{"id":4512,"date":"2010-02-07T10:38:12","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T10:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/"},"modified":"2010-02-07T10:38:12","modified_gmt":"2010-02-07T10:38:12","slug":"tiling-the-first-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiling: The first step&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The tiling job in the bath has been a project a long-time in coming&#8230; and to be honest, I&#039;m a bit apprehensive about tackling it. I will be our first major, vertical ceramic-tile job. Maybe that&#039;s why it took 2 years to approach.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#039;s time &#8212; and to start, we needed a good base. There&#039;s all sorts of very low- and very high-tech solutions out there. Since we were generally re-tiling (and not moving anything), we didn&#039;t need to look at a newly-mudded floor, but that was one option &#8212; to tear it all out and start over. With the radiant heat lines in the floor and a perfectly working drain system, it made little sense to jack up the floor and start from scratch.<\/p>\n<p>We also looked at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schluter.com\/8_4_kerdi_shower_kit.aspx\">Kerdi<\/a> membrane which was almost a keeper save the fact that for the &quot;full&quot; system, you also needed to use their special, but very cool, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.schluter.com\/8_2_kerdi_drain.aspx\">drain<\/a>. If we were doing a brand-new install (like in new construction), I&#039;d definitely select this system.<\/p>\n<p>Then there was vapor barrier and cement board in a traditional installation&#8230; but the original install didn&#039;t seem to have a shower pan or liner when we tore it out&#8230; which isn&#039;t the worst thing on slab construction, but we thought we could do a bit better than the original.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the wisdom of the folks at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnbridge.com\/vbulletin\/forumdisplay.php?f=1\">John Bridge Tile Forum<\/a>, we opted for Hardibacker and a waterproofing layer(s) of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.custombuildingproducts.com\/ProductCatalog\/SurfacePrep\/WaterproofingAntiFractureMembranes\/RedGard.aspx\">RedGard<\/a>. Hardibacker is much easier to cut that Durock or Wonderboard and it completely immune to water damage. With no barrier behind it, but a full barrier of RedGard, the shower should stay nice and dry &#8212; even dryer than a traditional shower as there should be no water penetration to the substrate. In fact, with the RedGard, I could have likely just used Drywall, but that seemed like cheating, somehow (Kerdi actually recommends drywall behind their membrane).<\/p>\n<p>Casie is calling it the &quot;death shower&quot; because of the red color. It&#039;ll be white soon enough. And hopefully waterproof.<\/p>\n<p>Update: It only took about 6 hours for Casie and I to wrap the shower in white subway tile (one by one). It&#039;s not a bad first attempt methinks and I can&#039;t think of anything we&#039;d have done differently (yet) &#8212; except maybe &quot;bricked&quot; the pattern (to hide seams, crooked lines, etc.), but that would have meant cutting a lot of 1\/2 tiles. There were some happy alignments with tile and some little nits (the corners necessitated either a sliver of tile or a lot of grout. I opted for the sliver). We learned a couple of things:<\/p>\n<p>1: the $59 4in tile saw from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harborfreight.com\/cpi\/ctaf\/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3733\">Harbor Freight<\/a> with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harborfreight.com\/cpi\/ctaf\/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=67113\">$12 diamond blade<\/a> (we found the saw on sale for $44) worked quite well for these little tiles. Granted a 12X12 would have been hard to cut, this el-cheapo tool performed wonderfully. Plus, the teeny size meant I had it next to me the whole time. It&#039;s really, really loud, though.<\/p>\n<p>2: Starting from the bottom is a must. As much as I wanted to have the top edges be a full tile and the bottom edges disappear into the floor, gravity had other ideas. As it were, we got lucky as the top courses are all full pieces.<\/p>\n<p>3: Working in teams is ideal&#8230; one person mixing thinset and getting tile and another cutting and placing. It&#039;d have been a hard job solo.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a870025d970b-popup\" style=\"float: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IMG_0688\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8345166b769e20120a870025d970b \" src=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a870025d970b-100wi.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;width: 100px\" \/><\/a>&#160;<a href=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e2012877727426970c-popup\" style=\"float: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IMG_0689\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8345166b769e2012877727426970c \" src=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e2012877727426970c-100wi.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;width: 100px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e2012877727426970c-popup\" style=\"float: left\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><\/span><\/a><a href=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a875a8d4970b-popup\" style=\"float: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IMG_0690\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8345166b769e20120a875a8d4970b \" src=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a875a8d4970b-100wi.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;width: 100px\" \/><\/a>&#160; <a href=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a955386f970b-popup\" style=\"float: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"IMG_0697\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8345166b769e20120a955386f970b \" src=\"\/redneckmodern\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/09\/6a00d8345166b769e20120a955386f970b-100wi.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;width: 100px\" \/><\/a>&#160;<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"> <\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tiling job in the bath has been a project a long-time in coming&#8230; and to be honest, I&#039;m a bit apprehensive about tackling it. I will be our first major, vertical ceramic-tile job. Maybe that&#039;s why it took 2 years to approach. But it&#039;s time &#8212; and to start, we needed a good base. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renovation-transformation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The tiling job in the bath has been a project a long-time in coming&#8230; and to be honest, I&#039;m a bit apprehensive about tackling it. I will be our first major, vertical ceramic-tile job. Maybe that&#039;s why it took 2 years to approach. But it&#039;s time &#8212; and to start, we needed a good base. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red Neck Modern\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hunter@hlwimmer.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hunter@hlwimmer.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hunter@hlwimmer.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9\"},\"headline\":\"Tiling: The first step&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"commentCount\":6,\"articleSection\":[\"Renovation \\\/\\\/ Transformation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/07\\\/tiling-the-first-step\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tiling: The first step&#8230;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/\",\"name\":\"Red Neck Modern\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9\",\"name\":\"hunter@hlwimmer.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"hunter@hlwimmer.com\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hunterwimmer.com\\\/redneckmodern\\\/author\\\/hunterhlwimmer-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern","og_description":"The tiling job in the bath has been a project a long-time in coming&#8230; and to be honest, I&#039;m a bit apprehensive about tackling it. I will be our first major, vertical ceramic-tile job. Maybe that&#039;s why it took 2 years to approach. But it&#039;s time &#8212; and to start, we needed a good base. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/","og_site_name":"Red Neck Modern","article_published_time":"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00","author":"hunter@hlwimmer.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"hunter@hlwimmer.com","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/"},"author":{"name":"hunter@hlwimmer.com","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/#\/schema\/person\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9"},"headline":"Tiling: The first step&#8230;","datePublished":"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/"},"wordCount":592,"commentCount":6,"articleSection":["Renovation \/\/ Transformation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/","url":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/","name":"Tiling: The first step... - Red Neck Modern","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-07T10:38:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/#\/schema\/person\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2010\/02\/07\/tiling-the-first-step\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tiling: The first step&#8230;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/","name":"Red Neck Modern","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/#\/schema\/person\/f948f61e7a8ebe4a47480046f550aaf9","name":"hunter@hlwimmer.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3ab7012289f4ba7f59fd6835864258730e87d1b06be6b3a053df563170c4aae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hunter@hlwimmer.com"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/author\/hunterhlwimmer-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}