The answer is to get an internal pvc pipe cutter.  It’s a small attachment that inserts into your drill with a blade on the end.  It’s very important to cut your pipe accurately or you’ll have bigger problems on your hands.  I usually measure things a couple of times and then put some tape on the pipe cutter to show me how deep it needs to be to cut the pipe correctly.

After the pipe is cut, I can install the drain and I’m ready to build the sloped mortar bed and continue with the shower waterproofing.

In the back of the church, the community is helping out to get it converted from a large multi-purpose room into a nursery, library and kids classrooms.  I was part of the team framing the walls and helping the vision come to life.

“It is my privilege to recommend Peter Bales, Inspired Remodeling, to any person desiring quality tile installation. Peter accomplished the tear-out of an existing bathtub and surrounding walls in record time with minimal mess.  Peter then installed a stand-up shower system and tiled the entire area.  Several areas were especially challenging due to the blending of the existing tile with the new.  Peter was instrumental in crafting these transitional areas.  All work was accomplished on time and on budget.

While Peter’s quality craftsmanship speaks for itself, equally impressive is his work-ethic.  Peter communicated clearly, before and throughout the job. His advice concerning materials and design, invaluable.  Last, but not least, I found him to be trustworthy.  I was out of state on business during much of the period that the project was under way.  Peter had full access to my home and demonstrated his integrity daily.  Thank you Peter!  -JMH, Nashville, TN”

Of course, I’ve since moved to Freedom, Indiana, which in the quiet hills between Bloomington and Terre Haute.  If you’re in the area and have a project in mind, let me know here.  Thanks!

The problem with tile floors is that you want a strong foundation under your tile to support it throughout, yet at some point there needs to be some flexibility because homes will move on you.  This is especially true with any wood construction, but also for homes built on a slab.  Cracks can develop and expansion joints are needed to allow for movement.  If you tile right over the top of this, you can plan on having the same cracks in your tile.  To remedy this we need a suitable layer of some sort to separate the tile from the movement of the substrate below, while still being supported well.

Cementboard has been a popular choice for this layer and for the most part it works well because the cementboard doesn’t absorb moisture like wood and is much more stable.  However, it is installed using screws or nails throughout and is affected by movement below, albeit reduced.  If you really want to ‘uncouple’ the tile from the substrate below Ditra is the answer.

Ditra under tile in new master bathroom.

Ditra Uncouples

I’m not an expert on the scientific reasons that Ditra works, but here’s my understanding of it.  Ditra is installed into a layer of thinset mortar suitable for the substrate and then tile is laid over the top using unmodified thinset mortar.  The Ditra is sandwiched into the mortar, but there are tiny cavities below it that allow the slightest movement.  It’s almost like the tile is a floating floor detached from what is going on below the Ditra.  This is not something that is accomplished using cementboard, making the Ditra a superior product for this reason alone.  But wait..  there’s more!

Ditra is Easy to Cut

If you’ve ever installed cementboard you know what a mess it is to cut.  If you use any sort of power tool to cut it the dust will hover around you in a cloud.  Not good.  Make sure you’re outside and have the appropriate respirator on.  I usually make all my straight cuts using the score-snap method which greatly cuts down on the dust and I can save my blades for the harder cuts.  For these I just use my jigsaw outfitted with a carbide-tip blade.  These aren’t too expensive and it works well for cutting out notches or openings for pipes and toilet flanges.  That’s a lot of work!

Cutting Ditra only requires a utility knife.  I start in one corner and roll it out.  When I come to an obstruction, I just cut the Ditra as I go, often cutting all the pieces for the room before I even mix up the mortar.  No dust, easy to make accurate cuts.

Ditra is Lighter and Thinner

Ditra weighs only a fraction of the cementboard.  Rather than unloading several sheets of heavy cementboard, you can carry an entire room with of Ditra in one roll on your shoulder.  That is not only much easier on the back, but it saves lots of time, both unloading it at the jobsite, but also at the store when you purchase it.

Lastly, at around 1/8″ thick Ditra is also thinner than cementboard which comes in either 1/4″ or 1/2″ thicknesses.  This is often important with a tile floor installation because you are wanting to avoiding making the new floor much higher than the surrounding floors.  However, if you are wanting a thicker option, they do offer a Ditra XL which is useful when matching new tile to surrounding 3/4″ hardwoods.

