This project was the most challenging, interesting, and fun yet! Check out the slideshow for a really good sense of the process, from discovering that the “failing grout around one tile” was actually a harbinger of shower doom – the wrong thinset had been applied to the wrong kind of backer board, leading to water penetration, leading to mold and rot, leading to a failed shower pan, leading to failing subfloor, leading to leaking from the bottom of shower (the pan) to the floor below.
In short, the only solution was gutting the shower and starting over. I built it back out the right way and was able to improve the shower, both cosmetically, with an awesome tile design and pattern, and structurally, by raising the overall height of the shower, raising the shower head, and by installing a super efficient, vapor sealed, flush mount LED fixture.
It’s a whole new shower that totally changes the character of the bathroom. Would you like a spa like shower experience every day in your own home?!
Bonus video: HILTI makes a mean hammer drill!