Tiling a Shower Tray: Tips and Tricks

Tiling a shower tray doesn't have to be tough, but it does begin with the layout and that's super important. So, make sure that you center these tiles typically on the wall to begin with and see how the layout looks before you set them in thin set. You'll also want to use the right size trowel for your tiles apply thinset to the shower tray first with the flat side of the trowel then use directional troweling so that all the thinset trowel ridges are facing the same direction.

Set your tile you can back butter them if you want in your thinset mortar and leave that expansion joint along the perimeter and make sure your wall tile covers that joint. You can also use a tile leveling system to make sure that all the tiles remain level when you set them. That's really important in a shower tray. In this particular shower, we also have a linear drain and we set that in place because it's tileable. You want to use spacers that come with that tileable linear drain to make sure that the last row of tile looks awesome in your shower.

Another method for building a shower niche is to use these 12 by 12 prefab shower niches from Schluter to make one elongated shower niche that has two shelves in it. You want to add your framing in this case, we're using three quarter inch plywood, we nailed that in place, make sure that they were nice and level we also added two by fours on the side of this framing so that we would have blocking for our kerdi-board to attach to.

You can then mark the location of your shower niche on the surface of the kerdi-board and simply cut that out with a utility knife. This is one of the best parts about Schluter you can just simply cut it and then that will reveal the location of your shower niche which you can then screw in place using screws and washers. In the Schluter shower system family, and then once you're done installing the shower niches you can waterproof all the penetrations using thinset mortar.

We're just applying it with a six inch knife here and then troweling it with our kerdi trowel and then you can add your Schluter curry band over top of that. Just make sure you have a two inch overlap anywhere where you have a seam and you'll be good to go. Tiling a shower begins with layout and choosing the right trowel and thinset mortar.

We're using a euro trowel and modified thinset, back buttering these 12 by 24s setting them on the wall and putting spacers between the first row and our tiled shower pan. We're also using t-lock tile leveling system to make sure these tiles remain level with respect to each other and we're also going to be putting in a glass shelf.

You want to make sure the shelf is pitched a little bit, and then you can mark the location on your tile and cut out a sliver in the tile for the shelf using an angle grinder and diamond blade. Be safe when you're doing this always wear the right ppe and dry fit the glass shelf to make sure it fits.

Then you can back butter your tile set it in place and dry for the glass shelf again to make sure that it looks good. Always clean out that groove. Glass mosaics look great in the shower but typically they're a little bit thinner than your main wall tile so you can add ditra to the wall to bump it out by an eighth of an inch.

Fill the cutback cavities with thinset mortar apply directional troweling using thinset to that clean the edge of the tile so you don't have thinset on it and then you can bond your glass mosaic to the detroit and compress it using a grout float. This is one of the best ways to make sure that your glass mosaic looks great in your shower and is nice and flush with your tile.