I still have clients that want the cementboard and that’s fine, but I’m sold on Ditra and love to use it whenever I can.

I’ve always liked tile set in a subway tile pattern and I was excited to see the effect using the large 12″ x 24″ tiles.  This home is being renovated to sell so the master bathroom was designed to impress.  I also included a couple niches (recessed shelves) in the shower which added space to store soap and lotion bottles.

Under the tile I used the Kerdi waterproofing system over drywall (pictured left).  The waterproofing membrane is water and vapor-tight so the manufacturer, Schluter Systems, recommends drywall as a suitable substrate.  The orange-colored membrane comes on a roll and is mortared to the wall using unmodified thinset mortar and 2″ overlaps at all joints.  This creates a mechanical bond so that there is basically a sealed envelope under the tile to collect any moisture that seeps through the grout and funnels it down the drain where it belongs.

The Kerdi shower kits come with a foam pre-sloped shower floor that saves a lot of labor in sloping the floor and gives a perfect uniform shape.  This particular shower was larger than even their largest kit, so I had to extend either side using sand topping mix.  This is a simple pre-mixed product made with just sand and portland cement.

I also installed a small corner bench (above).  This is a device called Better Bench that is available online or at many tile stores.  This is the 17″ model which doesn’t really provide room to sit on, but it gives you room to rest your feet while you scrub your ankles…    It’s basically a metal frame that is screwed to the wall and it is also filled with sand topping mix cement.  Once the cement dries it is ready to tile.  It is installed over the Kerdi system so there’s no reason to wrap the bench in waterproofing.  Better Bench makes larger benches as well.  These also make a great shelf for bottles, etc. if you install it a little higher.

The frameless glass shower enclosure was installed later by another contractor and really completes the luxurious appeal of this shower.

The scale of this shower made it a challenge and therefore, lots of fun!  My goal for any project is not only make sure it looks fabulous, but that it is built solidly and will be long-lasting (with no leaks!).

Freedom is a rural community about 40 minutes west of Bloomington in Southern Indiana.  It’s not known for much, though there is a large Amish community there that will be our neighbors.

We are actually moving this week and I’ll be posting a new phone number as soon as I get one.  I’m looking forward to seeing what is in store.

Of course, we are humbled by all of you that have trusted your homes to me over the past several years in Nashville.  I’ve moved all my Nashville blog posts to their own page (click here) and will soon have a page set up with some trusted resources that might be able to help you with your project in my absence.

In addition to contracting, we also intend to get a small organic farm going.  This is still in the dreaming phase, but we’ll be writing about the adventure at our new blog  www.NewFreedomFarm.com as we figure things out and learn along the way.  Please keep in touch and God Bless!

I got the tile at Super Home Surplus in Madison.  They carry a lot of tile ‘seconds’ or closeouts that would otherwise cost three times as much or more.  This particular porcelain tile is called Matrix-Element.  You can actually buy it on Amazon for around $3.62 per square foot (incl. shipping).  I got it for around $1 a square foot.  The only catch is that you have to sort out a few tiles with ‘imperfections’ or chips of some kind.  Most of the tiles were not defective so this was a fabulous value.

They had both 12″ x 12″ tiles available as well as 12″ x 24″.  Standing in the store I had the idea of mixing the two together in some sort of pattern that was made to look random.  (It wasn’t totally random because that might look too hap-hazard and, well, random..    )  I guess that’s what happens when a tile guy gets to pick out the tile and design the layout.  Only the budget kept me from going totally crazy.

I definitely have to include a before and after photo of this bathroom.  It was the original bathroom in the home.  It was completely gutted and built new except for the bathtub.  Those old cast iron tubs can last a long time if you take care of them.  The old bathroom had a closet in the corner that wouldn’t let you open the door very far.  You had to squeeze by the sink to get into the room.  The closet had to go as well as that hideous wallpaper.

One of the few things I found in the attic that was worth keeping was the new mirror frame.  I stripped all the paint off and had it painted with a new mirror.  It’s probably much older than the home, but it really gives the bathroom some character that only comes with age.

