I'm wanting to remodel my bathroom. Is this something I can handle myself or should I just contract it out. I'm pretty handy, but the thought of not waterproofing correctly & fricking up my walls & floors scares me. This tileredi system looks pretty dummy proof though. Any anons have experience remodeling a shower?
Totally doable. Read up, watch some YouTube, it's not hard. I've added a bathroom and remodeled my existing one. Not worth paying the labor for.
I've done multiple showers. I always use Scluter. If you follow the shelter system exactly, it's totally leak proof. but if you have never done tile work, I don't think you are ready for this. Also I looked at the price for the tile redi system and that's outrageous. Schluter is like 1/3 that price.
> setting the drain line and attaching it correctly
> setting up your hot and cold lines at the correct placement, depth, and leak free
> doing the demo and rough in plumbing
> handling a mortar trowel and wet saw and installing all the tile correctly.
> planning for the niche
> building a bench
all the above can be tricky without someone who knows how showing you.
I worked under another tile guy for probably 200 hours before I could confidently say I can build a shower. You can watch the YouTube guides and give it a shot but I think you will frick your house up. You don't want to put 3 weeks into a shower build and realize it leaks or realize you didn't do your tile mortar correctly.
I hear those fancy drains always clog up compared to the classic.
Tile guy here. The linear drains overall just create more of a headache and have more potential for issues. Yes they look cool, but there was nothing wrong with the original hole style.
Only exception is maybe you are doing a curbless shower and they single angle works well for a linear drain. But even then you can do a curbless shower and still have the water flow to the center.
>tileredi
>Scluter
"systems" are a trap. Seems like by the time youre done buying systems, youre paying as much to DIY as calling in a pro. Just learn the trade on youtube by studying for a month or two pretending youre trying to pick it up as a trade.
IE learn to crib it properly to resist tile flex, Redgard. Rockboard, alkali tape and thin set to mud that. Moar redgard then Tile. Then theres a bunch of devils in the details like your shower niche needs to be tilted 1/4 inch out to allow water to drain from it. If your shower curb is wood and the floor is concrete slab, its not a waste of money to add the joint reinforcement tape in the redgard here. Or better yet a premanufacture foam curb. But even if you fricked this up and just redgarded its probably lasting at least 5 years before the redgard tears away from the foundation water penetrates and rots the wood curb.. prob. add some life with the joint reinforcement tape, but not sure how much and foam core premanufacture curb is longest life all as long as you got your slopes set up properly for all water to go toward the drain.
Redgard is so cheap I just put it everywhere tile is layed as theres a possibility water goes everywhere in the worst case scenario and Redgard seems to be the proper primer for thinset to bond to osb or plywood underlayment when youre laying the rockboard.
Also dye the redgard a different color and it suddenly becomes slab primer to prevent exterior water coming in through a flooded slab.
>>But even if you fricked this up and just redgarded its probably lasting at least 5 years before the redgard tears away from the foundation water penetrates and rots the wood curb..
Heres a 20 year necropsy. I notice he boned it using mastic instead of thinset and the water doesnt flood toward the drain.. This curb join looks like it would have benefited from the "waterproofing" joint reinforcement tape. 20 years is not bad for how fricked the install was.
I disagree. The alternative to a system is doing cement board for the walls and doing a cement floor with a liner. You have to do it carefully and make a pre slope. That’s 2 days of work and it has to be done exactly right or you get a leak.
Or you can spend about the same amount of money and use go board and Schluter and have a shower that won’t leak for 100 years. It’s just a better choice.
Times have changed grandpa
the economy has changed, zoomer
If your labor is $50+ an hour, then systems make sense. If it's $15 an hour, then doing it the conventional way makes sense.
You could double the cost of your install by using these systems, and that doesn't make sense for every DIYer. Whether or not it is a good fit for your particular use case is a question that I leave to you.
>If your labor is $50+ an hour, then systems make sense. If it's $15 an hour, then doing it the conventional way makes sense.
Just going to say, most "bathroom installer" companies are total rip-offs, especially the ones that do the vinyl-surround installs. Their labor rates come out to somewhere around $500 per man-hour -- they'll demand $8000 to install a vinyl shower panels that takes three guys about 4 hours, all while claiming that their product is superior to the same product you could find at Menards.
I did it 4 years ago, I was also pretty handy but no experience. Used a tile similar to your pic. They are pretty great imo but you have to prepare well, there can’t be a tiny bump in the floor or wall or it won’t sit right. And the drain hole needs to be exactly on point.
After that its pretty doable, glueing pvc is easy, soldering copper first time is less easy but you can spend some time practicing, tiling is OK if you go for a normal pattern (not diagonal or herringbone) with a normal tile (no hand shape) and buy a laser. Grouting isn’t too difficult if you don’t put too much tile cement. The last step is caulking which for me turned out pretty ugly but it’s definitely waterproof.
In my experience the biggest challenges are waterproofing inside corners and humidity. Water flows down but vapour gets everywhere so you can’t just glue on crown moulding or use normal wall paint. And not having a usable shower for a month
Pic rel is ugly but the cheapest and foolproof and wasn’t posted yet.
I wouldn’t get this but go with a stone shower pan without tiling over it. Easier, looks better imo and 100% leak proof if you connect the drain pipe properly. Lasts for decades and no grout lines to clean. No waterproof subfloor needed and you just caulk it to the wall
redpill me on stone shower pans
They are usually fake stone composite with anti slip marble or granite finish. Some are real granite. The slope, drain and trap are included
You need a flat, level floor with a hole accessible from below to be able to glue the drain tube together, though some have sliding connection. You glue it onto the floor with liquid nail or whatever and tile against the sides or put a glass shower wall on the edges
bonding flange, hydroban or other proofing membrane
Make sure your cement board walls, curb are all true and square. The pan, curb, and niches should pitch correctly. It's all about prep if you're landing say a glass door later. Plan 2-3x the time you think you need for this type of project.