Showers & Other Tile Projects

Tile is a versatile substance, great for all kinds of uses, including backsplashes and tile floors, but also hearths, showers, tub surrounds and countertops.  Picking out the design that fits your home and your personality is half the fun.  It’s also great knowing that your tile, installed correctly, will last decades and look great with minimal maintenance.

TILE SHOWERS

Showers can come in all shapes and sizes.  No longer are they just a tiny little shower ‘cave’ like you find in many of the ranch-style homes from the 1960’s.  Now they can be as large as an entire room and have walls of glass to keep the open feel and let in lots of light.  Like any tile project, there are infinite tile choices from tiny to gigantic and in any color you can conceive.  It’s a great place to show off some creativity and mix different elements into the design.

This tile shower (left) was part of a high-end remodel that includes shower heads on either end and a skylight for lots of natural light.  The large 12″ x 24″ tiles are placed in a subway tile pattern and extend to the ceiling.  It also includes a couple wall niches for soap and lotion bottles as well as a small bench in one corner for scubbing those ankles!  The frameless glass enclosure finishes this contempoary shower in splendid fashion.

This luxurious shower (above) shows some of the ways you can mix in some decorative elements into your shower.  A stripe of mosaic tiles is a common element.  This design also included some larger stone crown pieces to trim around the top.  Quite a remarkable look.  Adding trim pieces and rich textured tiles can add a luxurious feel compared to a simple homogenous grid.  This particular shower was adjacent to a jetted soaking tub with a custom-made frameless glass surround that nearly disappeared to reveal the tile behind.

A Waterproof Shower with the Schluter Kerdi System

A tile shower is probably the most advanced of tile jobs because in addition to making the tile look good, it’s so important to control where the water goes.   In my shower installations I like to use a product called Kerdi membrane from Schluter.  It’s and orange shaded fabric that forms a completely waterproof seal around the entire wet area, directing the water into their special Kerdi Drain where it belongs. The company claims it is so good that you can even install it over drywall..  Amazing!

This neo-angle shower (left) was built from scratch after removing an old vinyl enclosure.  Talk about a cool shower!  The walls are covered with a mini-brick stone subway tile with some dark mosaic squares mixed in for the stripe and the floor.  Smaller tiles are more work to install, but they produce a remarkable and luxurious place to spend your time.

Schluter’s waterproofing system comes with the Kerdi membrane and all the pieces typically needed to install a waterproof shower.  This includes a foam curb that can be custom cut to any size, even to make a corner shower at any dimension you want.  They also provide a foam pre-sloped shower floor that can also be trimmed to size.  The shower floor is already angled at the correct slope to ensure that the water goes down the drain and doesn’t pool in your shower.  It’s a helpful and time-saving tool.

The pictures below show the process to creating a waterproof shower.

This project (below) was a shower repair after the decades-old tile installation failed and was leaking into the basement.  I tore out the floor and put everything back.

You can see how the  Kerdi waterproofing system in the pictures above.  The special drain is installed first with the membrane laid over it with thinset mortar to seal it all together.  The seams all overlap, making it a state-of-the-art waterproof shower that should keep your basement dry for decades to come.

TUB SURROUNDS

As we use tile in areas that are sure to get wet, it is more important to do all the prep-work necessary to keep the water in its place, and out of the walls!  The tile becomes more than something to just look at and enjoy, but something that plays an important role in the function of our home.

Subway tile has to be one of the most classic tile designs.  This shower surround (right) used glazed, white 3×6 tiles with a grey grout.  The walls were gutted so the tile is installed over 1/2″ Hardibacker cementboard with a plastic membrane underneath.  The cementboard is perfect for wet areas because it will not absorb water the way that plywood or drywall will.  Still, we do all we can to keep the water from ever getting that far.  I will often use the Kerdi membrane mentioned above for tub surrounds as well.

Like Showers, you can come up with a array of designs for your tile surround project.  This one (left) is mainly 12″ tiles with a decorative stripe of smaller tiles around two thirds of the way up.  It’s best to consider all the design elements when you first lay out the tile design so that special tiles don’t interfere with fixtures in an awkward way and the decorative tiles break appropriately in the corners, etc.  It takes extra thought, but it’s quite satisfying to enjoy when it’s finished.

FIREPLACE HEARTHS

The fireplace is often the centerpiece of whatever room it is in.  Often in older homes, they don’t even work, but are left for purely historic and aesthetic reasons.  So, we want them to look good.  It’s not usually a large area involved when tiling a fireplace hearth, so you may want to splurge and get a very distinctive tile.

This slate hearth (right) was created by getting a typical box of 12″ x 12″ square slate tiles and cutting them into a few smaller sizes to mix together.  In addition to the typical grey hues were some tiles that were shades of red and others that were more yellow.  Mixing in these colors and laying the tile in a patchwork design made for a beautiful new hearth in this historic home.

Redesigning your hearth and fireplace can make a drastic difference to your living room.  The hearth below is from a larger home renovation that I did.  You can see the drastic change that came from some fresh paint and new tile for this older fireplace in a Craftsman home.  That Italian tile came in a few mixed sizes that I found at an overstock sale.  I was able to put them together into a layout that used the available sizes and looked fantastic!

This hearth (left) was raised like a small seat in front of the fireplace.  Laying tile could have meant having some sharp corners that would have been prone to breakage or injuring children.  Instead I used a Schluter tile trim called ‘Rondec’ that finished the corners.  I used a shade called graphite black that brought out the darker shades in the stained flooring and looked great.  Schluter carries a wide variety of trims and finishes for different applications.

COUNTERTOPS

Tile countertops may not be as prevalent today as more synthetic and natural stones are often used, especially in kitchens.  However, a tile counter can be a beautiful choice that’s just as durable.  This countertop (left) uses standard white 4×4 glazed tiles with trim and edge pieces that are also widely available.

Since the countertop is built on site, this is an excellent choice when you need something custom fitted to your space.  Of course, there is a wide palette of tile choices that can make your countertop an attractive and functional addition to the bathroom or kitchen.