I recently tore out a tub surround for a customer over the past couple days in Delaware County, Pa. The tile was 3x3 over green board installed with mastic and I knew it was in bad shape. The customer had not used the shower for 5 years due to substantial leaking when it was being used. I tore out and while gutting the shower noticed that the tiles had no tiling substrate behind them just air and mold. The worst part was the installer told the homeowner back in the mid 90's they used wonderboard, I had to explain that the job was done with pretty much drywall and glue.
I demo'd the shower and installed a vapor barrier (aquabar "b"),installed permabase, taped and flashed the corners, and most importantly set the tile with thinset.
The customer choose their own tile, it was a bisque 6x6 from American Olean. I got an idea to save some of the old 3x3 and install diamonds in the shower to enhance the installation, the homeowner thought this was a great idea. I tiled the entire shower with laticretes 253 thinset to set the tile. I grouted the shower with laticretes bright white unsanded grout and caulked all the changes of plain.
This job felt great, I ripped out a awful shower and installed a rocksolid one with a little touch of the old shower by inserting the gray accents.
The people were thrilled with the finished project and it made me feel good that they were happy, they also enjoyed watching the whole process take shape.
Nice one Rick.
ReplyDelete