Framing - Master Bathroom Renovation Project

Master Bathroom Renovation Project - Framing

FRAMING AROUND THE SHOWER:

Fig 17. Glass block (Pittsburgh Corning Thinline).
These two blocks were damaged on arrival. Other 28 blocks
were OK.  I was able to get refunds for those two blocks
from Homedepot.

After the plumbing is complete, the walls and floors are to be ready for the tiles to be installed, which includes all the walls where tiles are going to be installed (including the tub and the shower curb.)  The dimension of the shower became 35-by-48 inches after backer board installation.  The wall against the tub had to be installed with extra caution because it has to be leveled as perfect as possible because the glass blocks will be installed on top of this wall.  The glass blocks I am going to use is Pittsburgh Corning's 8-by-8-by-3 inch thickness blocks. 4-by-7 of these blocks will be installed, which requires opening of 31-⅞ wide x 55-½ height.  

Fig 18. Shower curb is installed with three 2x4s.

SHOWER CURB: 

I stacked three 2x4s for the shower curb which will yield ~5-inch of height of the finished surface from outside of the shower and ~3 inch of height from inside of the shower.

SHOWER PAN:

I am very thankful for the deck-mud calculator in http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showerfloormudcalc.cgi which is a great tool to estimate the amount of portland cement and sand for desired dimension and depth.  Without this tool, the procedure would have been much uglier.  As recommended by the deck-mud calculator, I mixed 58 lbs of Sand Topping Mix with 29 lbs of Play Sand in the medium size of mixing tub.  Also as recommendation of Johnbridge.com, minimum amount of water is used.  

Fig 19. The amount of sand and the Portland cement for my shower pan size.   http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showerfloormudcalc.cgi

Fig 20. After installing tar paper on the subfloor.

Staple 30-mil tar paper (yes, 15-mil is fine, too) on the subfloor (Fig 20) and metal lath was cut and laid on top of the tar paper (Fig 21).  I have had a final check of the level of the drain.  Desired height was marked around the shower floor before dumping the deck mud on the pan.  The pre-slope was carefully laid using level and finish trowel.  

Fig 21. Metal lath on top of the tar paper.

Fig 22. After the pre-slope with deck-mud.
Sorry, I do not have pictures during the pre-slope installation.
I was too busy to take photos when the deck-mud was wet.

After drying ~48 hours (it is dry in 24  hours), the shower pan liner is installed.  The most important thing at this stage is to minimize cutting of the liner.  I have used Oatey shower pan liner 6x5 feet without cutting (Fig 23). It fits very well with enough heights around the walls and the curb. Corner should not be cut in order to maximize waterproof of the shower pan.  The center is carefully cut and the weep hole protector and the shower drain cover is tightly screwed (see Fig 24).

When the shower pan liner is completely installed, the insulation should be installed before putting up the backer board (Fig 24).

Fig 23. Laying down shower pan liner.

Fig 24. Shower pan liner is complete.
The pink insulation is installed before the backer board.

WALLS:

After the shower liner is installed, cement backer board was cut and ready to install.  I used Hardie backer board because it is lighter and easier to cut.  Wonderboard is a little bit inexpensive but the edges chip easily, which I did not like.  I have used table saw and circular saw to cut the board.  Boards were carefully cut  and used Hardie backer screws to secure them on  the stud.  I have used ones every 10-12 inches.

Fig 24. Backer board is installed after the shower
pan liner installation.

FINISHING SHOWER PAN:

We are not done yet for the shower pan prep - we still have to do the top layer. Again, top layer of deck mud is mixed as directed by the calculator.  The problem was that my mid-size mixing tub was way too small for 117 lbs of sand topping mix and 58 lbs of sand.  I mixed the powder without adding water then split to the bucket.  As you can imagine, bucket is not a good place to mix the deck mud, because of adding minimum water, it is very difficult to mix all the corners.  It is simply too heavy. When I pour the mixed mud to the shower pan, I found some unmixed powders so I had to mix them on the fly.  Again, that's why I do not have pictures while working on the deck-mud. Finished top layer is shown in Fig 25.

Hardie backer board is installed where the tiles will be installed. around the shower and the tub. The finished pictures are shown in Fig 26. The most important thing to remember at this stage is to level right. If you think you can adjust the level by the thickness of the thinset during the tile installation, yes, you can. But it is not a good idea. Believe me. It will be much easier and faster to fix it at this stage.

Do not even think of cutting the Hardie backer board using knife by scoring. Quarter inch board can be cut but still requires lots of labor. I simply used circular saw, table saw, and grinder. Beware, this work creates lots of dust. Use gloves, safety glasses, and high quality dust mask.

Once all the backer boards are installed, it is time to apply waterproof membrane on the joints and the holes where the water might possibly get in behind the backer board. I used RedGard 1 Gal. I only used about a half gallon. Use fiberglass tape at the big gaps and joints (Fig 27).

Fig 25. Completed top layer deck mud.

Fig 26. Backer board installation.

Fig 27. RedGard water proofing membrane was
applied at every joints and the nail holes. 

 ANOTHER FRAMING CHALLENGE:

Fig 28. Post installation using two 2x4's.

The biggest design change of this project is the shower back wall where the shower meets the tub.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have decided to used the glass blocks.  To support them, the post should be installed at the corner of the glass blocks and the shower door to support both glass blocks and the frame-less shower door (Fig 28).  Since the thickness of the Thinline Glass Block is ~3 inch, I used 2 2x4s as a frame.  The actual thickness of 2x4 stud is 1.5 inches so It made 3 inches of thickness and the backer board will add 0.5 inches and the tile will add another ~0.5 inch each side.  The total width after the tile installation will be ~5 inches. The total height of the glass blocks will be 55 ½ inch and the shower back wall is about 20 inches from the top of the shower curb.  The height of the shower door is 76 inches so I had to be very careful to raise the bottom of the glass blocks to match the final height of the wall with the shower door (Fig 29).  Since the glass blocks cannot be cut, the height and the width of the opening has to be exactly measured and prepared.  One 2x3 is attached against the wall to allow appropriate openings for the glass blocks.  

Fig 29. Adding 2x4 to raise the wall to match the total height
of 76 inch (Shower door height).   See the gaps filled with
wood chips to achieve perfect level.

Framing is complete and ready for the tile installation. To be continued...