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How is my tile job going?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

I am tiling our newly renovated bathroom. We had to totally gut our master bathroom as the last owners left us with a terrible shower job that ended up with mold ever where. We had to remove everything down to the studs. I also moved the shower drain and toilet drain along with running new water lines (Pex) and redoing most of the electrical as it was not done right and was a HUGE hazard. Me and my wife have done ALL the work and are worried about the tiling so far. Please let me know what you think. We used 1/16 spacers only to realize 4 rows up - subway tile naturally has 1/16 spacing built in. So we are basically 1/8 spaced, ugh. Please tell me what you think...That is cement board. I taped and thinset the seams. Then painted on aquadefense - water proof membrane.

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Comments (20)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
Greenboard is not water proof only for bathroom installs like walls not inside tubs or showers what is the wood strip aling the bottom?I have no idea what you mean by natural spaers in tile so maybe a close up of your tile .The tile spacing is what the tile maker suggests so read that .
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
2 years ago
Tear out your tile; no greenboard.
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You'd have been better off taping 6-mil poly sheeting up on the walls and using that as a water barrier until you could get it "done right". Would have cost you $5. And you'd likely have had a better water barrier on the walls with the poly than you have with that tile. My sarcastic side want me to type that there's not much in the photos that leads me to believe you won't have water intrusion issues again. Well, there is one thing. In the "after photo", no water is running. Leave the water off and you should be fine. Can't properly comment on what I can't see. But I hope the protective coating on the CMU was updated prior to new tile going up. I hope you have proper detailing at the tub flange. Same with the window casing. The gaps behind the edge of the bullnose can be filled. Don't know what specific water issues you had before. Some people do great finish work, some good finish work, some sloppy work. Some people understand the process and go to great lengths when it comes to proper detailing to prevent water intrusion. Some good, some not so good. Very seldom do you get a contractor who goes to great lengths to prevent water intrusion and then covers it with sloppy work. Keep an eye on the shower.
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mainenell
2 years ago
You need to use a product like redguard over taped (with alkali resistant tape) cement board to install the tile against. Sorry, you’ll have to start over.
mainenell
2 years ago
So this is a good thing. When you put the tile on next time you can use the little nubs on the tile and have the smaller grout lines : )
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
That is cement board. I put aquadefense over it....
acm
2 years ago
Did I miss a photo??
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
Let me add some before photos....
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
That is the aqua defense I used along with cement boards. The new aqua defense has a new color. It is a much lighter green almost blueish. They did that to make it easier to mark it. Anyway - I did waterproof before tiling...
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
mainenell
2 years ago
Looking good, then.
HU-731704559 thanked mainenell
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
Any layout, spacing, alignment, issues - you can see? To go further into my prepping. I built out a 60 inch wide space for the 60 inch Shower acrylic pan. I installed the cement board all the way to the top of the pan flange. I then taped and thinset/mortar all seams. I then made sure everything was level/plum/flat. I rolled/painted on the aqua defense (3 coats). Now I am tiling using thinset with 1/16 spacer. As it turns out our tile does NOT have a built in spacer. I read most all subway tiles do - mine doesn't.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
What spacing does the tile say to use ? I have never used a subway tile with built in spacers .You do realize with that small space you need unsanded grout for sure. You will need to use a 1/3 offset IMO but since you are now 1/2 way done just check for lippage sinc eripping this out now will require new waterproofing.
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
The spacing says 1/16. So I am using 1/16 spacers. I had looked online and found many posts stating most subway tiles have some sort of built in spacing. I looked at mine - it does not. I double checked it. I did NOT realize about the grout - thank you very much. I am unsure what you mean by 1/3 offest?
mainenell
2 years ago
Instead of 1/2 like you are using, your next course would be offset by 1/3 of a tile.
HU-731704559
Original Author
2 years ago
oh no! I gotcha. Well. I am almost done with the biggest wall, so maybe on the guest bathroom I can do that layout... Thanks.

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