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The state of my daughters bathroom this morning.

David and I are off to West Van for some more digging today and will start setting more tile in my girls bathroom after lunch.

My wife wants this done so we can move HOME!!!

This bathroom will still be in perfect shape for the grandkids. I kid you not.

The other one shows what can be done in a small one and has so much creativity. I wonder if my contractor goes to this site. I could put a niche in where my medicine cabinet is. I like the red. It's got pop. Why not. You are at it again. You don't get much sleep do you? Maggie

Maggie these niches are hard to make with sharp square angles. I make them in my shop and install before drywalling.

The display lights are protected on a dedicated GFI breaker and the lights are simple Kitchen Puck lights with a 20 volt halogen.

The secret is in the boxes design and then how you tie in the drywall. These secrets shared with me by one of Vancouver's top design teams. I did a project with them some 7 years back and have refined the process a little and have found a install technique that works great.

I'll send you one flat boxed. Let me know what size you need. My treat. You pay for shipping. I'll send you a video as well on how to install it.

One of my clients and I are working on producing these for sale and I have started talks with Home Depot to sell them through their outlets. This client owns a few manufacturing companies over seas and we take care of his wife's "To Do List" which reaches critical mass on a 18-24 month cycle...

If you visit my facebook page you will see other light features built the same way, and bookselves, and TV niches and on and on.

Thanks again for your kind words.

Lets build your bathroom! What does it look like today?

What's up with those walls? They look extremely rough for tiling over.

Hi Mongo.

Was waiting for that. My wife and I shopped and shopped for ever looking for the perfect "Old School Hand Made White Ceramic Sub Way Tile". It's out there!

We found it every where except we are way way over budget on the home and we are cutting cost where we can. $14.00 - $28.00 per square foot was not in my budget for the tiles both my wife and I love. Varied, Flawed, Bowed, Perfect...

The tiles we did buy with my discount came in at $ 2.61 per square foot but they are far from perfect because for this job we did not want perfectly uniform tiles. I used Green Eboard to build the surround and droven in some random wafer head 1 1/4" screws. I hit all the screw heads with a base of thinset when I taped the seams. We gave the walls three coats of Hydro Ban (by brush) and I have been knocking off some of the ridges as I go.

I'm trying to achieve a little lippage and little less than perfect look. I'm still mitring all the corners and building the bling but I want the install a little rough - not much.

This approach also allows for future disclaimers on miss cuts and massive lippage....

And if I where not on tight purse strings my man Bruce would be here setting this tile and complaining about the wall prep. First thing out of Bruce's mouth when he walked in is that the prep "Was no good".

But it is what I wanted and the tile is going up nice. I worked until 11:00 last night. I have found the perfect mix with my new Kevlar enhanced setting material and I felt a little dirty last night work late. It felt like I was cheating on thinset and I turned to the dark side and what was white and fluffy on my Hydro Banned walls was not thin set but in fact Mastic. It felt wrong under the trowel - to easy....

Love it.

John, what color grout are you going with?
tx!
Maia

John, I made no comment at all about your choice of tile. I think the tile choice is just fine.

I've also had "rustic" installs where the homeowner requested lippage and slight shadow instead of a wall of sleek and slick and perfectly in-plane tile.

But it's much better to control your tile installation yourself instead of having a sloppy substrate dictate it to you.

It's especially important when using a liquid membrane like HydroBan. The more imperfect the substrate surface, the more likely that you'll get inadequate membrane mil thickness in various areas of the wall during your membrane application. Even with multiple coats.

I will grout this shower white - to help hide my flaws. I wanted grey or black but the chief designer vitto that. White it is.

Mongo the walls look worse than they are. The Hydro Ban is on and coated good. It's covering and rock solid Green Eboard install which by it self would have passed code here in North Vancouver.

This approach has be difficult to work with and I will try your way next. What size trowel would you use to pull off this "Ruff Look"?

Would you mix your mud a little stiffer or looser?

My Second Year "David" is acing the grinder work and loves working the diamond pad. My man Bruce (My Tile Guro) is booked till March next year - we need to raise our game setting stone or find some new masters in our home town. Not the best timing...

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Starter courses set last night for the sloped ceiling.

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The Torpedo Level was shimmed to support the first course level.

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It's handy to keep old torpedo's that are slightly out of level for the best picture possible.... :)

7:54 AM and I can hear David mixings up more Kevlar. Got to run.

Playland after lunch with the crew! Can't wait to ride the Old Wooden Roller Coaster. And the log ride. It is going to be hot!

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Some progress pictures. David has been doing a great job on his first tile project with me and I let him finish the top courses. He love it!

Nice work David.

Here is a picture of the local Black Bear. He was out roaming my street and David and I grabbed my spears and we scared it away. This Bear was tagged and would have be shot most likely. Their where kids out and a Bear attacked an elderly lady that was just gardening last summer - This is serious stuff.

Take a look. Roughly 1200 pounds I'm told.

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Wow...that is a big bear!!! Definitely reason to stay in the house and hope he won't break through the security screens or windows as cooking smells waft throughout the neighborhood. Don't go out at night.

Bathroom is looking great, thanks for the pix. :-)

Hi johnfrwhipple, I love the lighting boxes behind the toilet. The colors look great and adds a nice touch to the bathroom. Well done!

Thanks Chris. I build them out of Medex and tie them into the drywall so they look like they where build from drywall.

Most think this and wonder how we keep the edges so sharp and square.

I love building these light features into our projects. Fireplaces and bathrooms every room needs more light.

I went to Centanni Tile today for some more training and a great free lunch.

Donny made arrangements for a Green EBoard and Laticrete presentation that was very informative and a fantastic excuse to take a break from the daily grind.

Michael demo'd Laticrete's XLT, Spectra Lock Pro Grout, Perma Colour Grout and Hydro Ban. With some killer home made Italian sausages for lunch. Nice! All the work was preformed over Green EBoard tile backer.

It's funny that I would not think to use a regular razor blade (Olfa, Box Cutter) to cut cement board. We always cut ours with a grinder. Michael scored his green Eboard cuts with a $ 3.00 razor and snapped nice clean lines. I will have to play around more with the cutting. I found I flew through the cuts with a grinder but with a "Olfa" it would be so much more quiet...

I left there with even greater confidence in Laticrete's product line and was amazed of the no sag XLT with a 2'x2' tile install on a vertical wall. Amazing.

I was pleased to meet the men behind Green Eboard and very excited about the product training and brief introduction to the range of installs this ECO friendly tile backer board can offer.

Michael touched on why the Laticrete setting materials have such great long working times but I heard and learned so much It's all blurred.

Why is again that the 255 Multi Max has such a long pot life. I love this and I'm sure this will save buckets of wasted mud from being thrown out....

I have descriptions of each picture on my PhotoBucket Account

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A tough install that took four attempts to perfect. Next time I will leave a little more room for my fingers and hands. I had to come up with some custom clips to brace and hold the white lami glass while the silicone set.

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This light feature of mine served as the inspiration but the process and the end result is much better this time around. Much cleaner. No metal trim. With this bathroom the trim repeats the detail on the make up mirror and it looks sharp. In the other bath we have used our stainless accents under our vanity to prevent any water drops from wicking into our custom made piece.

This small details make a bathroom sparkle. Often it takes very little to improve a design and the longevity of your bathroom renovation.

Saturday 1:00 PM

Our first ACO Channel Drain installation

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