The Ardee renovation was going to include a complete overhaul of the kitchen.  The original kitchen was cramped and filled with too many large appliances and not enough cabinets.  If you entered the home through the back door you’d have to snake around through the kitchen to get to the dining room and the rest of the home.

My plan was to nearly completely remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  Leaving a short section that would enclose the fridge on the left side.  This wall was load-bearing so I had to build some temporary supports for the ceiling joists above and replace the wall with a large header that would carry the load.  This is usually not terribly complicated, but the change is noticable as soon as you can begin to see how the room will feel once it’s opened up. 

In addition to removing the wall at this home, I decided to move the back door to where the window was in order to have more room for cabinets and appliances and improve the flow of the house.  The exterior of this wall is the backporch which was getting renovated as well, so it was fairly convenient to make these changes at this point in the process.

The finished kitchen turned out great.  I had room for plenty of cabinets and the kitchen is now open to the dining room and on into the living room.  If you include the screened-in back porch, I’d say that this would be a great home for entertaining.  I can just imagine people mingling throughout the entire downstairs living space.

The existing smaller bathroom was just around the corner and had a large tub, so I thought that the master bathroom could mainly feature a spacious tile shower.  This entire bathroom was built from scratch.  I built a small wall that would make the shower nearly 34″ x 60″.   I wanted it to feel roomy and luxurious with tile all the way up the walls and throughout the room. 

This tile is 18″ x 18″ square porcelain tile called Matrix Absolute Zero.  It’s similar to the guest bathroom, but has a darker color to it.  The shower floor is made up of smaller 1″ tiles.  You typically use smaller tiles on shower floors because they are able to conform to the slope better than larger tiles would. 

Underneath the tile in the shower is the Kerdi waterproofing system from Schluter (photo left).  I’m always talking about this stuff because it’s a great product.  It’s a waterproof and vapor-proof membrane that is installed over the walls and floor using thinset mortar.  It mechanically bonds to the special Kerdi shower drain and all the joints are overlapped by 2″ or more. 

One of the first fixtures I bought for the house was the master bathroom vanity.  I liked it’s unique look and the cultured marble top that really does look like granite with an undermount sink. 

The mirror was made from a large picture frame that I found when we were cleaning out the house and those chrome sconce wall lights were a fantastic Ebay find.  They are a design from Robert Abbey that was sold through Crate and Barrell. 

The bathroom came together well and is one of the highlights of this fully renovated home in Inglewood.

This home is FOR SALE!  More details here.

You never really know what to expect under the wall coverings until you start demolition.  For example, sometimes poorly installed wall tiles come off in sheets, leaving a nearly undamaged wall beneath.  Not in this case. 

The old tile walls in this bathroom where around 1 1/2″ thick with a layer of mortar ‘floated’ over wire mesh sheets.  It was built to last.  I had nearly met my match to remove it, but I got it all out of there!  It’s quite amazing how much debris will come from demolishing a ‘simple’ tile wall like this.

Anyway, after the plumber installed the new tub, I was on to repairing the walls and installing Kerdi waterproofing membrane over 1/2″ cementboard around the tub.  This will ensure that all the water stays in the tub.  I installed the subway tile surround first and then moved on to the floor tile.

The floor was covered with 1/4″ Hardibacker cementboard and then a sheet mosaic of white 1″ hex tiles with a few black ones thrown in.  You have to be careful installing these.  Not only do you have to make sure you adhere to your layout lines to keep things square, but you have to double check those black ones and make sure they all land in the right place.  I later noticed a couple that were placed on the sheet incorrectly at the factory.  I had to pull up a couple and switch them out.  You can go dizzy staring at a floor like this!

The beadboard is a product that is actually a paneling that comes in 4′ x 8′ sheets.  If you installed it well, overlapping the joints correctly, and do a good job filling your nail holes and caulking the seams it can look really nice when it’s finished.  The cost is well below the price of using actual bead-boards, which have become harder to come by these days.  (What??  Use real wood??  )

Even with the challenges of working on an older home, this bathroom was a rewarding project to see come together.  Hopefully, the new renovation will also stand the test of time and be a beautiful addition to this home for the years to come.