If you like this video remember give it a thumbs up, that way somebody else will be able to find it and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel because that way if you have a bathroom remodel coming up hopefully our future tutorials will help you out.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enone of the smartest ideas that you can do in your bathroom is apply steel plates over top of your joists so the nail doesn't go through your plumbing this is really important to do then you can apply liquid nails over top of the joist so that you reduce the squeaking of your plywood you can mark the location of the joists over top of the plywood with a chalk line simply snap that and then use 8d penny nails to precisely secure your plywood to the joist if you have any holes that need to be bored through the plywood you just want to match up the whole size with the hole saw transfer the location of that hole onto your plywood based off of your wall framing and then you can use that hole saw the bore hole through the plywood you could also use a jigsaw we also recommend using spade bits to cut holes in the plywood for water supply lines again here we're applying liquid nails over top of our joist and we're simply going to set this plywood in place but these are solid methods and wouldn't you know it boom we hit his teal plate with the nail and so this is definitely a good reason why you want to use those steel plates if you want to install a curbless shower the first step is to remove the existing subfloor with a reciprocating saw and pry bar check your joists to make sure they're level this is super important then apply liquid nails to two by fours and recess them three quarters of an inch below your existing joist you can use scrap pieces of plywood for this then apply more liquid nails over top of those two by fours and secure three quarter inch plywood or osb to them then remove a five inch hole for your drain in this case we're going to be mixing up modified thinset and applying wedi joint sealant to the drain connection per the wedi instructions this is the fundo ligno curbless shower tray it's one of the easiest ones to install you want to dampen the wood subfloor apply your modified thinset to that and also the back of the wedifundo ligno you want to use directional troweling and then set the fundoligno over top of that but again this is one of the simplest ways to install a curbless shower tray a more advanced curbless shower would involve heating the shower tray you can cut a groove in the kerdi board in this case we're using a schluter shower system and wrap your heat cable over top of that and run it into the shower system you just want to make sure that the heat cables stay away from the drain per the instructions and then you can apply thinset over top of those cables to protect them this is also very very important directionally child more thinset over the cables and then waterproof them using kerdi membrane just smooth out the kerdi membrane and make sure there are no lumps or bumps and then you need to apply kerdi-band over top of the walls and over top of the kerdi membrane to make sure that everything is a hundred percent waterproof in the shower this is a really great way to heat your shower tray if you live in a cold environment but again you're going to want to add the kerdi-carry corners to make sure that you don't have any leaks then you can use a gfci protected thermostat to control the heat cables and you can test it on a monthly basis one of the fastest ways to build a shower bench is with wedi apply joint sealant anywhere where wheatie is going to meet wedi or between your shower of bench framing in the wedi tray add your building panel to the front face of your framing and secure it with screws and washers apply thin set modified thinset to the shower bench top and the back of the wedi building panel remember we building panels are waterproof there's no need for liquid waterproofing membrane you just need the waterproof anywhere where wheatie meets weed using the wedi joint sealant and pitch the top of the shower bench toward the drain if you're enjoying this video make sure you smash that thumbs up button so that somebody else can find it and hopefully the tips help them out with their project tiling a shower tray doesn't have to be tough but it does begin with the layout and that's super important so make sure that you center these tiles typically on the wall to begin with and see how the layout looks before you set them in thin set you'll also want to use the right size trowel for your tiles apply thinset to the shower tray first with the flat side of the trowel then use directional troweling so that all the thinset trowel ridges are facing the same direction set your tile you can back butter them if you want in your thinset mortar and leave that expansion joint along the perimeter and make sure your wall tile covers that joint you can also use a tile leveling system to make sure that all the tiles remain level when you set them that's really important in a shower tray now in this particular shower we also have a linear drain and we set that in place because it's tileable you want to use spacers that come with that tileable linear drain to make sure that the last row of tile looks awesome in your shower so hopefully these tips help you get an awesome tiled shower tray and an awesome looking shower this wedi prefab shower niche can be installed vertically or horizontally and if you don't have a load bearing wall you can cut the framing and reframe it to fit your shower niche dimensions this framing is really important to give the shower niche support just make sure you give yourself enough wiggle room such that you can center the shower niche and make sure that the tile work looks awesome in the end another method for building a shower natch is to use these 12 by 12 prefab shower niches from schluter to make one elongated shower niche that has two shelves in it you want to add your framing in this case we're using three quarter inch plywood we nailed that in place make sure that they were nice and level we also added two by fours on the side of this framing so that we would have blocking for our kerdi-board to attach to you can then mark the location of your shower niche on the surface of the kerdi-board and simply cut that out with a utility knife this is one of the best parts about curry bore you can just simply cut it and then that will reveal the location of your shower niche which you can then screw in place using screws and washers in the schluter shower system family and then once you're done installing the shower niches you can waterproof all the penetrations using thinset mortar we're just applying it with a six inch knife here and then troweling it with our kerdi trowel and then you can add your curry band over top of that just make sure you have a two inch overlap anywhere where you have a seam and you'll be good to go tiling a shower begins with layout and choosing the right trowel and thinset mortar we're using a euro trowel and modified thinset and back buttering these 12 by 24s setting them on the wall and putting spacers between the first row and our tiled shower pan we're also using t-lock tile leveling system to make sure these tiles remain level with respect to each other and we're also going to be putting in a glass shelf you want to make sure the shelf is pitched a little bit and then you can mark the location on your tile and cut out a sliver in the tile for the shelf using an angle grinder and diamond blade be safe when you're doing this always wear the right ppe and dry fit the glass shelf to make sure it fits then you can back butter your tile set it in place and dry for the glass shelf again to make sure that it looks good always clean out that groove and these tips will help you install a glass shelf glass mosaics look great in the shower but typically they're a little bit thinner than your main wall tile so you can add ditra to the wall to bump it out by an eighth of an inch fill the cutback cavities with thinset mortar apply directional troweling using thinset to that clean the edge of the tile so you don't have thinset on it and then you can bond your glass mosaic to the detroit and compress it using a grout float this is one of the best ways to make sure that your glass mosaic looks great in your shower and is nice and flush with your tile if you like this video remember give it a thumbs up that way somebody else will be able to find