Contractor did not install a shower niche! Is it too late? (photo)
brendapaw
7 years ago
I am so surprised that this otherwise attentive small contractor did not even ask me about a shower niche. The shower that he demolished in the same corner had one. The walls have been done to the orange board for a week or two and I have to admit I did not notice the absence of a niche until today when he was tiling the wall but I have considered it to be his workplace. I just wondered if Kerdi had a ready made niche and googled it and there it was! How hard would it be to install one in the untiled area at this point? I think I'm going to have to force the issue because he wants me to get quarter circle shelves or he said something about using a caddie! Egads!
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brendapaw
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Tiler installed niche too high!
Comments (14)raehelen--my mistake to not insist on a copy of the order. We are using the developers tiling company. I've been uneasy with them from day one. The guy we've been dealing with is fast talking and knows it all. Every time we meet he scribbles on the order form. I have asked several times for a copy, and are told I'll get one. All I've seen is a bill for the overages not covered by the developer. The shower is not totally complete. Not all grouting has been done. Our realtor is well aware of our dismay and I'm told it will be addressed on Monday. Juddgirl--we have the same niche in our current shower and I've had no issues with water pooling in the niche. The new shower is actually larger (4' vs. 3') plus there is a bench, so the niche is actually further away from the water source than our current shower. I like having my shampoo bottle at a level that I can reach the pump on the top. Perhaps I'm being picking, but we're paying good money on this house and it's disappointing to see this type of workmanship....See Moreis it too late now??? please help!
Comments (8)Hi All, Thanks for all your responses. Mae919.....I know exactly what you mean about literally feeling physically ill over floor plans :( Sorry that you are feeling the same over your great room size. I have had 3 days to try and get used to my blunder, and find every way I can to live with it. I have thought about all of your suggestions to get a smaller depth cab(18"vs 24"). This can be done but our existing cab is not returnable or refundable. Also, this is my 12 yr olds bathroom, so, I am thinking she will probably need more space in that vanity. Mae919, our plan was a set plan that our builders have built before. We just made lots of changes to it. Originally, the builder had designed that bathroom to be more user friendly, but (big confession here...which is why I am feeling so bad) I changed it to the conguration it is now, thinking it would be okay. Reason for the change....I thought that hiding the toilet from being in full view from the bedroom would be a better arrangment. I was clearly not thinking straight! However, noone...builder or designer told/advised me that the clearences would be very tight, and that it would not be a good idea, in their 'experienced' opinion to make this change. Hence, the mess we are in. The NKBA recommends at least 30" in front of the vanity, 24" is minimum requirement. Not sure what our local codes are, but obvioulsy, barely 2 ft seems to be okay! I was not made aware of this. Anyhow, we are meeting with the builder tomorrow, and will ask him about changing the whole layout. My BIL who is a builder in another state, tells me it might run us around an extra $5000 to make such changes at this stage, compared to closer to $10000 if we completely remodel later. I am thinking that the arrangment is so bad, that not only will it not be a pain for DD, but it will also affect resale later on. 'SIGH'.........I will keep you guys posted.....perhaps we could save some $$$ if we told builders to just replumb and rewire, but we will do the flooring install, and any paintwork, finishes etc. ourselves. Mae919...GOOD LUCK with your new house build.....can you make changes to your floorplan before they break ground (referring to your great room size)? It may delay your ground breaking somewhat, but its better to be really sure especially with major things like room sizes. Just measure and double measure EVERYTHING!! Thanks for listening everyone!...See MoreShower Niche - Install Help Needed
