Tiling the shower

[smith_bp101]

Hi guys, new here to posting, but lurk a lot.

I'm in the process of tearing out my solid surface shower. I want to put in tile walls with a prefab shower pan. It's just a basic tract house, so I don't want anything fancy or $$$.

I just want to go with the basic eggshell white tiles with a basic accent.

Questions:

1- Home Depot is very close by and therefore very convenient to purchase hardware, etc. Is it a good idea to get the tile there? I will be doing the countertop too. They have the color that matches the other countertops in the house.

2- I see there are two ways to prep the walls. One is to remove the greenboard, apply felt, then backerboard and tile over that. Another way is to apply felt and backboard over the existing greenboard, and then use bullnose on the edges. Which way do you think looks better?

3- What do you use to seal the overlap seams on the felt? caulking?

4- Is there a specific height the faucet handles and shower head have to be? I'm fairly tall.

Last- What do you think of a recessed shampoo box?

Thanks!

[smith_bp101]

No replies?

[G Henslee]

They used to carry DalTile as their basic vanilla tile. Don't know anymore. And I don't where you are and if there are tile supply companies in your area. HD will probably suffice for your job.

There's 2 kinds of bullnose. One with a radius and one without called surface bullnose. Your choice. Personally I prefer mortar for all substrates but in your (diy) case I would apply the backer over the green. Makes for a stiffer wall and allows for the radius bullnose in lieu of the less distinct surface bullnose. Forget the felt. It's not needed.

Forget the felt. It's not needed.

Install them to fit your comfort zone. The shower head being the critical one.

They're fine but as you know, more work for the tiler. Personally I prefer ceramic corner shelves same color as the tile. If it's a 3 wall shower and of decent size I like one for a bottle or two and the other for the soap. Soap dish as well if it's a tub/shower.

[BocesLib]

First off with the shower i'd recommend taking down the shower walls if they are greenboard. Wonderboard (cement board) or hardiboard will make a wonderful backer for the tiles. As for the showerpan, Home Depot really has crap. Plastic showerbases that are plain scary looking. Home Expo (high end home depot) has fiberglass/acrylic shower bases. They are MUCH better. Many local plumbing and bathroom stores carry them too.

(Use the greenboard for the rest of the walls in the bathroom. Shower walls need something a bit better. I'd recommend using felt paper between the shower walls and the wood studs. Makes a nice water barrier)

As for tiles from Home Depot, that should be just fine. I purchased mine from them. Pretty good quality (I custom ordered a fish / sea shell design)

As for the height of stuff, no real specifics. But i'd accomidate the shower high levels to all, not just you because you are tall.

Humm, for the nook for the shampoo its an either or kind of thing. Its more work to do right and can be a source for leaks if not done well. But it can look nice if you take your time.

One thing i'd HIGHLY recommend is when at home depot, pick up a cheap wet tile saw. This will make those cuts a breeze. When you make the holes for the plumbing in the tiles, id recommend using a rotozip (or equiv. device) to make the cuts. You can make real simple professional looking holes very easily.

[ameijers]

They have, probably even at home despot, premade shampoo nook rough-in liners that you nail off to studs so they are solid, and lay the backerboard right over them, with some sort of sealing arrangement. Dimesions are so no tile cutting needed- multiples of 4". Saw them on one of the DIY shows- looked like a neat way to do it, and unlikely to ever leak. I need to get one of those corner shelves or surface-mount soap dishes for the house I just bought with 1960 pink tile bath (no black border, thank heavens). For those of us that only shower, the low soap dish right in shower stream Just Doesn't Work. I want to get more than a week out of a fresh bar of Ivory.

aem sends...