Hey, guys.
Today we’re going to share with you how to tile a shower using subway tile, specifically
4x12” Subway Tile in a curbed shower system.
So, we actually had to work around a custom shower bench, shower niche, and install a
glass mosaic accent.
So we’ve got some really great tips for you.
This is the shower that we built.
It’s a 4x12 subway tile.
We’ve got a glass mosaic accent strip; we’ve got a custom shower niche and a bench.
And at the top there, that’s not a little sliver between the ceiling and the shower;
that’s pencil trim.
And on the bottom, we started by centering the tile in the center there with a laser
level.
And then we wrapped our tile around and below the shower bench and above the shower bench.
We’ll explain that here shortly.
So as you can see, Steve is lining up the first 4x12 of the laser levels.
The laser level is plumb and in the center of the wall that goes to the shower bench.
And what we did is we had to trim the bottom of that tile to fit the contour of the shower
pan.
We did that with a grinder and a diamond blade.
Now, we also used X77 thinset for this project.
We back buttered every single 4x12, and then we set that tile such that the edge of it
is nice and level with our laser.
Now, you’re supposed to leave about 1/8” at a minimum gap between that bottom tile
and the shower pan.
So we did that for all the tiles on the first row; you want that gap.
And again, we’re using the CGX 115 diamond blade by Montolit to make that contour cut.
We’ll put a link to that blade down in the description of the video.
So we just built up that first row and then we cut it down to size using the diamond blade.
You can also use a tile cutter.
In this case, you don’t have to, but we used our seam clips here to keep everything
nice and tight.
So, the seam clip is a great tool.
But again, you don’t have to use it for the subway tiles, but it does cinch the tile
in place and compresses it into the thinset mortar.
And then we used little tiny horseshoe shims to keep our spacing nice and even as we’re
climbing up the wall with the subway tile.
So you can see here back buttering is a huge component of what we do, and we just keep
our laser level in the center of that wall between the bench and the main plumbing wall.
Another component of the shower is the shower bench, and we have our laser level splitting
the depth of that bench.
And that’s what you want.
You don’t want your laser level to be about an inch above the bench or half inch because
that little sliver of tile is going to look terrible.
So please factor that into your tile layout.
Now, in this case, we had to cut down our quartz bench top using a tile wet saw.
And so if you have to do the exact same thing, we recommend getting a really good diamond
blade for this.
In this case, we’re recommending the DNA blade by Montolit, so keep that in mind.
So e dry fit our quartz top there, and we wanted to see how deep it was in relation
to the Wedi.
Now, the other thing that we did here is we marked off a little section of that bench
where we’re going to cut a notch out.
And we like notching out the tile to fit behind the bench.
So again, we’re just using the diamond blade, the CGX 115, to cut out that little notch.
And so now, what we did is we put our bench top back in place and just checked to see
if the tile will fit behind it, and it does.
And this just makes the look a lot more professional.
Now, when you use a wet saw, you always want to make sure you wipe off the top or even
tile.
You don’t want the bottom of that to be wet because it won’t bond with the thinset.
So we burn the first layer of thinset into the bench there, and then we troweled it.
We also troweled the back of the bench top itself; compressed all those ridges so that
we had a nice bond between the bench and the bench top.
Now, we also want that to slope toward the drain, but you want it to be nice and level
as it goes toward the shower door.
So, there again we back buttered our tile, and we fit it into that little notch within
the bench top.
Now, in this case, Steve had to make a little notch on the top of that one tile so that
it would fit around the quartz top.
So again, you can do that with your diamond blade.
You always want to be cleaning out your grout joints of thinset as you’re moving along.
In this case, again, we have a little bit of a contour cut there because out shower
bench is sloped.
So you’ll have to again make that cut using a diamond blade or a wet saw or a tile cutter.
And you always want to keep a gap between that tile and the back wall about 1/8”.
The second component of this shower was our custom shower niche.
As you can see here, we were kind of left with a little bit of a small piece there.
So what we did is we built up the shower niche using a scrap piece of Wedi, and we just thinsetted
that into place.
Because the shower niche was completely waterproof, we didn’t have to worry about using any
of the Wedi sealant.
And then what we did is we added our tile on top of that.
And the whole purpose of adding the extra piece of Wedi and extra thinset onto the bottom
of that tile was to get that tile to meet up nice and even with our laser level.
And you still want the tile to be pitched toward the shower drain, like we have here.
And as you can see, our laser level meets up with the top of that tile perfectly.
So you can make really fine-tuned cuts the grinder and the diamond blade, but please
be careful when you’re using that.
Stay safe and wear a respirator as well.
So again, we’re ensuring a gap between that tile and the wall in the shower niche, and
we’re doing the exact same thing here.
We’re creating a gap between that row of tile where it came out of the shower niche
and up against the wall.
So again, back buttering, cutting your notches with the grinder, these are important concepts
for moving up the wall.
And as you can see here, we also have directional troweling on the wall, meaning all the trowel
ridges face the same direction.
As we got closer to the top of the ceiling, we wanted to add our glass mosaic.
The problem that we had is the glass mosaic was a little bit thinner than the subway tile,
so we used a thicker notch trowel to give us a thicker bead of thinset.
And then we just pushed it into that thinset ever so slightly, and then used horseshoe
shims to create a gap there.
Now, what you see Steve doing here is moving that thinset out from the top of the glass
mosaic.
And the reason why is you don’t want it to ooze out on the top when you put your subway
tile in place.
So again, you do the exact same thing between the bottom of the mosaic and the top of the
last subway tile row.
And what that does is it really prevents you from having a lot of excess clean up.
So again, using those 1/16” horseshoe shims in this case gives us a nice gap between that
mosaic and the subway tile.
And then we used our laser level to ensure that the top of the mosaic was nice and level.
So again, we just cut this tile mosaic using the grinder and the diamond blade.
Really works out well for the glass and the marble and the metal that was in that mosaic.
And as you can see here, everything is nice and level.
We really encourage you to use a laser level for that.
And as we worked our way up the wall, we just ensured that everything again was level and
even at the wall transitions.
So the next day, we actually removed all of our horseshoe shims and the seam clips by
hitting the seam clip along the grout line.
If you don’t do that, they’ll break like that, like Steve showed you there.
And so it’s really important that you tap them along the grout line.
They’ll just be removed super easily if you do this the next day.
Now, we highly recommend using a white scrubby to clean any excess thinset from between the
grout joints and on the surface of the tile.
These are really great for doing that.
And you’ll be ready to move on to the other walls and tile those.
Now, like I said, I always like to leave you with what these showers look like in the end.
And so you can see here, it’s a pretty sharp shower.
We’re proud of it.
And we think that the client is very happy with it as well.
So, we’re going to have more videos on this shower moving forward, and we think that those
tips in those videos will be great for you.
As you can see, that shower turned out great.
We’re really proud of the results; it looks phenomenal.
And one of the things that Steve and I are going to do is build an online course for
you if you are doing a similar project.
So we’re going to build an online course specifically showing you how to waterproof
a curbed subway tile shower, how to install the tile, how to put in the mixing valve and
all the plumbing for it, and install the frameless shower doors, which can be tricky.
So when we’re done with that course, we’ll put a link to it down in the description and
within the video here.
You can check it out for yourself.
It’s going to be very reasonable in terms of the time commitment, and it’s going to
go into a lot of detail yet be very beginner-friendly.
So, thanks for watching today’s video.
If you do have any questions, let us know down in the comments, and we’ll see you
in the next one.
Take care.