Bathroom Remodel Lessons

Back to the bathroom remodel I started many months ago. I have learned many lessons on what to do and not to do when putting in a tile bathroom shower.

First some basics that are often over looked. 1. In a basement bathroom the concrete wall is cold, insulate it well to stop condensation from building up in the wall. This will wrought out your studs in a matter of years.

2. Frame out the concrete wall plumb and level. This is very important. older homes don't have plumb concrete walls in the basement. This step will make tiling easier and look better.

3. Make sure to locate your drain properly with your shower pan or floor kit. I had to relocate it twice to get it right in the center of my shower pan kit.

4. Check the condition of the cast iron drain piping. Have a plumber scope it. make sure its in good condition so you don't end up building a brand new bathroom over the top of bad plumbing. (I may have to line mine so I don't have to dig up my new tile floor)

5. Install a proper vent. Venting a bathroom is very important. Not only for odder control, but for moisture control. Remember what condensation can do?

6. Make sure your electrical is up to code and you wire GFCI outlets. use proper lighting for WET locations if your installing a spot light in the shower.

7. level the floor. Use a self leveling cement and level the floor. I used a shower pan insert that that you can see in the next picture below. if the subfloor isn't level your shower wont drain properly. Also, in basements, often the floors are sloped towards a floor drain. make sure you adjust the leveling so that any water that may one day back up out of a drain doesn't pool in a corner but instead slops towards the door or no slop at all if you can so you can just localize the mess to the bathroom.

On to some Lessons learned.

1. you don't need to run cement boar all the way up the wall to the ceiling (unless your doing a steam shower). Generally, you only need 60" from the floor. Cement board only needs to be behind areas where it could be in contact with direct shower spray. Transitioning from cement board to drywall (green board) is much easier on a butt joint than on a corner. I have seen where people only leave 6" to 8" of drywall between the top of the cement board and the ceiling. In my case, I was able to make the corner transition okay, but it wasn't as straight forward or easy.

2. Leave a Gap between the cement board. this will make a stronger mortar joint and allow for some better expansion and contraction with out jeopardizing the tile years down the road.

3. Unless your putting in a steam shower, just use Red Guard paint on waterproofing membrane or an equivalent paint on sealant. I ordered a shower kit that came with a wall paper like membrane that is 100% water tight at the end. This will provide a better finished product but for the added expense and effort, its not worth it unless your making a steam shower (see second image below).

4. Frame out your new window first, design it to be removed from the outside in case you ever need to replace it. If I had framed the window first, then integrated the wall furring strips around the window the window would have gone in easier and would have had a correct reveal after the tile was in.

5. If your not experienced with tapping drywall, HIRE A PROFESSIONAL! Don't make a large bathroom project with many corners your practice tapping project. Use a garage or a shed or play house as practice. Don't over apply or over work the mud. Buy pre mixed mud, it sands much easier than any fast setting powder. Also, it doesn't need to be perfect. you will be amazed what is covered up by texturizing. I spent days applying too much mud and then sanding off too much then doing it again and again. Corners are the hardest part. butt joints are not bad. make sure to watch a YouTube video or two before starting. Thin coats are key much easer to not have to sand off big mistakes. One nice thing about fast setting mud is you can do a very thin coat then let it cure for an hour and repeat thin coat after thin coat. Avoid sanding as much as you can.

I used Green board drywall for the bathroom to help guard against mold or moisture issues. I also put in a humidity sensor to "auto on" the bathroom fan. This will help keep mold issue at bay and keep your vanity from delaminating any venire off the particle board substrate over time. I also chose to install a tile baseboard. This looks great and will help keep your baseboard from getting wet and expanding. My baseboard upstairs is MDF and its wrecked from water coming out of the bath tub. I would also recommend putting a strip of cement board 4.5" high from the floor under the tile base board in lieu of drywall. If you do have a drain back up, you don't want the drywall getting wet and allowing the tile baseboard to pop free. Basically, your making a sort of swimming pool. Bathrooms get wet. Protect your investment and do it right.

Ill post a final picture once I have installed the toilet and the vanity.