Tiling: The Shower (Day 2)

On our second day of tiling, Sean (our tiler) pushed ahead and began cutting/installing slate for the main shower wall. Once he turned the corner, we could really start to get a sense of what it was going to look like - I had initially been lukewarm about "Aglaya"'s choice of copper slate, but I have to admit, I now think it's actually going to look quite stunning - particularly (I hope) when contrasted with the limestone.

Sean appeared to be moving somewhat quickly, but somehow, by the end of the day, only 6 tiles had been installed...

Morning of Feb 21st

The first few rows of slates

Here you can see the tile adhesive right before the slate is installed

End of the day's tile work - can really start to see how the completed shower will look!

Once Sean had wrapped up for the day, I began my work, as part of our tag-team approach. Tonight, my task was to frame out part of the bathroom wall and what will ultimately be our bathroom door. Because  the bathroom is now en-suite, this new door is going to be between the bathroom and the bedroom. We're currently accessing the bathroom through a temporary door on the opposite side (the living-room side) so that while everything is a messy construction site, we (and our workers) aren't constantly traipsing through our "bedroom" to use the loo or while working on the loo.

Of course, the "bedroom" is still very much The Box - that is to say, it's still sheathed in plywood and not really a proper room yet. So I'm aiming to do this framing work from the bathroom side rather than the "bedroom" side so as to keep the dust and mess outside our sleeping space.

Cutting the rough opening in the floor stud for the new door - the temporary plywood wall is simply pushed out of the way

I carefully measured out where the doorway would go (making sure to accommodate trims, etc)  and cut out the rough opening from the floor stud using a circular saw and handsaw. From there, studs were cut and installed on either side of the opening - each one perfectly leveled. I then installed a few other studs and was able to temporarily attach some scrap trim and plasterboard on either side to see how the door would look....

The studs erected with temporary plasterboard & trim to get a sense of the wall & doorway

Tiling: Starting the Shower

After a last-minute scramble to get the shower ready for our tiler, Sean, he showed up first thing this morning (8am!) to begin work. He probably has no idea how much effort went into getting everything ready for him - besides building-out the shower from scratch and waterproofing it, we had spent weeks picking out tiles ...and then, upon delivery, I had to single-handedly haul hundreds of pounds of stone upstairs into the flat...

Feb 14th - the first of two tile deliveries - the slate

Sean started by bringing all of his tools upstairs and setting up his cutting area out on the balcony. Because our tiles are natural stone, he is using a "wet saw", which uses water, so besides some dust it also tends to splatter water...everywhere. This is why we decided it best to set up the wet saw outside.

Morning of Feb 20th - the tiler's tools next to the stacks of tile

Sean's set up for cutting tiles with the wet saw on the balcony

Once Sean was set up, we reviewed the layout and design together. This was actually quite complex because of the arch and ledge in the shower, plus the fact that the limestone and slate are sort of woven together in the shower (as if the limestone is passing in front of the slate).

We also went over - in painstaking detail - exactly how and where each course of tile would run and where the seams would be, how wide the joints would be, and so on. This may sound like over-doing it, but if you don't figure this stuff out in advance, you might end up with a faucet, or a shower valve, coming through the tile off-center, or  near an edge. If that happens, it will look like a mistake - particularly with such large tiles, and could also be impossible to cut without breaking the tile.

Ready for tile: right before the tiler gets started

So after everything was worked out, Sean set-up a laser level (which was really cool!) and marked out each course. Using the laser, he then set a wooden batten at the bottom of the first course to provide a permanent guide, and to prevent the tiles from slipping.

The tiler set up a laser to set the level for each tile course

One interesting thing was that the first course Sean set on the wall was not at the lowest level (adjacent to the floor), but the next one up. I learned that the lowest wall course is only installed after the floor goes in, so that there's an overlap (similar in concept to how flashing is done) and also so the exact dimensions can be measured once the floor tiles are set.

Sean on the balcony cutting tiles

Sean moved quite quickly, so by the end of the day, he had completed the entire area of wall under the arch...and it looked great!

4pm - The first set of tiles completed!

Although Sean finished for the day at 4pm, I was mobilizing to continue prepping a few unfinished areas in the shower and bathroom that I had not yet completed. Because there was still a decent amount of work left for me to do, we worked out something of a tag-team arrangement - he would tile during the day, and I would do the prep work in the late afternoon and evening after he left. We agreed that every day we would have to co-ordinate the schedule so that I could stay a few steps ahead of him.

