I Built a Shower!

So guess what I did last month?  I built a shower!  Isn't that totally awesome?  Yes, yes it is!

Three years ago we bought a house.  The master bathroom had a fiberglass shower stall.  Within a month of living there, the floor of the shower cracked.  I used some plumbers glue to paste it back together and we kept using it.  Then it cracked again.  So I used a different type of glue, and we kept using it.  Then it cracked again... and again, and again, and again.  Eventually there was more glue than there was floor, and I had to accept that our shower just wasn't fixable.  That was three years ago.  We always intended to fix it, but money is scarce, and it just wasn't a priority.  For three years, we lived without a shower in the master bathroom.  My husband and I just used the kids' bathroom in the hall.  First-world problem, right?

Last year we were finally able to set aside $800 from our tax return to use to replace our shower.  But the summer went by and I was just never motivated enough to replace the shower.  Then this fall there was a little shake-up with our extended family, and it was decided that my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law were going to come and live with us for a while.  With two extra adults in the house, that extra shower suddenly seemed really important.

I went online and started looking for tub and shower kits that I could buy and install myself.  There were a few available in my price range, but they were all the same cheap fiberglass that I already had, and that I knew wouldn't last.  There were a few sturdier ones for around $2,000, but that was out of the question.
 
Next I called a local contractor and had them come out and look at our bathroom and see if they had any better ideas.  We had a woman who came and showed us a new shower design worth over $10,000 that she was willing to install for us for only $5 000.  It was beautiful!  And the way she described its anti-mold, anti-stain, anti-warp, anti-slip, anti-inflammatory, and anti-venom qualities, it almost seemed like it might be worth taking out a small loan and making payments on our shower for the rest of our lives.  Almost.

Talking to my brother-in-law, we got the idea that perhaps we could just tear out the old shower, and put in tile.  A friend of ours is a plumber, so he offered to come over to look at our shower space and suggest options for us.  He had several suggestions that were all less expensive and better quality than most of the options we had come up with ourselves.  I made the suggestion to my dad (who is very handy, but has never built a shower), and he said he was willing and able to come visit us for a few days and help me with whatever project I was doing.  Hooray!  When he arrived though, he had already made up his mind that he wanted to tile, so tile we did.

This project began two weeks before Christmas.  So as you're picturing all this construction chaos, be sure to picture all our Christmas shopping too, including buying and setting up our tree, plus three separate Christmas parties, one child's birthday, cub scouts, ballet class, bowling team, and a million other things that go on during a normal week plus a holiday.

Oh- this also might be a good time to mention that my dad is 65 and on the verge of being classified as legally blind.

Sunday- The first night my dad was here, we did a lot of planning.  We looked at the shower.  Took measurements.  And basically just talked through the process.  We decided if we were going to make our own shower from scratch, we might as well make it bigger too!  I had already taken off the shower doors before my dad arrived.  So we began demolition on the old fiberglass shower, and then measured out our new BIGGER shower.  We did have one small hangup this first day: when we took off the faucet handle, the bolt holding it on was completely stripped, so we had no means of putting it back on.

Removing the shower doors was as easy as unscrewing the frame.

However, some of the screws were stripped, so I had to use this fancy rubber band trick!

Then rip them off!

And pile them in the corner of the bedroom.

Monday- Sadly, I had to work most of the week that my dad was here.  So he did some more demolition work during the day, and we worked hard on the project in the evenings.  We actually had a lot of other things that needed fixed, so while I was gone during the day, my dad: fixed my van, rebuilt a kitchen drawer, and installed a new light in my pantry.  On Monday night, we went to Lowe's and looked at tile and flooring options to see what we could do.  I found some white, 12x12 tiles for less than a dollar each and decided that was my best option for inexpensive tile.  Then I found some super tiny little blue and grey glass tiles that were exactly what I had pictured when I imagined this project.  And BONUS, they were on clearance!  I bought 20 sheets of them for $5 each (regularly $25).  My plan was to do most of the shower with big white tiles and then add some accents with the little glass tiles.

This is the giant hole where my shower used to be.

My super cute wrecking crew.

Toddlers gone wild! (No these pictures aren't blurry, the air is really that dusty!)

Tuesday- We hung up some type of cement backer board (I honestly can't remember what it was called), that the "experts" at Lowe's recommended.  It was kind of magical.  We just scored it where we wanted it cut, and it snapped apart in pieces the perfect size.  Then we screwed it into our wall studs.  (Funny how one little sentence can sum-up four hours of hard labor.)  Once it was up, we painted over it with primer.  Before we put the last piece up, we made a family time-capsule (complete with Hostess Twinkie) and dropped it inside the wall for posterity.  Then I let all the kids come and sign their names on the inside of the wall. 

Signing our names inside the wall.

Priming the walls.

Wednesday- My dad and husband poured a concrete floor to be the base of the shower.  My dad framed it in with 2x4s and then poured the cement.  This is a horrible, hard job, that I cannot adequately explain to you because I wasn't there when it happened.  Everyone at Lowe's said it couldn't (or at least shouldn't) be done.  We were told to buy a mold that would have to be special-ordered, but we didn't have time for that.  They said to get a premade shower pan, but the cheap ones were too flimsy and the sturdy ones were too expensive.   So in the end, my dad and husband did exactly what we were told not to do.  They poured a concrete floor and sloped it themselves.  Is it perfect?  No.  Does it work?  Absolutely.  It is solid, water proof, and has a slope steep enough for proper drainage.

My new shower base!

And my hard working handy man!

