I almost decided not to share my progress right now just because I’m tired of talking about shower tile, but I promised to be responsible and keep everything up with my progress (it really helped me focus), so ania ko. And I’ve really made some good progress, but as always, it’s not as much progress as I expected.
At the end of last week, I shared how last week was a wash for me. I tried a decorative accent stripe on the shower walls, didn’t like it, and tore it apart. (Read: A Bad Week for Progress, a Good Week for Enlightenment.) So at the end of last week, after a few steps forward and a couple of steps backward, it was the shower wall tile improvement…
When I tore the tile on top of that wall, it also removed the waterproofing membrane I was applying. I use Semco waterproofing membrane in the shower, but it is only available online. Not wanting to wait for a new order to arrive, I went to Home Depot and picked up the red waterproofing item they were selling just to use on the back wall.
If it was still on the wall that was constantly wet every time I used the shower, I would have waited for a new Semco order. But since it’s on the wall that gets the least amount of water, and it’s also on top of the wall, I’m okay with using the red thing.
Now that I have used both brands for a relatively short time and on the same project, I can tell you that I really like and recommend Semco. Semco waterproofing is very easy to apply. It’s also a thin product, which isn’t as a positive thing, but it’s real. It fills in pinholes and small cracks in the hair much faster than the thicker RedGard. And perhaps the main difference I noticed is that RedGard dries harder, where Semco is very strong when dry, but it remains pliable. For something that is intended to be a crack prevention membrane, I would think that flexibility is necessary so that the membrane does not crack as the house moves and shifts throughout the seasons.
So take that for what it’s worth. 🙂 My waterproofing membrane chosen from here on out is always Semco, but obviously in a pinch, I will use RedGard.
After drying all night, I finished the tile on the back wall.
You can see that the bottom 2/3 of the wall is grouted (and still hazy), but the top 1/3 is not yet grouted. I didn’t bring the tile up to the ceiling because I was still thinking of a couple different options for that area.
I was hoping I could also tile all the side walls, but when I finished last night, working from bottom to top, I just got through the niche. That niche really slowed me down because I didn’t know how to handle it. I’ve never had tiles and niche before. But I think I finally know it. I still had to tile the inside, but at least I finished all the meticulous cuts to surround the outside of the niche.
The rest of the wall, not including the interior of the niche, should be simple.
So it gets there! It’s easy to disappoint myself with how slow this project is, but I always remind myself that it’s not a typical shower. This shower has a much more tile area than most. The average size of a master bathroom shower is about 4′x3 ′ and has one or two glass walls. This shower is 7′x 7.5 ′ with no glass walls, so I tried to cut myself. But I’m very ready to finish this so I can move on to another !!! And I’m sure you’re ready for that too. ⁇
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical work , so I do most of the work at home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
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