This past week has included a few things, the biggest one would be prepping for our tile!
There are several areas that will have tile. The laundry room and pantry flooring, the guest bathroom and master bath flooring, and the tile around and behind the shower and guest bath tub.
First, in the vertical surfaces, instead of drywall, they put up Hardie Cement Backer Board...Key features:
- Moisture Resistance: Resists water damage, making it ideal for showers and tub surrounds.
- Strength: Provides a solid base that prevents tile cracking due to flexing or movement.
- Mold Resistance: Includes additives like Hardie’s MoldBlock technology to inhibit mold growth.
After they put that up, they could stop there, but they go one step further and in addition to the special waterproofing cement board, they use this product.
RedGard is a liquid-applied, waterproofing and crack prevention membrane that is made by Custom Building Products. It is mainly used in tile and stone installs to create a waterproof barrier and reduce the risk of cracks in the underneath transferring to the tile. From their website: Here's what it does:
Waterproofing: RedGard forms a continuous, flexible membrane that prevents water penetration, making it ideal for wet areas like showers, bathtubs, bathrooms, and outdoor applications such as pools or water features. It protects underlying substrates (e.g., cement board, concrete, or drywall) from water damage and mold growth.
Crack Prevention: It acts as a crack isolation membrane, absorbing minor substrate movements (up to 1/8 inch) to prevent cracks in the tile or stone surface. This is particularly useful for floors or walls prone to slight shifting or stress.
Vapor Barrier: RedGard can be used as a moisture vapor barrier under various floor coverings, including tile, wood, or resilient flooring, especially in slab-on-grade applications.
Adhesion: It bonds directly to clean surfaces like cement backer boards, concrete, and metal or plastic drain assemblies, providing a strong base for tile installation with thinset mortar.
It goes on pink, like bright pink! But as it dries, it darkens until it becomes red. The end result is this:
Here is the shower in the master bath. The shower head is on the wall and then the pipe coming down from the ceiling is the rain shower head.
Here's another angle. Oh and guess what else? You can see that they installed our bench seat!
More on that at the end of this post.
Here is the guest bath, the tiling will go all the way to the ceiling just as in the master bath shower. We wanted the look to be consistent. As one of the builders said, it's maximum impact for not much more expense. Win/win!
For the flooring, they put down something else, didn't get the name of it but it goes down for the same purpose as the RedGard:
Moisture Protection: Concrete slabs are porous and can absorb water, leading to damage or mold. A waterproofing membrane seals the slab which is critical in wet areas.
Crack Prevention: Slabs can develop hairline cracks due to settling or temperature changes. A membrane isolates these cracks so they don’t affect the tile.
Adhesion: Provides a uniform surface for thinset mortar to bond tiles effectively.
Code Compliance: In wet areas like showers, building codes (e.g., Uniform Plumbing Code) often require a waterproof barrier under tile to prevent leaks.
Here it is in the laundry room since that is another wet area. They also did the flooring in the pantry since it will be tiled and then both bathroom floors.
Thought this would be a fun picture. I sat on the shower bench, leaned my back against the wall and took this picture to show you the size. There will also be a a grab bar mounted on the wall under the window (maybe to help get up from this bench in the future).
