Project
Walk-in showers and frameless glass
Shower enclosures from several bathrooms, and how one is actually built. Frameless glass, mosaic and herringbone tile, recessed niches, benches and low-profile curbs.
- Showers
- Tub conversions
- Curbless builds
Why the shower is the hard part
A vanity that is badly installed looks wrong. A shower that is badly installed destroys the room below it, and it does so slowly enough that nobody notices until the ceiling downstairs stains.
Everything in a shower is fighting water: the slope of the floor, the membrane behind the tile, how corners are sealed, how far the membrane is carried up the wall, how the niche is lapped, and whether the drain assembly is bonded to the membrane properly. None of it is visible in a finished photograph.
The shower is usually where the difference between two quotes sits. A quote that is noticeably cheaper is often one that assumes tile on cement board with no membrane. That passes every inspection a homeowner can make on day one, and fails in year four.
Frameless glass
Frameless glass has nothing to hide behind. A framed enclosure has a channel that absorbs a wall out of plumb; frameless does not, so the studs, the board and the tile all have to be true before the glass is measured.
That measurement is taken off finished tile, which is why glass is one of the last things to arrive and a common reason a bathroom looks finished but is not usable. Two to three weeks between template and installation is normal. We order everything else before demolition specifically so the glass is the only thing anyone is waiting on.
The hardware matters more than people expect. Hinges carry the full weight of a heavy panel and load the wall behind them, so they need solid blocking set into the framing at the right height. Another week-one decision, because blocking cannot be added once the tile is on.
Shower floors: hexagon and mosaic
Look at any well-built shower and the floor tile will be smaller than the wall tile. That is geometry, not decoration.
The floor has to fall toward the drain from every direction at once, which is a compound slope. A small tile sits on its own plane and lets the grout lines take up the change in angle. A large tile has to span it, which means it either rocks, sits proud at one edge, or forces a flat spot where water pools. The slope itself is formed in the substrate before any tile is set, typically a quarter inch of fall per foot. Get that wrong and no amount of good tiling fixes it.
Niches, benches and curbs
A recessed niche is set into the stud cavity so it reads as part of the wall rather than a shelf stuck onto it. It is also a hole cut into the wet wall, so every edge needs the membrane carried through and lapped, and it has to be planned before the membrane goes on rather than after.
Benches are the same problem with more surface area. A bench is a horizontal plane inside a shower, so it needs its own fall to shed water and waterproofing carried under and around it.
Curbs are worth thinking about early. A low-profile curb is easier to step over and looks lighter. No curb at all needs the pan recessed into the subfloor, which is straightforward over joists and considerably harder over a slab. If aging in place is anywhere in your thinking, this is the decision to get right the first time, because retrofitting means opening the floor again.
Specification
Questions people ask about showers
How long does a bathtub to shower conversion take?
Two to three days for a straight swap in the same footprint. Longer if the drain has to move, which turns it into a permitted job with the floor open.
Can I have a curbless shower?
Usually, if the floor is joisted, because the pan can be recessed between them. Over a concrete slab it is harder and sometimes not possible without raising the whole floor. We check the structure before promising it.
Why do I need blocking if I do not want grab bars?
Because it costs almost nothing now and a great deal later. Solid blocking behind the tile means a grab bar can be fitted anywhere on that wall in ten years without opening it up. Screwing a grab bar into drywall is worse than not having one.
Related
Thinking about a new shower?
We will look at what is there, tell you whether the drain has to move, and give you a fixed written price.