Comments (8)1) is this a good order of installation? Yes 2) how much reveal is best for the counter/sill? It depends. Structurally, if the bottom front edge of the niche is dead flat...no bow in it...no wobbles in it...you can go with a smaller reveal. For example, if your wall waivered in and out 1/8" and you put a 1/4" overhang, the overhang would vary in and out across the front of the niche, and your eye would pick up on it. If you went with a 3/4" overhang, that 1/8" of wobble wouldn't be noticed. But something tells me your wall is dead flat. 8 ) Capillary action: If you think the niche will see a bit of water spray, you could cut a drip groove on the bottom of the shelf. It doesn't have to be significant, even a 1/8" deep groove will do. What the groove does is it stops water from running down the face of the shelf edge and then being drawn back to the shower wall below the niche via capillary action. Instead, the drip groove breaks the capillary action and water will simply drip right off the front lip of the shelf and on to the shower floor. It's not a requirement by any means, and if you go with a smaller overhang, there's no room to do it. I just thought I'd toss it out as a consideration. When I do overhangs for niche shelves, I'll usually make a roughly 1/2" to 3/4" overhang. Material thickness can be a player. If your shelf material is too long you can also cut return ears on the ends. The size of the shower can be a consideration too. You don't want to catch an elbow on an overhang. While the photo below shows a drip edge groove cut into the bottom of a stone door threshold, the idea is the same. Your groove, should you decide to cut one, does not have to be this deep. You don't have to carry it all the way to the edges either, you can stop it 1/2" to 1" from the ends of the shelf. Again, it's optional. If you go with a smaller overhang, don't worry about the groove. 3) would there be a problem if I had no reveal of the sill, or just a very tiny reveal (such as 1/8") No. As long as the bottom edge of the niche is flat/straight. 4) If I had more of a reveal what is reasonable? Is something like .5 or .75" a sensible amount or too much? It's sensible. If you have a thin shelf, say 1/2" thick, then you'd want a smaller reveal. If your shelf was made from 2" thick material, you could go larger. I do prefer the overhang to be less than the material is thick. ie, with a 3/4" thick shelf, then I prefer a 1/2", or maybe a 5/8" max overhang. And you can always go less. With 2" thick material, you could overhang 1" to 1-1/4". 5) Does my shower curb product sound like a good way to go with the niche shelf? Sure. I've used stone curb/thresholds/saddles at times for shelving. Aside: Travertine is pretty easy to edge detail with a grinder, even with regular grit sanding pads. Start at 60 grit to rough material away, then work through to 600 grit for a nice smooth surface....See Morewhat we learned too late about kitchen lighting
Comments (10)It's important to note that a mixture of lighting options allows us to select which ones we're going to use at any time, which in turn helps cut the BTUs and the bill. It's a mistake to wire a room to be very bright in all corners at all times when all that's necessary sometimes is one or two bulbs for reading the paper at the island. One of DH and my goals was to make selectable lighting. Our house tends to be quite dark in the interior even when the exterior walls are lighted by windows, so we tried to work this out. A couple new or improved doorway openings will help. We have planned a lot of new lighting--perhaps too much. But we will be able to leave much of the room dark-ish if we want it so. We like the term "task lighting" and have employed it. We spent a lot of time asking ourselves "what lighting will we want when we ____" and we tried out a lot of scenarios: walking through the space and returning again quickly; working for hours at the peninsula; eating at peninsula; eating at table; washing dishes; etc. We tried to avoid overkill by choosing a range of lighting types and sites. Example: a single 2-bulb ceiling light over the main corridor section alongside the kitchen, the "walk through and leave" light, which will also serve for "go get the salt in the kitchen" trips. But our decisions also required a lot of wall switches, esp. because we can enter the space through 5 different doorways. My wallet is glad DH was the electrician....See More
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agobrendapaw thanked Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9bbrendapaw
7 years agobrendapaw
7 years ago
jerzeegirl (FL zone 9B)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agobrendapaw thanked jerzeegirl (FL zone 9B)brendapaw
7 years agoYes! It is an outside wall. That's where the old niche was so I'm hopeful I can have a prefab one like the Kerdi.
brendapaw
7 years agobrendapaw
7 years agoOne more thing, I have seen on Houzz that people have issues trying to cut down large tiles like this for a niche, it does not always have an attractive exposed edge. I do have a pencil edge for the walls, we may try that or look at using some metal edging that Kerdi makes. We have it on exterior tile and like it.
PROCreative Tile Eastern CT
7 years agobrendapaw
7 years ago
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