Huge new project underway!
- Thread starter Tim
- Start date
Canuck Plumber
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!
hehe!. Good choice for the tub. Big enough to fit a bike into. btw, whats with the burn marks from the soldering? 
The burn marks are what happens when you hire a licensed plumber who perhaps is also a bit of a pyromaniac. Oh, and no, I'm not much of a bidet fan.
Here are the latest - drywall is done, put down a layer of special Halex plywood (3/8 thick strong as 5/8), the heated cables and the first bed of cement to protect the cables. Ditra and marble go down next. There are over 1,000 screws down in that plywood. Spaced 2 inches around the perimeter and 4 in the field as per the specifications. Screws are 1 inch long to prevent them from going through the 3/4 plywood below - apparantly you don't even want to pierce the subfloor. Some engineering nonsense.
Here are the latest - drywall is done, put down a layer of special Halex plywood (3/8 thick strong as 5/8), the heated cables and the first bed of cement to protect the cables. Ditra and marble go down next. There are over 1,000 screws down in that plywood. Spaced 2 inches around the perimeter and 4 in the field as per the specifications. Screws are 1 inch long to prevent them from going through the 3/4 plywood below - apparantly you don't even want to pierce the subfloor. Some engineering nonsense.
Canuck Plumber
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!
Thats a pretty good size for a bathroom. I just finished gutting all the improper waterlines in the house and roughing in and finishing a laundry room. I'd rather be working on something with two wheels.
Canuck Plumber
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!
Pin hole leak. Hmm.. It may sound like really poor workmanship on my part but in some instances I have had to rely heavily on good ol' silicone. I usually place a bead directly on the rubber gasket and tighten it till its snug. Let the silicone dry then give it another shot of elbow grease. If you tighten it too much prior to letting the caulk set it causes the gasket to warp and pinch out of its place. That shower drain you linked looks pretty skookum, but then I've always been a sucker for shiny things.
There's actually no gasket on the topside of the showerpan - just the metal drain housing on the fiberglass with the bead of silicone.
We've made some real progress. 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of ceiling paint is up. Tile began today as well - Ditra is down, and a fair chunk of marble too. Looking nice. Next to no lippage and grout lines are nice, straight and narrow.
We've made some real progress. 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of ceiling paint is up. Tile began today as well - Ditra is down, and a fair chunk of marble too. Looking nice. Next to no lippage and grout lines are nice, straight and narrow.
HerrDeacon
Over 1,000 Posts
Looking really nice Tintin. How much height does that orange stuff under the tile add. I've only seen in on Holmes, never in person. Looks to be waffled so it must add a few mm's? That tile is pretty thick too, looks nice.
The Ditra adds 1/8 inch to the floor. It acts as a 'decoupler', allowing the subfloor to do things like swell and shrink, leaving the tile somewhat isolated from the movement. For this project it only added $160 to the overall cost (plus maybe a bit of extra thinset). The indentations are actually dovetailed, creating a lock between the thinset and the membrane.
The tile is 3/8 Bianca Gioia marble from good ol' Italy. Got it for under $8 a foot, plus got the guy in the warehouse to throw in an extra box (10 feet). Might buy a couple more boxes and do my basement bathroom to match, as I also have a bit of extra Ditra. Tile is being laid by someone I stumbled across who had done work for some friends. Not sure where Milan and I got disconnected after he came to see the work. This guy came highly recommended and was well versed with the heated floor and Ditra.
The wall is being trimmed out with beadboard, chair rail and baseboard. Got all the trim delivered from Central Fairbank lumber today. Total of 4 pieces of trim for the chair rail, 3/8 thick panels for the beadboard and 3 pieces of trim for the baseboard. My trim carpenter is going to hate me! But all the lengths of trim are long enough so there will be no mid-wall joints to worry about. It's all getting primed over the next few days on all faces to help with moisture.
The tile is 3/8 Bianca Gioia marble from good ol' Italy. Got it for under $8 a foot, plus got the guy in the warehouse to throw in an extra box (10 feet). Might buy a couple more boxes and do my basement bathroom to match, as I also have a bit of extra Ditra. Tile is being laid by someone I stumbled across who had done work for some friends. Not sure where Milan and I got disconnected after he came to see the work. This guy came highly recommended and was well versed with the heated floor and Ditra.
The wall is being trimmed out with beadboard, chair rail and baseboard. Got all the trim delivered from Central Fairbank lumber today. Total of 4 pieces of trim for the chair rail, 3/8 thick panels for the beadboard and 3 pieces of trim for the baseboard. My trim carpenter is going to hate me! But all the lengths of trim are long enough so there will be no mid-wall joints to worry about. It's all getting primed over the next few days on all faces to help with moisture.
Finally, the tile is laid - just grout and seal left. Looks pretty good. Just anxiously awaiting the newly laid tile to dry out and look like the ones laid a few days back - they get pretty grey when they absorb the moisture out of the thinset. These are pretty porous tile.
We lucked out with the centering of tile in front of the shower - just dumb luck.
We lucked out with the centering of tile in front of the shower - just dumb luck.
Oh no - the thinset is white - that wasn't an issue. Its just within a few minutes of laying the tile, it darkens from absorbing moisture from the thinset. It slowly evaporates through the tile. Takes days and days to get back to white.
Here is a pic of the tiles from the other day. The tile on the left was laid 3 days before the tile on the right. They've lightened up since the pic was taken and I expect them all to be bright white in a few days. Then we'll grout and then seal it all up.
Here is a pic of the tiles from the other day. The tile on the left was laid 3 days before the tile on the right. They've lightened up since the pic was taken and I expect them all to be bright white in a few days. Then we'll grout and then seal it all up.
I tell you, it scared the crap out of me and I'm still anxious about it getting back to the original colour. I'll be testing out the sealer on some spare tile before committing to it. For polished marble this stuff is porous. This tile I drew on with my wet finger and dried it off with paper towels just a few seconds later. Took a while for it to dry out but it has. It was my test to confirm that I should indeed be sealing the tile.