Thursday- We spent most of Thursday measuring and re-measuring the walls.  We wanted to cut as few tiles as possible, so we were trying to lay our existing tiles out in a pattern that would allow for the least amount of cutting.  We had a neighbor who offered to loan us a tile cutter, but we managed to not need it.  We went to Lowe's and found some 4 inch tiles that were only 16 cents each, so we used those, along with our 12x12s and our mini glass tiles to lay out a pattern for the shower.  In the end we only needed three tiles cut.  One to fit around the faucet handle, and two to fit in the last little row at the deepest spot of the shower.  The associate at Lowe's was more than happy to make these cuts for us. 

Piecing together different widths of tiles.

Friday-  We put in the tile walls using liquid nails and a caulking gun.  Tiling is easy.  Tiling in straight lines is not.  We used little spacers, and got everything put in, but it isn't the straightest thing ever.  It's not even close.  We rushed it, and we made mistakes.  If I were doing it again, I would probably go more slowly and make sure the tiles are straighter.

Saturday- The floor was a little uneven (partly by design for drainage, and partly by mistake), so we used 4x4 tiles because they gave us more flexibility with an uneven surface.  We used a concrete mortar to lay the tiles on the floor.  It was not exactly pretty.  We used too much, and it squooshed up too high between the tiles.  Next time we'll remember to use less.   This time, we just had to use a screw driver to chisel out the extra big chunks of mortar that oozed through where they shouldn't have.

This is Dad mixing the cement with his bare hands! See what a reckless role model I have!

Sunday- My dad had to go back home.  So I was left alone to do the grout.  It seemed really easy, so I felt confident I could do it on my own.  When we got home from church my daughter and I got started on the grout.  The instructions said to use gloves, but  the cement said the same thing and my dad ignored it, so I figured I could ignore it too.  I mixed up a small batch, and we began applying it from the top down.  I would grab a handful of soggy grout and slap it to the highest tiles, then slide it down the shower wall, pushing it into the cracks.  Then my daughter followed behind with a damp sponge and wiped up the front of the tiles.  It was the consistency of milk, so it didn't exactly stick too well.  That's when I realized I had accidentally mixed it with three times the proper amount of water.  Luckily I had more powdered mix, so I was able to thicken it up and it started to stick better.

My mixing model.

Slather on the grout.

And wipe it clean.

Occasionally as I spread the white grout across the tiles, I'd notice streaks of brown in the grout.  I thought this was dirt, but a few hours into the project I realized it was actually blood.  Apparently that warning label that said to wear gloves was for real.  When I cleaned up and washed my hands, they were covered in little holes where the grout had burned through my skin.  Oops.

Two of many many wounds I recieved from not wearing gloves.

Monday- We let the grout dry overnight then went back to take a look.  It was pretty good, but there were a few spots that were a little too thin.  So we mixed up some more grout and started working again.  That's when I mis-mixed the grout.  Again! I was up to my elbows in grout (literally), so I asked my husband to run to the store and bring back another bag of powdered grout so we could fix my mistake.  And we pressed forward (still not wearing gloves- will I never learn?).  Once the grout was as thick as necessary, I let it dry for a few hours.  Then I used a can of spray on sealer to seal the grout.  It was just an aerosol can and super easy to use.  I put on two coats according to directions, and that was it.

Tuesday- Once the tiling was done, I put the original shower doors back on.  I didn't love the height of the doors though, so I took them back off and re-framed the shower doorway.  I added an extra couple 2x4s to the base of the door to raise the doors a little higher.  I wanted to be sure that the base of the shower was deep enough to drain and the height of the shower was tall enough for my husband to walk through the door without ducking.  After I re-framed it, I put the doors back on and caulked them.  Once the doors were on and sealed, all that was left to do was wait.

This is the framing along the floor. No idea why the picture is sideways, but I don't know how to fix it.

Wednesday- And wait.

The sign says, "Don't open 'til Christmas!"

Thursday- After the recommended three days of waiting, it was finally time to test out the shower.

It was AWESOME!  Even though it's only 6 inches wider, it feels so big it's like showering at a public pool!  (I mean that in a good way).  There were a few finishing touches, that had to wait, but it was functional.  And good thing too, because my in-laws showed up the next day!  Thankfully we were prepared to welcome them with a brand new shower!

A few weeks later I finally got the pieces I had been missing to finish the job.  I got the screw I had been missing in order to reattach the handle to the faucet.  I found an awesome, removable, energy efficient shower head for  a great price.  I put up a shower caddy to hold all the shampoo and supplies.  And my dad came back for a day with a new drill bit to help us install the safety handle bars.

Is the shower perfect?  No.  But it's perfect for us, and I love it!  We did the entire bathroom for just over $500!  I don't intend this post to be a complete step-by-step guide on how to remodel your bathroom.  But I do hope it serves as encouragement to you to try your own home remodeling projects.  Yes, I had a lot of help.  I absolutely couldn't have done it without my dad.  But I bet if you look around, there is someone you know who would love to help you get started too.

Marcia


P.S. There is one thing missing from this story that I just couldn't find a way to accurately fit into the time line.  We made 28 separate trips to Lowe's.  Fortunately it's only about a mile from my house, because we were there every day, multiple times a day.  We met and spoke with dozens of employees, getting opinion after second opinion.  We'd buy supplies, go home, re-think our project, come back, buy more supplies, etc.  It was a never-ending cycle of buy, return, buy, and return. By the end of the week, I felt like I knew everyone there.  When we'd walk in, everyone would turn and wave, like on CHEERS!