Jet Family Theater build is about to begin - Page 14

Thanks Floyd, I guess you are right, do the most/worst labor intensive job first, I guess that would by shower pan, then I need buy bar cabinets and tiling. Electrical can be in between whenever I have time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Updates, I managed to get priming done before close the year, sort of, except theater room ceiling and soffit plus the cave. I feel I probably need to get some darker tinted primer so I left those area for now. Here are few pictures after primer applied, more like finished room now, pretty happy with overall tapping/mudding/sanding jobs:

First, I tried this gravity air spray gun, it doesn't work, just won't spray primer out, thinning primer a little bit didn't help, so I went to roller route:


This is the result after priming:

Stair well:


Bar area:




TV room area:


Theater entrance:


Theater screen wall:


Theater back wall:


Theater room cave and door:


Theater room north (or left wall):


As you can see, I didn't prime the ceiling, cave and soffit, soffit bottom and ceiling will be painted dark color so I thought I need darker primer for that.

On primed ceiling, if you look carefully, you can see different shade of white, I guess it was because I applied the roller on different directions when I did the ceiling.

One question though, I am not sure I applied enough primer on some area because you kind of still be able to see the unmudded area, should I apply another coat of primer or it should be fine?

I went to HD today to get some paint color cards and wife is struggling to pick on the color, she wants warm color but not too dark, so kind of orange shade but not that bright or yellowish, little bit more earth tone. Well I have let her to decide, she doesn't care inside theater room but everywhere else she takes the charge, that includes color of paint, tiles, cabinets, etc.

Haven't been updating for while, mainly because I am struggling with my bathroom build, well, it always like 3 steps forward and 2 steps backward for me. The setback, I have to re-do the shower drain and toilet drain again, mind you this is the 4th time! Now I have only one more item on my list need to be done before tiling but that is minor, here are some photos about my setback and progress.

The problem with shower drain is that it was sticking out of the concrete slab to high, almost 2" high, which means that I would have to raise the shower bed almost 4" high around wall.

The issue with the toilet drain hole is that it was 15 1/2" away from the back wall, to far out, the rough in needs to be around 12", so I have to move it closer to the back wall.

Here we go, re-open the concrete slab, I used circular saw diamond blade to cut the slab and hammer and mason chisel to break the concrete floor, what a PITA:


Bought a 2" offset toilet flange to see if it works, nope, it only moved the toilet drain hole 2" closer, still need to move another 2" or so:


So the solution is to cut out the 90 degree elbow, re-connect with a new 90 degree elbow but run it 45 degree towards back, and use a 45 degree toilet flange to bring it back to straight so it is perpendicular to the floor, but this time, it is 11" away from the wall, little too close, so I went to HD and measure the 12" rough-in toilet, 11" is fine but not much space to spare, so I have to settle on that:


Shower drain was cut down about an inch and filled back the gravels and re-cemented over:


Now move to the shower liner installation, first, I have to take out the bottom row CBUs before I can install liner since liner needs to be tucked behind the CBUs to make a nice water tight pan, another do-over of first timer stupid mistake:


Now moving to make first layer slopped mud bed. I got few 60lb bags of Sandtopping Mix from HD and couple of bags playsand as well to make so called "deck mud":


You need to make the sand and cement at 5:1 ratio to make the deck mud, so for a 60lb Sandtopping Mix, the sand:cement ratio is about 3:1, so I added about 30lb sand to the a bag of sandtopping mix and mixed well:


Now this is critical, you only need just about enough water to make the mix dampen, you can make a ball of it, but easily break it up, holding in your hand, you shouldn't feel your hand is wet, the mix should not form large chunks of crumbles:


First layer is done, slopped nicely. I compact the mix with a piece of 2x4" and a 14" trowel, then use a piece of 2x4" to screed from the drain hole around, then smooth everything out, after it is compacted, you can stand on top of it without leaving any foot print on the bed, that is how it is suppose to be, leave it over night, it is set:


Now move to install liner, you see the wood shower bench support in the picture above, I just won't be able to find a way to fold the liner around it, so I took it out, now liner is folded in that corner nicely:


Before everything is stapled on studs, I apply a bead of clear silicon caulk to seal the liner:


Fold over the shower dam and stapled on the bottom of outside:


To make water tight, I need to seal this shower dam corner, on HD website, they have a Oatey shower dam corner, but my local HD doesn't carry it, no luck with Lowes as well, so I have to make one myself:


Cut a piece of liner and cut halfway in the middle, you may not be able to see from the photo:


Glued the homemade shower dam corner on, I have to do the same on the other side too:


Now, put CBUs back, just make sure no screws below 6" from the bottom:


Tapping and mudding CBU joints, I use 2" self-stick mesh tape and thin-set mortar:






Now I have to rebuild shower bench, I got 4 pieces 4x8x16"concrete blocks from HD:


and a bag of Mason Mix (for laying concrete blocks and bricks), it contains lime so it has better property to cling on vertical surface:


Shower bench re-built:


Next, put final layer of mud bed for tiles, again, same way of making deck mud and same way of making slopped mud bed, I embedded bottom of CBUs in the final mud bed to lock them in:


The shower drain is about 3/8" above the bed for tiles, I also put down wire-mesh for shower dam:


After mud bed set, I started building shower dam with again, Mason Mix, just mix it little thicker, I use some 2x4"s and scrap OSB board as straight edges to make the dame:


Done, waiting for it to set:


That's all for now, it doesn't seem much, but took me 3 weeks, re-do the drain holes, CBUs and shower bench just cost not only money, but a lot of time. But on the bright side, I now know how to do the shower now so in the future I need to remodel my upstair bathrooms, I know how.

