02-14-16, 03:44 AM
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I think your game plan at this time is solid. Hope you have a wet saw to perform your cuts. 1" is find as far as your smallest cut.

Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

If I have not mentioned already, I like to use a thinset by Mapei called "UltraLite". It is really sticky and I use it exclusively for wall tile. You will have to go to a tile store to find it, it is a little more expensive, but eliminates sag of the tiles on the wall. Mix it in small batches as it tends to set up rather quickly compared to normal thinsets.
 
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Old 02-25-16, 05:21 PM
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Well we have been on hold waiting on our tile to come in.

It came in yesterday. We ordered two different bullnoses. The 2 x 10" for the vertical wall edges past the tub, and a 4 x 8" for inside the niche. We planned to cut down to the roughly 3.5" niche self depth. To give a nice finish to the edges of the niche. But for some reason, the 4 x 8" bullnose has a plain colored edge. Like they stopped the print on the tile right before the beveled edge. The 2 x 10" bullnose is colored all the way to the edge as expected.

We weren't expecting that, but it will probably still look good. And these are the only bullnoses offered on this tile. So we will probably just go with it.

The tile shop didnt sell that mortar that you suggested. But it looks like Lowes carrys it in store by my house. (according to their website). So ill try and pick it up tomorrow. How wet should it be after its mixed?

What size trowel should I used for the 10 x 13" tile?

Thanks again czizzi
 
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Old 03-02-16, 05:15 PM
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Ok, we picked up all of the supplies. I got the Mapei ultralite pro mortar at lowes. I have the tile layout transferred from my designs and all drawn up on the walls. At this point, we are ready and are planning to start setting tile this weekend.

I have been debating on getting some tile levelers. I keep reading mixed things about them. I also noticed that they are mostly used on floors. What do you recommend? Should I get some, or should I just try and make sure that they are flush by hand?
 
  #34  
Old 05-01-16, 10:10 PM
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I know it has been almost 4 months now, but we worked at the project slowly. We wanted to take our time and make it right. Working on it only on the weekends and we had to take a few weeks off for other family matters.

But here are the final results:
We are very happy with the turn out We are SO happy that we decided to go with tile now instead of a tub surround. (even though THAT would have been done months ago)

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Thank you for all the help and guidance czizzi and Norm!
 
  #35  
Old 05-02-16, 05:58 AM
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Great Job! and thanks for closing the thread out with pictures.
 
 

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