it and make sure you subscribe to our youtube channel because that way if you have a bathroom remodel coming up hopefully our future tutorials will help you outone of the smartest ideas that you can do in your bathroom is apply steel plates over top of your joists so the nail doesn't go through your plumbing this is really important to do then you can apply liquid nails over top of the joist so that you reduce the squeaking of your plywood you can mark the location of the joists over top of the plywood with a chalk line simply snap that and then use 8d penny nails to precisely secure your plywood to the joist if you have any holes that need to be bored through the plywood you just want to match up the whole size with the hole saw transfer the location of that hole onto your plywood based off of your wall framing and then you can use that hole saw the bore hole through the plywood you could also use a jigsaw we also recommend using spade bits to cut holes in the plywood for water supply lines again here we're applying liquid nails over top of our joist and we're simply going to set this plywood in place but these are solid methods and wouldn't you know it boom we hit his teal plate with the nail and so this is definitely a good reason why you want to use those steel plates if you want to install a curbless shower the first step is to remove the existing subfloor with a reciprocating saw and pry bar check your joists to make sure they're level this is super important then apply liquid nails to two by fours and recess them three quarters of an inch below your existing joist you can use scrap pieces of plywood for this then apply more liquid nails over top of those two by fours and secure three quarter inch plywood or osb to them then remove a five inch hole for your drain in this case we're going to be mixing up modified thinset and applying wedi joint sealant to the drain connection per the wedi instructions this is the fundo ligno curbless shower tray it's one of the easiest ones to install you want to dampen the wood subfloor apply your modified thinset to that and also the back of the wedifundo ligno you want to use directional troweling and then set the fundoligno over top of that but again this is one of the simplest ways to install a curbless shower tray a more advanced curbless shower would involve heating the shower tray you can cut a groove in the kerdi board in this case we're using a schluter shower system and wrap your heat cable over top of that and run it into the shower system you just want to make sure that the heat cables stay away from the drain per the instructions and then you can apply thinset over top of those cables to protect them this is also very very important directionally child more thinset over the cables and then waterproof them using kerdi membrane just smooth out the kerdi membrane and make sure there are no lumps or bumps and then you need to apply kerdi-band over top of the walls and over top of the kerdi membrane to make sure that everything is a hundred percent waterproof in the shower this is a really great way to heat your shower tray if you live in a cold environment but again you're going to want to add the kerdi-carry corners to make sure that you don't have any leaks then you can use a gfci protected thermostat to control the heat cables and you can test it on a monthly basis one of the fastest ways to build a shower bench is with wedi apply joint sealant anywhere where wheatie is going to meet wedi or between your shower of bench framing in the wedi tray add your building panel to the front face of your framing and secure it with screws and washers apply thin set modified thinset to the shower bench top and the back of the wedi building panel remember we building panels are waterproof there's no need for liquid waterproofing membrane you just need the waterproof anywhere where wheatie meets weed using the wedi joint sealant and pitch the top of the shower bench toward the drain if you're enjoying this video make sure you smash that thumbs up button so that somebody else can find it and hopefully the tips help them out with their project tiling a shower tray doesn't have to be tough but it does begin with the layout and that's super important so make sure that you center these tiles typically on the wall to begin with and see how the layout looks before you set them in thin set you'll also want to use the right size trowel for your tiles apply thinset to the shower tray first with the flat side of the trowel then use directional troweling so that all the thinset trowel ridges are facing the same direction set your tile you can back butter them if you want in your thinset mortar and leave that expansion joint along the perimeter and make sure your wall tile covers that joint you can also use a tile leveling system to make sure that all the tiles remain level when you set them that's really important in a shower tray now in this particular shower we also have a linear drain and we set that in place because it's tileable you want to use spacers that come with that tileable linear drain to make sure that the last row of tile looks awesome in your shower so hopefully these tips help you get an awesome tiled shower tray and an awesome looking shower this wedi prefab shower niche can be installed vertically or horizontally and if you don't have a load bearing wall you can cut the framing and reframe it to fit your shower niche dimensions this framing is really important to give the shower niche support just make sure you give yourself enough wiggle room such that you can center the shower niche and make sure that the tile work looks awesome in the end another method for building a shower natch is to use these 12 by 12 prefab shower niches from schluter to make one elongated shower niche that has two shelves in it you want to add your framing in this case we're using three quarter inch plywood we nailed that in place make sure that they were nice and level we also added two by fours on the side of this framing so that we would have blocking for our kerdi-board to attach to you can then mark the location of your shower niche on the surface of the kerdi-board and simply cut that out with a utility knife this is one of the best parts about curry bore you can just simply cut it and then that will reveal the location of your shower niche which you can then screw in place using screws and washers in the schluter shower system family and then once you're done installing the shower niches you can waterproof all the penetrations using thinset mortar we're just applying it with a six inch knife here and then troweling it with our kerdi trowel and then you can add your curry band over top of that just make sure you have a two inch overlap anywhere where you have a seam and you'll be good to go tiling a shower begins with layout and choosing the right trowel and thinset mortar we're using a euro trowel and modified thinset and back buttering these 12 by 24s setting them on the wall and putting spacers between the first row and our tiled shower pan we're also using t-lock tile leveling system to make sure these tiles remain level with respect to each other and we're also going to be putting in a glass shelf you want to make sure the shelf is pitched a little bit and then you can mark the location on your tile and cut out a sliver in the tile for the shelf using an angle grinder and diamond blade be safe when you're doing this always wear the right ppe and dry fit the glass shelf to make sure it fits then you can back butter your tile set it in place and dry for the glass shelf again to make sure that it looks good always clean out that groove and these tips will help you install a glass shelf glass mosaics look great in the shower but typically they're a little bit thinner than your main wall tile so you can add ditra to the wall to bump it out by an eighth of an inch fill the cutback cavities with thinset mortar apply directional troweling using thinset to that clean the edge of the tile so you don't have thinset on it and then you can bond your glass mosaic to the detroit and compress it using a grout float this is one of the best ways to make sure that your glass mosaic looks great in your shower and is nice and flush with your tile if you like this video remember give it a thumbs up that way somebody else will be able to find it and make sure you subscribe to our youtube channel because that way if you have a bathroom remodel coming up hopefully our future tutorials will help you out\n"