very nice work!!! (and congrats on the pics finally showing up lol)

Really nice bathroom! I like the niche! The tile is beautiful.

Well worth the wait to finally see the pictures. GREAT job! Now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor :))
Monica

Beautiful! Is the apprentice being paid union wages :)

Very nice work. Enjoy your new bathroom!

I'm glad you got your pics to finally post! Your bathroom turned out great and that is one cute helper you have there. The tile work looks terrific and I love the richness of the cherry in your vanity cabinet.

Really, really nice! I am personally to nervous about doing tile work myself but you did a super job. Love the border detail in the shower too!!

Thanks all!! Getting these images posted was far more complicated than the bathroom!!!! Ha ha.

Bluekit -- He does not earn union wages, but his houssing, clothing, food and toy allowance are all covered under our in-house compensation program.

Sundial -- The cherry was one of the things I really wanted, nothing beats a beautiful piece of cherry. It will look even better once I install the brushed nickel hardware.

Folkman -- I too felt the same way and never would have taken it on had we not "experimented" by doing the powder room first. Here are a couple shots of that much smaller project. The key was to know that you could always call someone in to complete the job and also talking to as many people as ould listen.

Powder room in all its 1970s glory!

New tumbled marble tile, vanity, toilet, fixtures, baseboard and a little paint made a world of change.

Very impressive!

Would you be able to tell me the model of the Kohler glass door? The website seems to overwhelm me with small photos that all look very similar. Your photos show better details and I like that one.

I presume your opening is 5 feet wide?

Superisermodel -- Yes, the width of our opening is roughly 59 1/2" since there was a standard size tob there.

The door ss a Sterling by Kohler which we purchased at Lowes. I looked on the Lowes website and couldn't find the exact one, but it is a regularly stocked item. It has heavier glass than a standard door, the rollers are in the top of the frame, none in the bottom and it is made to fit various sized openings up to 60". We considered special ordering various modeels, but at $299 or so this one was unbeatable for our needs. It really is a nice door, feels high quality. If you go this route, make sure you measure very thoughtfully before cutting the frame. I thought I had and messed up a little, but it still worked out.

Also, you will need to drill six 3/16" holes in the wall to mount it. We have porcelin tile and none of the "tile" drill bits were effective so I ended up ordering a diamond tipped drill bit that did the job, but still took 10-15 minutes per hole.

Thanks Capt.Dan!

It's amazing (to me) how hard it is to figure something like this out over the web, your door looks the same as some of the models at Kohler's website that are more than twice as expensive.

I appreciate your installation advice, but we've got a contractor taking care of our remodel. Ours was born out of the realization that our shower pan beneath our tiled shower was leaking and the damage was significant. Our insurance company declined the claim and now is checking in to make sure the repairs are complete before our policy renewal. Nice. So we realized that even doing portions of the job as DIY would slow the process down too much.

We're going with a kohler receptor/pan and will be getting a door in the style of yours. Thanks again for the info.

Beautiful bathroom - you can be very proud of yourself! Thanks for all the pictures, and for the various info. The shower door looks great - good to know you can get an inexpensive but high-quality shower door!

And I *love* the floor tile pattern!!! Might crib it for my bathroom. :-)

Initialy we were going to have a euro style door installed where the guy actually routers a groove into the tile and then imbeds a piece of glass and also hinges a door off the wall. That would have been the ultimate, but it also cost $1,800!! Have a look at these doors at lowes, I don't think you'' be disappointed.

Charklin -- we revised our pattern many times by testing out different layouts on the bedroom floor. Initially I wanted to outline the room with 6x6 tiles and then lay in 6x6 tikes in a diamond pattern. That too would have looked good, and been easier, but I'm really pleased with how this turned out. Post some pictures of your floor when you are done.

Capt Dan,

First let me applaud you on the DIY effort. That must have been fun running that PVC DWV.

For the sake of others that follow in your footsteps, let me ask you a few questions...

1) Did you put a membrane (6-mil poly or lapped tar paper) between the Durock and the framing? I don't see anything int he photos.

With regards to your shower membrane, the 40-mil Oatey?

2) Did you install a deck mud preslope and then put the membrane over the preslope, or is the membrane flat on the subfloor and you did a deck mud preslope on top of the membrane?

3) Where the membrane goes over the curb, you nailed the membrane into the top of the curb. How did you attach the backer board to the inside edge of the curb? Nails or screws into the curb?

Oh, and give your helper a promotion!

Capt Mongo

I can appreciate how time-consuming the full bath was and it sure came out well (especially love that floor pattern) -- but there's just something about your powder room makeover that makes me want to move in!

Congrats on finishing up the master before your next apprentice makes his/her arrival; best wishes for enjoying all those *functioning* fixtures with your growing family.

Wow..looks beautiful...and your little helper is adorable!

Thanks all.

Hose Vixen -- I do love that little powder room, had I to do it over I might have been more creative with the tile work, but at that pooint i was still figuring out how to do all this stuff. The tumbled marble really does have a warm look and feel to it, much more so than the image conveys. I wanted to do the master with it but my wife thought it would be to hard to clean and that it would look to masculine. I lost that battle!

Mongcot --

1) Did you put a membrane (6-mil poly or lapped tar paper) between the Durock and the framing? I don't see anything int he photos.

We did not put anything between the framing and the wall board. I had intended to, even boght the poly, but it just never happened. i also think it's overkill, we took off the existing original drywall and there were'nt even any water stains behind the areas that showed moisture damage.

I did, however, fill all the voids with fiberglass insulation for sound proofing. The shower wall is against my sons room, before you could really hear the shower running, toilet flush and my little AM radio when i listen to the news in the morning. Now you hear almost nothing, glad I did that.

With regards to your shower membrane, the 40-mil Oatey?

2) Did you install a deck mud preslope and then put the membrane over the preslope, or is the membrane flat on the subfloor and you did a deck mud preslope on top of the membrane?

No preslope. 1/2" plywood floor, 1/4" Hardi Backer (may have been 1/2" and 1/2", don't really remember)then the memberane, then the mud. All the sloping was done in the mud.

3) Where the membrane goes over the curb, you nailed the membrane into the top of the curb. How did you attach the backer board to the inside edge of the curb? Nails or screws into the curb?

You can see that the membrane only covers about one third of the curb. I added some wood shims (just enough to give the curb a very slight angle toward the shower) and mortered the HardiBacker curb top down and screwed it as well, trying to keep the screws out of the membreane line.

There are new screws on the inside edge of the curb. I figured between the morter, the tile overlapping the curb on the ends and gravity, the curb isn't going anywhere!

Oh, and give your helper a promotion!

What, he has union representation now? We are a non-union home in a right to work state, meaning he can be fired without cause and with no recourse. He needs to walk a fine line, escpecially with a younger, more trainable staff member coming along soon!!!!!!

out-stand-ing.
(and bumping this thread above the one with the awkward links)

Thanks Salnov, and now that the bathromm is done I thought I would have a relaxing weekend, but it was not to be, there were hedges to be trimmed, grass to be edged and lawn to be mowed. No rest for the weary!

Wow very nice bathroom! And your apprentice is adorable!

I'm having a problem with similar Kohler shower doors that were just installed in my bathroom. The doors aren't sliding smoothly across the entire track. Don't know if you'd have any ideas on what the problem might be? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!