Well this is my first post and I’m happy to be here. I really hope one of the guys on here can give me some insight as to what they’d do in my situation.
Long story short, I’m doing my bathroom and I was almost on the money with my niche measurements but off by about 1/8″ with the tile layout and it isn’t meeting the bottom of the niche like I had planned. Anyway it’s not the end of the world and I can just grout it and it’ll be fine, but I was wondering if anyone had any better advice. I believe unscrewing it and using 1/4 board is the answer. What do you think?
Replies
Yep, use 1/4 in. board. We've all been there.
Might be able to find a schluter profile that fits it as well
Okay it worked great. The only thing I'd like to learn is what I could've done differently to keep a consistent grout joint, instead of getting very slim where the Schluter is.
Regardless, the girlfriend and her mom are thrilled with my work, but I'd like to learn how I can improve for the future. :p I believe if I had built the mortar up under the tile, I would have ended up with a slightly bigger grout joint.
Is there waterproofing behind the cement board? Did you slope the bottom of that niche out? I don't know if you used the drywall screws from that box in the second pictures, but those aren't designed for that.
Use nice hard horseshoe shims for consistent grout joints. If you use wedge shims, you can tweak the width a little to bring things back into level or keep height on schedule. Slice off the ends so they don't have to be in too deep.
Yes we waterproofed before the cement board was put on. I know my picture may be misleading but those drywall screws are just being used to prop the top tile of the niche. :-) I used the correct screws for Durock. And yes I sloped the bottom of the niche and cut the side tiles at a slight angle on the bottom to join. I'm not quite on the skill of mitering the tiles but I'd love to learn.
Overall I'm pretty proud of it. I've only built two others in the bathrooms in my dad's house and so far this has been my best one. I will look into those shims and I appreciate all the courteous replies. Thanks again.
Here we have the finished niche before grouting. Any constructive criticism is welcome. You may notice my miters on my Schluter aren't 100% perfect. I eyed them like a baseboard and cut them with a circular saw blade on the wet saw (don't worry the rpm of the saw doesn't exceed the max of the blade. I checked.) and they came out "good enough" but not perfect. Any pointers here are much appreciated.
Schluter makes corner pieces so you don't have to miter, just a straight cut
I will look into it thanks
Coming back to update. Shower has been finished and now they've started using it. Today I'm visiting and I noticed a pool of water hanging on the niche. I mean, is there any way to fix this without something major?
You could add another bottom piece and have it overhang the wall.
Another option would be to try to grind down the top edge of that wall piece. would really want to practice this on a scrap of the tile. this is not an option unless that tile is solid all the way through. (which it seems from the photos)
Right it's solid for sure but it seems as though the problem is that the top of the Schluter is what's acting as a dam, keeping it from draining. Would scraping the grout from that part and filling it with silicone work?
Water runs downhill.
If you remove whatever is damming up the water, it will flow (except whatever drops remain due to surface tension)
The photo looks like the tile is keeping it back, but you have actually seen it. I see now you used the edge (previous posts)
If the grout is keeping it back, scraping some and re-grouting would work. (or caulk, it just depends on the elevation vs where the water is collecting.)
If the edge is too high, change to caulk will not help. YOu have cut the edge material, what does the inside look like when you cut it? If it is solid, you could trim it some and let the water drain, but if finished metal, not as simple.
you could always tell them to give it a wipe after the shower.
Thank you for the informative reply. I will get back with some better pictures tmw but I can see that it's the Schluter. It's a plastic one so I mean is there a way to "plane" it like you would a door? Maybe sanding it and working the way up to very fine paper? Just brain storming