Thanks for the comments, drywall is a tough job, labor intensive and messy, and I don't blame you wanting to contract out.


Yeah, youtube is DIYers best friend and don't be depressed, just try to do the best you within your capability and when you look back the journey, you will be very proud of yourself as how far it has come along.


I certainly hope so and I will apply a layer of liquid waterproof membrane before tiling to make sure there will be no leak or moisture issue down the road. The product I will be using is called RedGard from HD, not cheap, $45 a gallon but it worth it. Had I knew there is a bathroom system called Kerdi Shower System, I would have used that one which make the shower build much easier, but my traditional way of doing it isn't too bad.

Just got the call, the tiles I ordered have arrived so I will pick them up after work before the snow storm coming tomorrow. The same tiles in HD are $4.48 psf but I got them from this local dealer at $2.40 psf only, big price difference!

Thanks for your approval, I make sure I have done my home work and strictly follow the book as much as I can.

I picked up tiles after work, I really like the tiles a lot, they look like slates with green and brown tones, should be looking good in bathroom. Now I need to clean up the floor and bring tiles down and lay some down on floor to test the patterns. Planed to go shop bar cabinet this weekend, but wife is sick so that might be postponed to next weekend.

Yes, I threw few pebbles there, should that be enough? Thank for you for mentioning it.

1. With 6x6" tile in bathroom, what is the joint spacing do you prefer? 1/16" or1/8" or 3/16"?
2. Tiling wall first or floor first?

Thanks, this is the tiles I bought, they are porcelain tiles, the sage ones:
http://www.marazzitile.com/series/jade

I bought both 6x6 and 13x13 (for bar area floor). So sanded grout won't scratch the glazed porcelain tiles, right? The only thing then is the joint gap size, I read 1/8" above should use sanded grout since it is structurally stronger with sands in it and under 1/8" sanded grout is not easy to get in the joint gap. I am asking because I need to buy spacers. I will lay few pieces on floor to see what gap spacing looks better.

I watch few youtube vids and they all tile wall first, so I guess it really doesn't matter as whether wall or floor first, it is personal preferrence?

A related question about thin set mortar, my tiles are darker so I think I will get the gray color mortar, is there any other difference between white and gray thin set mortar except the color? I am going to couple of bags VersaBond gray thin set mortar from HD and is that a good choice?

Thanks Tim, greatly appreciate your feedback.

I went to HD to get the following supplies for titling:

. 3 50lb bags of VersaBond gray thin-set mortar (since my tile is in gray tone)
. 2 25lb bags PolyBlend sanded grout in Delorean Gray
. One bottom of Grout sealer
. One bag (250 pc) 1/8" spacers for wall tiles and one bag (200pc) 3/16" spacers for floor tiles
. One mortar mixer
. 1 sponge
. 1 V-notch wall trowel
. 1 Square notch floor trowel
. 1 Grout float

Do I need anything else? I already have a wet saw.

Thanks Tim. I have half roll of leftover blue tape and roll of duct tape, should be enough. I have bunch of 5gal buckets left over from drywall job. The trowel I got is 1/4x1/4x1/4 for the square one. The grout sealer you mentioned, is the one is good for 20 years with one application?

Though I though I did decent job on shower pan, but I decided to give it a water test to just make sure there is no leaks. So yesterday I filled the pan with about 2" water and let it stand overnight, this morning I went down and checked, successful, no leaks.

Filled 2" waters, throw in few my son's batch ducklings:


I used a balloon, pushed it down little to pass over the drain weeping holes:



This morning checked again, water still holds:


Removed balloon, water drained out, closeup shot shows the weeping hole is not clogged, water weeps from there, pretty happy with the result:

You are right, my floor tiles are 13x13", I should probably get 1/4x3/8" trowel. The sealer you refer to is really good for 20 years with just one application? If it is true, then it definitely worth it.


I actually asked HD guy about epoxy grout, HD does not carry it but he pointed to me some kind of addictive that can be added to the grout during mixing to achieve similar results. But I just go with the regular grout, if that sealer is good for 20 years, then I will get that one so I don't have to re-seal the grout every year.

With the consecutive snow storms, I didn't get much done in past two weeks, however, I managed to get some tiles up in bathroom, and I really like the tiles that I choose and it turned out really nice, first time doing tiling, but so far I am happy with the result, it is not done, partially but the trickiest part is done, here are some pictures:

First, I lay some tiles on the floor and put spacer in between so I can get accurate measurements, I initially chose 1/8" spacer, but find out the grout line is too thin so I went to 3/16" grout gap and spacers:


Next, I install the ledge boards to allow tiles to rest on them:


Now mixing the thinset mortar:


In progress:




Note left wall upper portion is done, finished with bull nose trim:


Ready to make some inlet and panel:


This wall is done, inlet and panel looks pretty good, tiles inside panels were cut and installed at 45 degree angle, just to make the wall a little more interesting, and both wife and I like the result a lot:



That's all for now, still need to do, finishing tiling the wall and taking out ledge boards, finishing the knee wall, shower bench, shower floor and bathroom floor, grouting will be the last after all tiles installed, so it going to be another week or two.