Tile grout selection

Grout color selection is a little more important that just matching the color or decor of your remodeling project. Although color matching is the most obvious part of the grout selection process, there are other important factors to consider before choosing the grout colors for your bathroom or kitchen tile project.

Some of the reasons to select one grout over the other are because of clean-ability. Some grouts will hide dirt more than others, but dirt hiding is not the same as clean-ability. Also, some additives make a grout more robust than others, and these additives can be a standard feature of some grouts, while not in others.

Click for full details on selecting tile grout for your kitchen or bath remodeling project.

Bathroom tile installation

There’s been a lot of work leading up to bathroom tile installation, and that day is finally arrived at bathroom-remodeling-pictures.com. The bathroom floor tile will be done, along with the shower tile, and it looks like it will take a few days to complete.

Having gotten through all the water barrier preparation - things like tar paper, hot mop tar, and floating mortar bad, the tile will be installed beginning from the flooring and working up. Spaces will be used to maintain an equal distance between tiles, and then grout will be applied as the final step. See how it all works and these great pictures of the processes and progress at Bathroom Tile.

Bathroom floor tile

There’s no doubt the shower stall should be floated with mortar instead of using concrete backer board. Some contractors will use backer board instead of floating but you would only allow this if you are readying your home for a sale, and don’t mind screwing over your buyer. Karma will hopefully take care of the latter, but we’re talking about the bathroom floor here, not the shower stall floor.

When it comes to the bathroom floor, some contractors will still insist on floating mortar, while others believe that using cement backer board for this area is acceptable. This decision is where external factors come into play - your better judgment, trust in what your preferred contractor says, and show stopper of all - the cement backer board guide available at bathroom-remodeling-pictures.com

Floating the shower stall

The final moisture block before the shower tile can be installed is the floating of the mortar. There are less expensive preperations that you can opt for, but there are compramises envolved in doing this. When you need to make this decision you need to consider these pros and cons and what the big picture means to you and your budget.

Floating mortar or cement backer board, you will need to decide which way you’re going to go, and what is right for your situation. Since floating mortar is more labor intensive that installing backerboard you’ll need to make a decision. While it may seem obvious to go with the less expensive option, be forward that there are some major drawbacks when it comes the using backerboard. Get the full scoop on floating mortar vs cement backer board at kitchen & bath remodeling pictures - shower stall

Tar paper water barrier

Tar paper is one of those things that we’ve probably all seen around or installed at some point or another, but what is it really - I mean what makes tar paper - could it really be as obvious and simple as the name implies? And does it really do anything to prevent moisture intrusion which eventually results in rot? Why wouldn’t something like plastic tarp material provide for an even more effective barrier to water intrusion than tar paper?

Typically, tar paper is simply stapled to the layer beneath it. In the example tar paper bathroom shower stall we can see exactly how tar paper is installed in some of the finer points of getting all your surfaces covered with the material, leaving noting exposed to elements directly.

Granite countertops - putting cost aside for a moment

There’s two types of kitchen counter tops. There’s the normal old tile or formica that can indeed be designed and installed to look terrific and really give your kitchen a sense of sophistication and class. But when it comes to sophistication and class, there’s nothing that beats the granite kitchen counter top. There are some really cool, textured formica patterns out these days and some great new composite concrete like materials too. But none of them look as good as granite.

If you need some help justifying the added expense of a granite kitchen counter top, then be sure to stop by kitchen remodeling pictures and have a look at Granite counter tops. If you’re not convinced, then the other materials really are best for you. But you owe it to yourself to at least see.

A well sealed and maintained granite will keep it’s mirror like shine for many years. Your friends, family, or neighbors might have granite that is dull and doesn’t pop at all. It probably did on the day it was installed, but abrasive cleaners, gritty particles under slidey things, and using chemicals like ammonia can take their toll.

Preparing a shower stall for tile - tar hot moping

A large bathroom remodeling project probably includes a new shower stall. Once the old shower space is demolished and the new one framed in with plywood at 2×4s the next step is to get the shower pan hot mopped as one of the may barriers against water intrusion.

But one big surprise can be the amount of smoke in the house, and if you have indoor pets, infants or other family members that can’t just go outside for an hour or two, then you need to be prepared since your contractor probably wont warn you. Here’s a good article on preparing for a shower pan hot mop job with indoor pets or other less mobile people.

Shower plumbing fixtures

High quality plumbing fixtures must be used in any good bathroom remodeling project. They are expensive, but they cannot be replaced once the remodeling project is complete with tile, or whatever you plan to use in your shower stall. The only way to replace any shower valves and fixtures is to tear out the tile to expose the wall behind in order to do the work

That would be a terrible waste of money to redo all that work for quality plumbing fixtures that should have been used in the first place. Trying to save money on plumbing fixtures is a farse - it will only cost you more money in the end than having shower plumbing fixtures installed in the first place. Further confirmation of this can be seen at TheRemodeledBathroom.

Selecting a shower door company

Some contractors are just plain awful. There are some tell tale signs that you can rely on when determining if a contractor is on the level. If you are remodeling your bathroom and including a new frameless shower door then you’re going to need to be able to sort out the real contractors from the clowns.

Read up on some of the possible problems that you can run into with a contractor, and what to do to avoid getting tangled up with one who will do a terrible job, the likes of which a 5 year old could do better.

The value of glass shower door sealant coating products

If you’re considering a clear shower door as part of your bathroom remodeling project then you no doubt know already that squeegeeing off the water after each use is required to maintain the clearness and beauty of your new shower door. This can be a real drag, especially when you’ve overslept and are late for work.

You might have heard of coating systems and decided wither they’re too expensive, offer little in the way of benefit, and can easily be damaged with chemical cleaners, rendering it ineffective. Well, there are some options, and not all coating systems are created equal. See this homeowners experience and what he did for a clear shower glass glass sealing.