How to Tile a Shower

“A shower is a shower as long as it serves its purpose,” someone may claim but a shower that has been tiled will make your house look more beautiful and it will now become more durable. Any tile can do; ceramic, porcelain or stone and you can do it yourself.

The following tools and materials are necessary:

• Tiles

• Mortar
• Rubber float
• Sponge
• Haze remover
• Jigsaw
• Cement board screws
• Staple gun
• Utility knife
• Tile spacer
• Silicone caulk
• Notched trowel
• Plastic sheet
• Seam sealer

This is the procedure that should be followed in tiling a shower.

• 1. You should start by stripping down all the studs from the shower stall.
  2. The cement backer board can then be installed on the plastic that is stapled to the studs. This cement board will be very useful for the any applications using intense water.
  3. The other step that you have to undergo is to mark where (bottom low) the first tiles will lie using a lever and a pencil. The bottom part of these tiles should not hit the cement board’s bottom but should instead overlap with half an inch.
  4. You should now apply the mortar to the area at the bottom and it should be advisable for one to buy the premixed mortar (that is in the buckets) though it is more expensive.
  5. The notched trowel is useful during this step as one applies a coat of mortar (thin) and then press in the tiles (first row). You should now go and relax for about half an hour as the tiles set for they will determine how the others would be like.
  6. The upper rows can now be applied but leaving some spaces on the four sides using the tile spacers. Then continue moving to the top and since it is unlikely that they will fit exactly, use the tile saw to cut them.
  7. The tiles should be let to set for some other two days and the rubber float should be used in pressing grout in to the open seams and the excesses scrapped. Now the sponge is used in making the grout further smooth. This should however be done gently so as not to remove the grout.
  8. Finally, the process should be repeated until you nearly remove the haze; grout sealers should be used to seal the seams so that water may not destroy what you have done.