... and we have a shower!!!

At long last we put in the shower!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Last time we had just completed the two walls, so we still had quite a bit of work to do to get to the "fun" part.

1. The Floor

1.A: Cleaning Up our Previous Mess

As seen by my basement bathroom, I really like when bathroom floors are the same as bathroom walls. First though, we had to get all the mortar off the floor where it had fallen and dried from the walls. Yes, it would have been way easier to avoid this step by cleaning as we went or using a drop cloth, but we were lazy and paid the price, ok?

Gross

1.B: How to Lay the Tile?
After we cleaned, what ensued was a (lengthy) debate about whether to run the tiles parallel with the wall tiles or perpendicular. The best way to determine this is to lay some tiles down (as seen below). We also discussed where the smaller pieces would be. Ultimately we realized since we had to cut tiles around the shower base anyway we should make the smaller pieces there. Then we had to decide whether we wanted the tiles in line or offset. Honestly, if you're not sure, just Google examples. I recommend offset for floors myself.

1.C: Install


As seen below, we chose offset and parallel! And I must say, it looks FAB.

What are those weird white numbers and markings on the tile? Well, since we had the luxury of doing so, we laid down all the tile we would need, did all the measurements ahead of time, and labelled the tiles.  Basically we had everything cut and tested prior to even mixing the mud, which I HIGHLY recommend. The white markings are done with a grease pencil, which you can get an Staples or wherever you get office supplies. The white easily rubbed off with a wet sponge/towel.

Not shown - a few hours spent cutting and installing the "border" pieces.

2. Grout

2.A: No Glove, No Love
First things first, while our lovely white basin has a protective sheet over it from factory, we needed to ensure it didn't get ruined. So, we used cheapo dollar store garbage bags and my dear friend green tape to protect it.

OK, so now I realize we also did this before installing the skinny pieces too, which makes sense.

2.B: I am GROUT
Grout is easy. You mix it, one person uses a trowel to smooth the compound into the cracks and the other smooths the lines with a wet sponge/removes the excess off the face of the tile. I mean, it takes some practice to get the technique down, but once you start you can finish pretty quickly.

Bucket, Trowel, Sponge, Tub of water. Easy :)

2.C: The "Fun" part.
And then comes the AWFUL part about grouting. Cleaning it. A million times with a stupid cheesecloth. Luckily I got out of this task by making a very complicated dinner one night while Rob scrubbed away. Also, my back hurt ;)

All the haze is leftover grout. You need a few sessions to remove all of it.

3.  Wall Paint!

My FAVORITE task in the whole world. I love love love painting. I could paint houses all day.
Anyway, as usual, I used Benjamin Moore (Regal Select; I usually would splurge for Aura in the bathroom but I had a free gallon from a BOGO deal a few months ago). I chose gray with an undertone of green to make the room feel a little warmer (2141-50 Horizon Gray) but not to look like we were trying to match with the tile. I chose a Pearl finish because it repels water better than any other - you can just wipe it off if it gets water on it.

OK, so early morning light streaming through the skylight doesn't really show off the colour well, but you'll see it later. It's a very nice shade of gray, I promise!

4. Sealing and Caulking

4.A: Caulk it Up!

Due to the rather unlevel ceiling (not our fault!), some of the tile looked like shit near the top of the room. Our original idea was to get these chrome quarter round things but apparently you have to have to install them when installing the tile, so that ship had sailed. Our other idea was to use white MDF quarter round, but we didn't really like the idea of putting it in the shower. So, we decided, since we had to caulk anyway, to caulk the ceiling line too. We decided to use gray caulk and it turned out quite nice.

What else were we caulking? Any area where tile meets tile. I have (lovely) thin fingers so I'm actually pretty good at caulking (haha, jokes aside), so this was my job. Usually I would just freehand it, but Rob suggested I try this method someone at his work told him about. I wouldn't bother with this in a tub or where you're using clear caulk, but for the walls I found it quite handy (since it's not like I caulk shit every day).

