Tiling: The Shower (Days 4-6)

So over the next three days Sean (our tiler) plugged away at the shower - like everything else on this project, it has ended up taking him longer than expected! 

Looking at the work involved, though, and the level of precision required, I can see why it's taking so long. I'm also glad that in the end, we decided to get a professional in to do this! I have to admit, I'm extremely impressed with his work...and can't even imagine how much longer it would be taking if I were doing it.

Over these three days, Sean tackled some of the trickiest parts of the job: the niche, the arch and the floor. My only concern now is time, since I'll be heading back to NYC on Monday and I'd prefer if he was finished before I leave.

Morning of Feb 23rd

Tiling the arch, using posts to hold the tiles in place while the adhesive dries

Beginning the slate on the rear wall

End of the day

Feb 24th - by mid-morning Sean finished the rear wall. One can now see the "wrapping" effect of the slate...

The shower floor - had a long discussion on the spacing and location of cuts...

End of the day - montage of the shower...it's almost finished!

Late morning on Feb 25th - starting on the shower's final row (between the floor and 2nd course)

By the end of the day (Saturdays are 1/2 days), most of the course is completed

Tiling: The Shower (Day 3)

As our tiler continued to work his way around the shower, it had become apparent that the plumber needed to come back to install the faucet for the sink. Sean had started on the limestone, and would soon begin the rear wall of the shower - this rear wall is also where the sink's faucet is located, so once the more time-consuming shower was completed, the remainder of the bathroom was expected to go quickly.  Because the faucet is wall mounted, this became a critical issue as it had to be installed before the tile, so Sean could accurately cut the tile around it.

The limestone starts to go up

"Aglaya" and I had actually spent quite a bit of time deciding on the type of faucet (or tap, as it's known in the UK) - I was advocating a simple, modern wall-mounted one, whereas "Aglaya" was keen on a more traditional deck-mounted version. We looked at literally dozens of models trying to come to a resolution. So a stalemate ensued for a while..."Aglaya" wasn't necessarily inclined to give in, but I think when it became evident how much this particular design decision meant to me, she relented...I have always envisioned having a wall-mounted tap in my loo!


The tap arrived that morning, so while Sean was setting limestone, I was marking up the plywood wall to locate the faucet, so it would be ready for our plumber when he showed up.

Locating the faucet & cutting the holes

Fortunately everything was ready when the plumber showed-up - he immediately mounted the faucet onto the plywood, and then  began connecting the pipes to it. Because this was happening while Sean was tiling, there was a lot of activity, but fortunately no one got in anyone else's way. By the end of the day, Sean had installed most of the smaller limestone pieces, and our faucet was connected and ready to be tiled around.

To properly install the faucet, our plumber removed the plywood to do it

The plumber connecting pipes to the faucet

End of the day - limestone and faucet installed (faucet is in the bottom right corner)

Once Sean and the plumber left for the day,  I cleared out the bathroom floor and primed it for the rubberized waterproof membrane. After 20 minutes it was dry, and began painting on the membrane - the same waterproofing used on the shower walls. At the same time, I also installed a few pieces of the insulated waterproof tile backer board on the side wall. By the time everything was finished it was late at night, but fortunately the work had been silent...

The bathroom floor primed for waterproofing

Part of the floor waterproofed, and a few pieces of tile backer-board installed

Midnight - Yours Truly painting on the rubberized membrane

1am - the completed waterproof membrane on the bathroom floor

Sourcing Tiles

The bathroom construction has gotten far enough along that it's time to pick out and order tiles! This is a huge step for us, psychologically - if we're starting to select finishes, then it means we're finally beginning to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel of construction.

We have actually managed to accumulate almost four dozen stone samples! But (as with everything else related to this project!) it was a bit of a journey to get to this point...

The piles of stone tile samples

We had initially looked at tile over a year and a half ago, back when we were optimistic that construction would be relatively quick and painless, and before things got complicated. At that time, we had visited several tile shops in and around London, collected around a dozen samples and had picked out a few options we liked: dark(ish) porcelain tiles from Spain. But as the bathroom construction progressed, and after actually living in the flat for many months, I started having doubts about those porcelain tiles: they now felt too dark, and too "perfect". Considering how much character the ceiling now has and our intention to re-use the old wood floor planks, I had a gut feeling that we should go with a natural stone that was lighter in color.

Two types of slate from a supply shop in Vauxhall: a honed wine colored (left) and a riven-cut "oyster" ( right)

A type of limestone they called "Barcelona", but that was not readily available.

That meant starting the search for tiles from scratch. At least (having spent time doing it a year and a half ago), I already knew of a few good places - but I had forgotten how far away and how spread out across the city these shops were. As a result, I ended spending close to a week running around London collecting samples and determining availability.

Just outside the shop in Vauxhall - you can see the "Shard" under construction. Designed by Renzo Piano, soon to be the tallest building in Europe when completed

The showroom of a shop that specializes in stone tile - located on the edge of Southwark & Southfields

A showroom wall with different types of stone

A marble installation

Eventually we started to realize that "Aglaya" really wanted a colorful and varied stone, while I was gravitating towards a cleaner, simpler limestone. I had envisioned the bathroom as having two different stones: one for the shower area and another for the rest of bathroom. Because I was extremely taken by a warm toned limestone (with a hint of blue) called Batieg Azul (which came from Portugal and Spain) we started focusing our efforts on finding a second stone that would be more colorful but would also complement this limestone.

The Bateig Azul installed in a showroom mock-up

A detail of the Bateig Azul limestone

We soon decided that slate should be our second stone. I knew that there were hundreds of types of slate - in my New York office, we have several drawers full of slate samples from a specialty supplier there, but for some reason I could only find a few options in London. Eventually I found a specialty supplier of slate in Finchley (north London) with several dozen options, including a copper colored slate that "Aglaya" absolutely loved.

Once we returned to the flat, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the copper slate really worked well against the limestone. We slept on it for a few days, tried other options, but the combination of copper slate and Bateig Azul remained our favorite.

The honed Copper Slate on top of the Bateig Azul

We decided not order the stone before I return to New York, but "Aglaya" can place the order a week before I return to London again...