Tile A Shower

1. Wall studs should be checked

It is imperative you check your shower stud walls before tiling, even before preparing the backer board. This involves placing a level every 4 feet across all studs. Repeat this process vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. So that walls are waterproof and tiles do not look irregular, especially in corners, studs must be plumb and level. A crooked stud can quickly and easily be fixed by sistering a second stud to it. Attach the new stud with 3 inch deck screws or nails, and check that it’s now plumb and level.

2. Preparation of the backer board

When you lay tile for a shower floor or walls, preparation is essential. Of course, the old tile needs to be removed before you can begin. In the next step, you will place a cement board on top of the shower tiles as a foundation. At this time, ensure the cement board is sound and sturdy.You may need to remove the old cement backer board before installing the new cement backer board if the cement backer board is not soundly in place.

3. Plan the Tile Layout

If you create an initial tile layout, you will prevent slivers from cropping up in corners or at the ceiling, and you will have a specific guideline to follow. The only tools you’ll need for this step are a pen, paper, and measuring tape.The tile installation should start at the bottom of the second row of the shower during the layout prep stage. Sometimes, the shower floor or the top of the tub will not be perfectly square and this can lead to an uneven tile installation.

4. Mask edges with tape

Having thoroughly prepped your wall, you can now start installing mesh tape. Make sure that you run pieces of the tape along the cement board seams. After you’ve taped off the edges with painters tape, you can spread the shower pan with a drop cloth to make masking easier.

5. Your shower pan needs to remain in place

Tiling a shower by yourself can be a challenging project, but if you’re able to keep the shower pan in place, it will be relatively straightforward for the most part. By using tile and mortar, you can make your own shower pan. A ready-made fibreglass pan can even be used. However, this option is not without a few wrinkles due to pans’ tendency to leak

6. Measure properly and find the center

Tiled showers need ample tiles to finish the project and cover the whole area. Measure your shower area before you begin. It’s always a good idea to have 10% more material on hand than you need to finish the project to ensure that you won’t have any problems if you make mistakes while installing the tile.

As soon as your measurements are accurate, locate and mark the focal point of the wall you’ll be tiling with a pencil. Next, measure up 13 inches to draw the level line and plumb line as reference points. These two lines will be your initial reference points while tiling a shower, because they mark the height of one row of tiles and the grout line.

7. Buy a high-quality thin-set mortar

Tile the bottom row using premium thin-set mortar. When buying mortar, look for the more expensive, premixed mortar in buckets. It is better to use this mortar than the less expensive powdered mortar.

You can look for a superior sagless thin-set mortar, for example. This mortar is great for use on walls and on ceilings, and will not slide down the wall when used properly.

8. Joints in grout should be kept small

You should use small grout joints between 1/8 inch and 1/16 inch so that maintaining your tile shower is easy. Because grout joints have a tendency to expand, smaller grout joints can be more effective in terms of appearance and will also be easier to maintain.