Basically, you use green tape to create an even line, run the caulk and smooth as usual with water on your finger. You rip the tape off right away. It worked pretty well - I found I still had to smooth it out a bit, but it did minimize the need to go back with a straight razor and scrape off excess.

 

4.B: Sealing
Grout needs to be sealed to keep it waterproof. We used this shit below (I call it shit because I found it a pain to work with).  It's not hard to do. Basically dab the sealer onto the grout with a brush/sponge, wait ten minutes, then wipe it off.

The PROBLEM is that this sealer was very viscous and I had trouble containing drips on the walls. Even after wiping it left residue trails, so I had to spend an hour scrubbing it with scrubby bubbles bleach compound to make it clean again. Fun. [Now, this may have been partially my fault, because, due to the alien growing inside of me, I had to wear all this protective gear (seen below), so it was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable work (and on the day that was 29 degrees). I may have rushed a bit.]

5.  THE ACTUAL FUN PART
Installing the shower!!! The moment I've been waiting for since January when we purchased the damn thing! I no longer have to live in fear that a house guest (or myself, Rob, or Ruger) will step on the shower box in the guest room and break the damn glass!

5.A: What We Bought
We went to WaterMarks in Kitchener (http://www.watermarksboutique.ca/) to get this stuff. I can't say anything bad about that place. Home Depot and Lowe's are great for basic stuff, but you're stuck with what they offer (and they only offer certain brands too). Watermarks lets you pick and choose your parts, which is fantastic. They also have many different varieties on display.

For example, our shower is Maxx 137620, our drain is just a stock one, our faucet in the shower is Riobel, as is the shower arm and a couple internal parts, but the showerhead and handheld is Hansgrohe. Why we did this was because while the Hansgrohe showerhead is amazing, the faucet is hideous and the shower arm was too short. And the guy at the store (David! Super nice guy) said that the Riobel part was simply better quality. Mixing and matching components is NOT something you can do at a big box store most of the time. 
I usually don't mention this, but the price (including a Hansgrohe Metris faucet for the vanity) was $3005.39 including tax (no installation). Honestly, where they get you is installation, which was the part of the reno that look the least amount of time and was the least stressful!

5.B. Install
As I scrubbed away at the grout stains (burning my eyes with the bleach smell), Rob installed the faucet in the wall.

The next day we installed the shower. It was surprisingly easy and took only a couple hours. I mean, I guess we're pretty handy and have all the tools required. That being said, you need a tile bit. Rob used a 1/4 to drill through and then a 5/8 to get it the right size for the wall supports. The thing about this part is that you need to be constantly pouring water over the bit as it bites into the tile. At first I was dumping a heavy stream but that was just messy, so Rob had a brilliant idea to use our plant mister. He also discovered that short bursts on the drill (rather than steady drilling) worked better.

We then used OLD MUSTARD to protect both tile and shower parts and assembled the shower. For once, everything went smoothly!

The only thing we didn't do was caulk around the bottom of the unit as I'll just do that when we install the toilet.


6. Gratuitous shots of our sexy new shower!!

9.5" Diameter!

ahhhhhhhh

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tips:

1. If you can build an IKEA cabinet you can install a shower. Just make sure you have the right tools. And make sure you "water" the bit if you're drilling into tile. If you're not sure how to do something, Youtube is your best friend.
2. Don't use that brand of grout on walls. Get a spray kind. And make sure you wipe it off thoroughly.
3. If you can, lay all tiles on a floor before cutting/mixing mortar. 
4. Go to a specialty shop if you're going to buy a pricey unit. They can mix and match parts for you and actually know what they're talking about.  (Note: when we replace our tub in the other bathroom it will be a Home Depot special).

Next Steps:
Quarter Round (where paint meets tile on two walls)
Baseboards
Vanity
Light
Electrical (replacing GFI, switches, etc)
Paint sliding door and add hardware
Transition strip on floor
Install toilet
Get stupid stuff like towel holder, etc
Decide whether old mirror is too big and perhaps purchase a new one (sigh)