How to Tile a Shower Area
There are a lot of choices these days on how to surface shower walls, but tile is still the standard. Glazed ceramic tile is easy to cut on a tile saw to get it to fit around the fixtures and can you buy it with self-spacing nubs on the sides, so you don't have to insert spacers as you're laying out the tile grid. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Level
- Tile mortar
- Notched trowel
- Self-spacing wall tiles
- Tile saw
- Grout
- Grout float
- Sponge
- Caulk
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Instructions
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Mark a vertical line down the middle of one of the shower walls, using your level and pencil. Position the line so it's exactly at the center of the wall, using your tape measure.
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Spread tile mortar over the bottom section, from the floor upward by about two feet. Press the bottom row of tiles in place along the base of the wall, starting at the center line and working your way out to the sides. Let the spacing nubs on the sides of the tiles create a space between the bottom row of tiles and the shower floor, while also spacing between the tiles themselves.
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Hang all the full tiles that will fit. Use a tile saw to cut the end tiles, then hang them with the cut sides facing the corners.
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Build up the wall row by row, starting each row at the center line. Spread more mortar as needed. Cut around the shower fixtures using your tile saw. Do the whole wall and the other walls.
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Let the tiles set overnight. Grout the walls, spreading the grout over each wall with a grout float, forcing the grout into the spaces between the tiles. Wipe up the excess grout with a damp sponge, leaving it just in the lines. (Note: Don't grout the space between the bottom row of tiles and the shower floor.)
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Let the grout set for 24 hours. Caulk the line between the bottom row of tiles and the floor, installing one smooth, unbroken bead of caulk all along that space on each side.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have any cuts to make in the tiles around fixtures that unusually difficult (for example, a circle through the middle of a tile), mark the tile and take it to your local home improvement store to have the cut made.
Wear eye protection when cutting the tiles.
References
- Photo Credit shower image by Dragan Trifunovic from Fotolia.com
