Hey, guys! Hope you’re having a great day. In this video we’re going to share tips
on how to tile a bathroom floor, specifically a bathroom floor that is next to a curbless
shower. So if you’ve been following our videos, lately we’ve been showing how to
build a curbless walk-in shower in a basement bathroom. And we’ve told you a lot of different
tips to help you get to this phase of tiling the bathroom floor, which we recommend that
you do before you tile the shower pan. So we’re going to dive into seven specific
tips today that’ll help you tile this floor, but really, any bathroom floor. So let’s
do it. Tip number one is to waterproof the entire
bathroom floor using a liquid waterproofing membrane or an isolation membrane like DITRA.
But in this particular instance, we used KBRS Showerseal and completely waterproofed the
entire floor using a 3/8 inch nap roller. We also applied fabric along the perimeter
of the drywall and then embedded that in the Showerseal. So tip number one is to completely
waterproof a bathroom floor if it’s adjacent to a curbless shower. That’s super important.
Tip number two is to plan the layout and the pattern of the bathroom floor. For example,
in this bathroom we ended up using 12x24 inch porcelain tile. Now because this is a large
format tile, it’s recommended to offset them by thirds, and that’s exactly what
we did. We also planned our layout such that we knew that we could pretty much use a full
tile on either side of the shower pan. So we knew that in advance, and we started in
the corner. Which brings us to tip number three: You want
to start at the shower pan entrance if you have a curbless shower. This ensures that
all the tiles will be lined up straight and even along that entrance, and that’ll set
you up for success when you have to tile the shower pan.
Tip number four is to leave a ¼ inch gap along the perimeter of the bathroom. And the
reason why you need a ¼ inch gap between the tile and the drywall is for expansion
and contraction. Older homes in particular tend to breathe, and you don’t want your
tile to be butted up against the drywall because this could cause tenting of the tile and cracks.
Tip number five: This is somewhat optional, but we love using a tile leveling system for
large format tiles. In this example, we were using T-lock. We used the 1/16 inch clips.
We set those under the tile, and then we cinched them up against the tile using the wedges.
And you can use pliers or you can use your hands to secure the tile with the T-lock.
The reason why we like tile level system for large format tile is the fact that it keeps
the tiles nice and flat and also gives you even grout joints.
Tip number six: As you’re setting the tile, clean the joints with a brush or even a dull
knife and a sponge. As you’re cleaning the tile when you’re setting it, this makes
the next day a lot easier when you have to grout it. And so that’s what we did in this
particular instance. And then finally, tip number seven is to directionally
trowel thinset onto the floor such that all the trowel ridges are facing the same direction.
The reason why this is good is that when you compress the tile up against the thinset,
you’ll be expelling the air in between the ridges and getting at least 95% to 100% coverage
on the tile with the thinset. And a bonus tip is to actually back butter
the tile with the flat side of the trowel. And this’ll get plenty of thinset on the
tile such that if you do compress it and your thinset is mixed properly, you’ll get that
95% to 100% coverage, which is required by industry guidelines in a wet area.
The seven tips that we just shared with you are great and will help you tile a bathroom
floor. Now here’s the deal: We’ve never done this before, but we’re going to be
sharing one of our courses with you here on YouTube. We’ve been really hard at work
at building this course that’ll show you how to construct a curbless shower in a basement
bathroom. These are notoriously difficult because of the subfloor. And we wanted to
outline how to do that step-by-step and walk you from the building of the shower pan, the
waterproofing, through the tiling, and using a grout. And all of that is going to be in
our online course which is phenomenal. So in our next video, which we’ll put right
here, we’re going to have a link to the course at the end of that video. But we’re
also going to share some tips on how to tile the shower pans. So make sure you watch our
next video, and we’ll keep you posted on that new course.
Thanks so much for watching this video, and we will see you in the next one. Take care!