We'll need a shower (Day 545)

The liquid kind, not a rain storm. I'm under the gun to get tile up in the shower for the master bath, since we'll need shower facilities the day (or night) we move in. We can take them at the clubhouse, but that is a hassle. I laid the floor of the shower on Sunday afternoon, and it went well. Using the Wedi shower pan made things go quickly. With a 3' by 5' base, the drain is exactly centered. So when I laid out the 2"x2" tiles for the floor (in 1' x 1' sheets), all I had to do was cut 4 tiles (4"x4") out of the center for the drain. Piece of cake. My only complaint about the Wedi board system is that the board is not pervious, so it takes a while (like overnight) for the mortar to set up. With cement board, the moisture wicks into the board quickly so you get a fast setup (ca, 1 hour). Your best bet with Wedi is to tile in the am, then clean mortar from the gaps and wipe up excess mortar in the afternoon.

On Monday I tackled the wall tile for the shower. This is more challenging than floor tile by a long ways. In addition to keeping all tiles perfectly square, you have to keep them on the wall. Normally, the suction provided by the cement-based mortar is sufficient, until you get to an open edge, like on the inset (for shower items) or the bullnose pieces for trimming out the edges.
The key is to getting the top edge of your first line (the bottom row) of tile exactly horizontal. To do this, I used my laser level and put a line about 22 1/4" up the wall, which is about 1/4" above the second row of tiles. The tiles are 13" square, but the first row is cut down to 9" so that the top and bottom rows match. (Its a basic law in tiling that you center the tiles were possible.) So, 9" + 13" = 22". Put a line of blue masking tape around the entire shower, then used that as a horizontal base line. The bottom line had to be custom cut since there was about 1/8" fall across the back of the pan (a result of buildup of caulk in the corners). No worries, it came out fine and after the first line the spacing was set for everything from there up.

On Tuesday I tackled the alcove (recess) that is built into the wall. This is for shampoo bottles, shavers, soap, etc. I had blocked this out earlier, and just made the Wedi board wrap into and out of this space. However, it complicates matters a bunch since you need to place the tile into the alcove first (tile outward, not inward) but the seams need to align with the field tile. So you do some alcove, then some field tile, then some alcove, etc., until you get to the top of the alcove. Then you hope (and pray) that the field tile on both sides of the alcove align perfectly for the top row. We'll see about that later in the week.

Also to be done this week is the installation of the instant hot water dispenser (thanks Ann Bambrick), setting the rock countertop in the guest bath, and finishing off the low voltage electrical so we have TV, phone and internet when we move in. We've already started to move boxes into the house (basement mostly) when our son Tom was here last weekend. About 50 down and 100 to go, plus furniture, kitchen stuff, and clothing. Life is accelerating.