Hi. I will be installing a 6 ft by 6 ft glass block shower wall in a new bathroom. I am familiar with installing glass block in a window – with 4 sides for support – but not one that is attached to only one wall.
I am not sure how to construct the base. Although the floor is a concrete slab, I do not want to place the glass block directly on the slab, because the slab will be covered with a thin layer of decorative concrete and I would like to slope the decorative concrete up the base of the glass block.
Instead, I would like to raise the glass block several inches above the floor. I have stacked 2- 2×4’s on the slab and would like to install the glass block on them. Do you think the 2×4’s will support the weight of the glass block?
Next question is: how do I waterproof the wood? I had planned to cover the 2×4’s with durock, then silicon all joints.
I also need to make sure the color of the durock underneath the glass block does not show through, since the glass block is transparent. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Bonnie
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I just completed a glass block wall in a bathroom on a concrete floor.I laid out the first course and marked it with a pencil on each side. Then I made a temporary form out of 2x4's and filled it with white cement. After it set, I just built the wall. As far as support, there are brackets that go betwen every couple of courses and attach to the wall. There is also reinforcing wire that goes between each couse. Check Lowes, they will have everything you need.
I was thinking along the same lines as what Dogmeat12 said--pour a concrete "curb" around the pan and put the glass block on that.
This is how I do it:
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The curb is framed with studs and top & bottom plates, like any other wall. It is sheathed in ½" Durock. The joints are taped and sealed with the special compound made for this purpose. The tile moulding is stapled in place; it's easier to put it down first and back-butter the single row of tile I needed for this curb.
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Tile completed. The tile to which the block will adhere must be scored with #40 garnett paper and painted with 10% thinned Weldbond before you lay on the white mortar.
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First course of block....
All the rest is just like any other glass block job: expansion strips, panel anchors, and reinforcing ladders.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Dino, where do you get "garnett paper"? I was just talking about tiling over existing tile on another thread and thinking on the best way to scuff the tile glazing...sounds like a # 40 garnett paper would do the trick.And what's that board on the left of the doorway? Is that a temp or permanent member? Meaning, if it's permanent, will it be exposed and what's its species? Nice work.
Garnett paper is just a type of sandpaper. You can also use a garnett stone in a rotary tool. I used a combination of an RO sander and a Dremel for this job because it was a small area. For an entire floor, you might want to use a big belt or disc sander.
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The board you saw is the strike-side door jamb. Because glass block can't be cut or trimmed, sometimes you wind up in a very tight spot. In this case, the size of the bathroom itself, combined with the fact the block wall had to be some multiple of 8" long from the corner, meant I wound up with an inch and an eighth left over in which I had to place both the structural framing (to which you have to anchor the glass block wall) and the finish work. I solved that by having a piece of CVG red cedar planed to that thickness. On the one side, the block is anchored to it with panel anchors inserted into the mortar between the courses and then screwed to the jamb. On the other I screwed the magnetic strike plate for the pivot door. When I went to install the door later, it just slid in perfectly.
Whew....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Edited 5/11/2005 9:29 am ET by Dinosaur
Nice work. Did you do the small hex tiles also?
In the first pic looking down on the stub wall ... looks like some type of pattern in the top of the durock ...
I'm thinking a coarse silicon carbide (black) sandpaper would also work for scuffing the glaze off the tiles. A belt sander should do the work pretty quickly.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
I think that pattern is the mudding flange of a Schluter tile molding.
View ImageHere is one of their many, but they all have the mudding flanges.
That's it Gene. I see it now.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Nice work. Did you do the small hex tiles also?
In the first pic looking down on the stub wall ... looks like some type of pattern in the top of the durock ...
Thanks. Yeah, I did the mosaïc floor, and the wall too. The wall was 4x4's and the floor was Dahl tile 1x1 hex. Didn't have any mosaïcist's film, either. Man what a PITA to keep the grout lines even around that stripe....
You can see the whole job in the Photo Gallery thread I put up last year, THE BASEMENT FROM SCRATCH.
On top of the curb, that actually is a plastic tile moulding. I was stuck using one because the curb was 1" wider than the tile. I didn't want to split the 4x4s and leave a joint under the block so I could lap over the corner on the top. To save me the trouble of the moulding wiggling around while I was setting the tile, I just stapled it down to the top plate of the curb before I started setting. Only one row to lay, so I just buttered each tile.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
>because the slab will be covered with a thin layer of decorative concrete
I know that's not the focus of your question, but what "decorative concrete" will you be using and how will you keep it from absorbing water and bacteria and connecting a drain to it? Showers typically require liners.