Home Project: Master Bathroom Shower

Not too long after we moved into our house, I noticed that the tiles at the bottom of the shower wall looked like they were going to fall off soon. When I pressed on some of the tiles, they moved. I was not prepared to deal with this at the time, so I put some plastic over the tiles and preceded to pretend I didn’t have a problem.

About 6 weeks ago, I decided to tackle the problem. I told my wife it should only take 1 weekend. I just finished on Monday. In the meantime, my wife and I showered in the kids’ bathroom. My wife was not happy, but she was surprisingly patient with my slowness.

I’m not lazy, but I don’t put in as much time as I should when tackling jobs. I think I have inherent fear of screwing the job up, so I procrastinate and put it off as long as possible — even after I start it. I probably could have gotten the whole project done in one weekend, but I stretched it out over 6 weeks. I could place some of the blame on my wife, but she doesn’t really deserve any. We rarely have a weekend without plans, so it was hard to actually block off the time to complete the job.

My shower has 2 full walls and 1 wall that’s only about 16 inches high. When I started removing the tile, they almost started to fall off. That’s when I realized that behind the tile was plain, old drywall. The drywall literally crumbled in my hand. The builder should’ve used some kind of water resistent material. I was happy to discover that I only needed to remove the bottom 4 rows of tile all the way around.

I bought tile backer board, which is made from a concrete-like material. My dad helped me cut it to size and install it. Then, it was up to me to install re-tile and grout and caulk and do whatever else was necessary to finish the job.

If anyone has ever wanted to try tiling, but was afraid, I can tell you that it is incredibly easy. Especially, the grouting. It was almost fun and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to make it look like a professional did it. I’m looking around my house trying to figure out where else I can put tile.

For 6 weeks, I suffered in my kids’ shower with its subpar, low pressure shower head. Yesterday, I took a shower in my newly finished shower. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more satisfying shower. I had a smile on my face the whole time. Job — well — done.