That night - building out the exterior face of the shower & setting the shower ceiling's level

For tonight, we had decided I should finish the outside edges of the shower - this included the step/ledge at the floor of the shower, the upper face (or soffit) at the ceiling, and the side face of the shower. By finishing these areas, the shower's waterproofing and substrate would be complete, and it would also give Sean a stopping point by setting the levels of the ceiling, and outside walls.

Adding the tile backer board on the side and top edges

Adding the tile backer board to the bottom ledge/face of the shower

The mostly completed ledge/step

By the time everything was finished, it was 11:30pm...but my portion of the shower is finally (!) finished and now Sean won't be held back by anything on my end...at least in the shower...

The shower at the end of the night

Finishing the Shower: Waterproofing (part 5)

With the tiler coming on Monday, there's only one more day (Sunday) left to finish getting everything ready for him. I guess the one drawback of all that waterproofing is that it took a long, long time to do....so now I realize that we won't have the whole bathroom built out and waterproofed by Monday - there's just no way I can get it all done.

Because the tiler will be starting with the shower, we definitely have to have at least that finished by Sunday night, no matter what. This is starting to feel a bit like deja vu! When we were approaching our other big milestones (finishing the roof and turning the heat on), we ended up doing similar scrambles, with late nights to get everything done. This is a trend I would definitely prefer not to see continue...

Feb 18th - starting point for the final push

The first task is to paint the waterproofing membrane on the plywood floor. We had to do this late Saturday night because it needs to dry overnight if we want to continue working on Sunday afternoon...

Starting to paint the rubberized waterproof membrane on the plywood

The completed shower floor membrane - now it must dry for 24 hours

We did get to enjoy a nice Sunday brunch, and by the time we finished, the membrane was finally dry....so, time to attach the shower base to the plywood. This base is a large, single piece of the Marmox board (an insulated waterproof tile-backer) that's designed for the floor: it's tapered to allow proper water drainage, and has a specially prepared hole that designed to fit with the drain as part of an integrated system.

The waterproof shower base will slide into this gap between the floor and wall

To attach the board to the plywood, we're again using the flexible, waterproof (of course!) tile adhesive.So after mixing up another batch of the adhesive, I carefully applied it using a notched trowel, and slid the floor board in place. I had one and only one shot at this: the board was specially ordered so we only had the one, and I had already cut it down to make it fit perfectly. So I was nervous...if anything went wrong (for example, if the mortar dried before I was finished), we'd have to start all over again and we wouldn't be ready for the tiler...that would be a disaster! I had put a lot of time and effort into doing the prep work to make sure there would be no problems, but you never really know how something is going to go until you actually do it. In this case, happily, all that prep work paid off, and everything come together beautifully!

Sunday, Feb 19th - Afternoon - Applying the adhesive to the plywood

The adhesive fully applied

Sliding in the board

With the board in place, the edges and joints were quickly siliconed, and special attention given to the two-part drain.

The board (shower pan) fixed in place with silicone around the edges

The final tasks for the night involved closing up the area under the shelf/ledge, applying the final waterproofing, and fastening the large piece of wood that will act as the lip and edge of the shower...

Closing-up and waterproofing the area under the shelf/ledge

The shower's lip/edge attached and waterproofed.

...So by 8:30pm (not too bad!) we were finally ready for the tiler.

The completed shower - ready for the tiler

Montage of the bathroom - the night before the tiler starts

Under the Shower: Waterproofing (part 4)

With the bathroom wall construction completed, I now have to make major progress on the shower - with the tiler coming on Monday there's a lot of work to do in just four days...

The next step is to finish waterproofing the area under shower, and permanently affix the raised shower floor. As mentioned in previous posts, I've gone a bit crazy with the waterproofing and have several redundant layers to minimize the chances of a leak. As part of this strategy there are actually two "floors" to the shower - the actual raised shower floor (because it is sitting on top of a steel beam), and then the sub-floor, which is level with the rest of the bathroom. Each "floor" - including the entirety of the bathroom floor - is to be fully waterproofed to increase the redundancy, (hopefully!) minimizing the chances that if there is ever a leak, it will not penetrate through to the flat below ours.

I started by waterproofing around the shower drain opening in the sub-floor - a large hole that was cut into the plywood while leveling the bathroom floor and installing plywood around the drain.

Feb 16th - applying the waterproof membrane around the drain

After the membrane was dry, the following day I fitted the Marmox insulated tile backer board, made sure everything fit together properly and prepared a bucket of flexible tile adhesive. As with the shower walls, the combination of the rubberized membrane, waterproof tile adhesive and waterproof tile backer board creates the redundant waterproof assembly.

Feb 17th - fitting the Marmox board in place

Testing to make sure everything fits!

Ready to go - mixed tile adhesive, cleaned sub-floor.

As mentioned in our roof posts, I have a serious aversion to mortar and troweled adhesives...mainly because I'm not that good at working with them and generally make a mess. This time I made a huge effort to learn from those initial experiences, mix smaller batches, and work quickly - yet carefully. Fortunately it went better than I expected, with minimal mess! The sub-floor was coated with the adhesive in sections, and the Marmox boards were placed over them.

Adhesive partially applied

First Marmox board down

Next few pieces on the left - the last section of adhesive on the right

In between the board edges, silicone is applied, and then taped over with a special (and expensive) waterproof tape that completes the waterproofing system at the joints.

Completed Marmox board with silicone along the joints

Extra waterproof tape around the drain opening

After all joints are siliconed and taped, I added several intermediate supports for the raised shower floor, making sure everything was level and cutting openings for the boiler's white condensate line. I then did a few final reviews of the waterproofing to verify there were no gaps or neglected areas, and screwed the waterproof plywood in place.

Feb 18th - Additional wood supports for the plywood base

Final shot before closing-up: fully taped and waterproofed

The plywood based permanently fastened

Permanently attaching the plywood made me somewhat nervous, as from this point onwards, I'll never again be able to access the drain and sub-floor in case there's a leak. I guess this is where having the redundant layers of waterproofing come into play, and provide some peace of mind. Not to mention a bit of confidence from the success of our new roof, and the fact that it has not (so far!) leaked...

Building the Bathroom: Enclosing the Walls

I’m finally back! It’s been almost 2.5 months – the longest I’ve been away from London and the flat for quite some time. I’m gearing up for a busy couple of weeks, because we’re on a tight schedule – “Aglaya” booked a tiler to start work in the bathroom on February 20th, so I have exactly 7 days to finish all of the build-out, waterproofing and prep work before he can start. We had originally thought about just tiling the shower for now, but we soon realized that 4/5 of the work (and the cost) would be the shower. At that point we realized that it made sense to give it just a little more time and money and simply get the whole room done as part of our Big Push. It’s going to be tight – there’s a lot work to be done, but I think 5 days should be enough…

In December, I had completed most of the shower’s build-out and installed most of the Marmox tile backer board on the walls. What remained was completing the shower’s base, and building out the ledge and walls of the bathroom (outside the shower), which will be soon covered in limestone tiles. The only work done on these surrounding walls (so far) was the basic stud framing, so they would have to be covered in plywood, waterproofing and Marmox backer board. For the ledge, it would have to be framed out, and then covered in the plywood, waterproofing, etc.

February 13 - the exposed wall studs

The most exciting part of this will be closing up our temporary door, removing the blue tarp and building out the real door we will eventually be using every day. The real door will be on the opposite side of the room from where the current, temporary one is. In the final layout, the bathroom will be en-suite, accessed from the bedroom.

Before starting - looking the other way towards the temporary door (shower on the left)

I started by laying out the ledge – the idea here is that it wraps almost completely around the bathroom and into the shower, so we can put thing on it while providing a place to transition from stone to mirror. I framed out the ledge using short studs fastened to the full-height wall studs. This ledge also had to hide the cistern of our new toilet, so had to take it into consideration with the dimensions and layout.

Using a string line to framed-out the ledge & keep the studs aligned

End of the day - ready for plywood in the morning

Once the studs were in, I used a string line to find the level and started attaching sheets of waterproof/boil-proof plywood (WPBP) that would act as the substrate for the waterproofing and tile backer boards. The plywood also helps tie everything together structurally, while minimizing any movement that might cause the tile or grout to crack in the future. In doing this, the larger the piece of plywood, the better job it does tying everything together, so this required some rather intricate cutting.

Morning of Feb 14th - first piece of plywood

Second piece had lots of intricate cuts

Installing the second piece behind the toilet

Lower part of the wall/ledge completed

Once the long wall (where the toilet is located) was finished, I moved on to the shorter wall (where the sink will eventually go). This is where our temporary door is located, so for the time being I’ll finish everything but a narrow opening. If we weren’t living on site while doing the work, I wouldn’t have to worry about this (and just close up the temporary door now), but I’d prefer to minimize having to going in and out through “The Box” – particularly once the tiler starts his work which can be quite messy. So in the meantime, we have this workaround…

Feb 15th - Adding plywood along the other wall and around our temporary door

Montage of the bathroom fully enclosed with plywood...except for our temporary door!

Bathroom tiling: setting the stage

One practical decision that has resulted from the "Big Push" is that we're going to hire a tiler to tile the bathroom.

Andre had originally said he was keen to do the tiling himself - partly to save us money on the labour, but partly so he could learn a new skill. I understand - and appreciate! - his desire to do it, but I really feel that we need push things along and at least get the bathroom finished sooner rather than later. Fortunately, our finances are a lot better now than they were last year (in large part because we're no longer making scaffolding payments!). Since hiring someone is now actually a possibility, I insisted that we do it: not only will this be more efficient to bring someone in, but then Andre can focus on something else (probably building the staircase up to the loft) while the tiler does the bathroom.

So, while Andre is in New York focusing on running his architectural office, I've been leading the charge in terms of getting things organised for the tiling - and experiencing just how time-consuming that can be. I asked several tilers for quotes, but the better ones came to the flat to see firsthand at what was needed. I spent hours going over the job with them, since it's most definitely not a normal, straightforward tiling job and we're using large natural stone tiles which require more time and skill to install. Below are some colour-coded drawings that Andre put together to clarify the scope of work to the tilers, and what was going where. The blue represents limestone, and the red represents slate.

The idea is that the shower is tiled in slate, except for the floor and a ledge that wraps around the edge of the bathroom. The floor and that legde are limestone - the ledge leads to and then wraps around the shower, becoming a shelf and niche that convieniently hides the steel post that helps to support the loft. In an ideal world, of course, we would not have a steel post in the bathroom! But during demolition, we discovered an unexpected arch in the wall, at which point our structural engineers insisted on this additional steel post for extra support. But by that time, it was too late to make substantial changes to the design, so Andre basically worked around it, integrating the post into the design itself.

All of this led to a rather complicated design, with lots of corners and edges - so in the end I decided to hire the tiler who had spent the most time with me reviewing the job and the design, and asking the relevant questions. This tiler, Sean, seemed knowledgable, offered lots of advice, and also seemed like he would be someone who Andre could get on well with, and work with. There's still a lot of work to do before we're ready for tiling - among other things, we have to finish building out the shower and finish waterproofing the shower and the rest of the bathroom. So there will have to be a certain amount of co-ordination between Andre and the tiler. Good thing Andre is back at the end of this week, so we can get started!

Patience...

One of the themes of this project has been that the best-laid plans don't always work out - and right now I'm feeling that acutely, but on a smaller scale.

I was really excited after we took the decision to focus more aggressively on finishing the construction. We immediately made a short-term plan: I would return to London on January 9th, and Andre would follow within a couple of weeks, so that by late January or early February we could get another big chunk of work done. Psychologically as well as practically, I'm really ready to see some more progress, since the last major milestone we hit was more than three months ago, when we got the heat working. Andre was here for two weeks in December, and he did a lot of work as usual, but it was mostly design, planning and prep work - obviously very necessary, but it didn't yield too many satisfyingly tangible results!

In terms of next steps, what we're working on now is getting the bathroom finished and tiled. We'll post about the build-out Andre did in December in a couple of days...

...But in the meantime, here we are in early February, and I'm still here on my own, and we haven't yet started our "Big Push". Happily, it's for a great reason: Andre's business has really picked up, and he's been manically busy in New York and unable to come here. Obvioulsy that's a very good thing, but here in London... well, they say that patience is a virtue.

The Big Push

Happy New Year, readers!!

You may have noticed there's been no activity on this blog for the past few weeks. That's because since mid-December both Andre and I have been in New York, enjoying (like many others) the festive season, and (maybe just us?!) going home every night to a comfortable and furnished apartment rather than a construction site!

Of course, that doesn't mean that our London project is not on our minds. In fact, in the course of our many discussions about how 2012, we've openly acknowledged that the state of affairs is getting a little tiring. So we've decided that 2012 is going to be the year of the Big Push.

Last year there was really only so much we could do in terms of the construction. As 2011 began, we were still just trying to make the place habitable, notably by putting a roof on it. Financial constraints limited how much we could do, and how quickly we could do it, and partly dictated the decision to do the bulk of the building ourselves. Last year the whole project was still so overwhelming that looking at the big picture was absolutely impossible.

But now that most of the heavy construction is finished, we can just about start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So we've decided that we need to more aggressive in terms of our time frame this year, and really focus our attention and resources on getting this done! To that end, we took one of our biggest decisions yet: we've even decided to postpone our wedding, tentatively scheduled for this summer, so that we put all our energy (well ,outside of our jobs, obviously) into finishing this flat...