Installing an led light into a shower niche

Lighting is best layered in my opinion and one of the best new layers to our bathroom lighting designs has been the incorporation of LED lighting.  I have been using lights and lighting for over a decade here in Vancouver in all types of installs and set ups.  I have learned many wonderful tips on installing LED lighting from some of Vancouver's top builders and designers.

What I took from these prior experience is the magical effect light has on a space and how much you enjoy that space when you use it.

I'm not an electrician nor do I claim to be.  What I know well is how to build showers and what I have found is that with a little effort and smart design you can incorporate lighting into these shower builds with little effort and really little added material costs.

My three secrets to a successful install is

1). Have enough light and have lots of it

2). Diffuse the light so you do not see dots of light but rather an even glow

3). Have the ability to dim the light

You do not want your bathroom to look like a disco so these lights should be on their own circuit.  This way you can enjoy the colour or added light when you want it and switch it off when you don't.

One of my most popular "Private Photo Albums" is the LED lighting one I have here.  You will need to sign up to view the pictures and get the password.  Currently there is over 400 pictures showing various construction photo's on my building process.

LED lighting is normally a 12 volt DC power supply.  That said it's not a good idea to have any power in your shower so when we design our systems they are designed to be top lit or side lit.

Here is a look at various ways of using LED lighting in your home;

Bathroom Lighting Ideas - Designing with LED's

Our most recent projects are heavily lit with LED lighting.  A great designer here in Vancouver is a man named Holger Hoo's - much of what we have learned was with the help of this design forward thinker.  Check out his bathrooms here.

This is a great shot of a side lit shower niche.  You might notice as well that we side lit the shower glass.  All the play by play pictures are include in my "Private Ideabook".  You can gain access to these pictures by following the links in the top right corner of this page.

JW

ANSI Shear Testing Procedures for thin-sets: Which is the best thin-set for your curbless shower?

There are many tests quoted and sited online that reference ANSI this and ANSI that.  What is the best for your next barrier free shower when planning a curbless shower build?  This is a great question and one that is near impossible to have answered by anybody.

The problem as I see it is that the manufactures develop products and do their own testing.  Then the ANSI needs to check that they fit the parameters of the different specifications.  So you can pass or fail and of course we do not see the products that fail the tests.

So how can you test your own products? I'm developing a simple test that can be rigged up anywhere.  All you need is scrap building materials, a C-Clamp, some rope and time.  Is that old bag of thin-set gone bad?  maybe - maybe not.  This test should help answer a lot of questions I have on the pros and cons of many products designed to help us build our barrier free no curb showers.

I started this concept after promising my Ardex rep that I would test out his new Ditra Adhesive AF 207.  I need to know how strong my installs are before testing the AF 207 or else I have no reference to compare the data.

I prepare my floors outside the showers one of two ways.

1). I used 1/2" concrete board over the plywood
2). I use Ditra to cover the plywood subfloor

Both systems have served me well over these past twelve years building bathrooms here in Vancouver.

So I decide to use one of my favourite thin-sets as the bench mark.  I used Latcicrete's 254 Platinum thin-set to start of my testing.  Here is a look at the data so far.

So far we have weighted the single common brick with over 750 pounds of water.  Each can weighing in at over 150 pounds.  Five cans all day.

One rope failed and we left the test yesterday with 600 pounds and in the morning it is still sitting pretty.


I will expand on the method and post my findings soon.  For more info on this test check out Terry Love's plumbing forum.

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?51383-SpiderWeb-II-Review-of-Custom-Building-Products-new-Uncoupling-Mat

Laticrete's PermaColor Grout - Getting the water ratio just right with a digital scale and measuring cup

After a long search we finally found the perfect colour for our latest shower project.  The wall tiles are a large ceramic tile from Porceleonsa called Blanco Ono.  The tile has an off white colour and is not yellow like almond but more an earthy tan colour.  Finding the right grout colour was a chore.

Typically I have been using either Laticrete's Epoxy Grout (Shower floors Only for me) or Mapei's Ultra Colour Plus.  I had not used Permacolor yet from Laticrete but when shopping at my supplier notice that the "Bright White" grout sample from Laticrete is more of an "Off White".  We decided to try it out.

The colour match is outstanding.  The grout looks so good with the tile.

You can see in this picture the grout getting installed.  This grout will lighten and be almost a perfect colour match.  We did find that the water portion labelled on the bag to be a little odd.  When we mixed a small portion of grout we followed this process.

The bag said to use approximatetly 2 quarts or 1.9 Liters of water for the entire 25 pound bag.  We find it easier to measure small lots in mL so we used 1.9L as 1900 mL and then took 10% of this and measured out 190mL to 2.5 pounds of powder.  A 10% mix.

It is so important to test out these products before jumping in on a job.  We found that this mix was far to loose and looser than any grout we have mixed to date.  I got scared and called off the batch.  We decided to go with a stiffer mix and used this formula instead.

We used 380 mL of water (20% of full bag mix) but raised the powder measurement up 20%.  So instead of using 5pounds of powder for 20% we used 6 pounds of powder.  I doubled the batch to make measuring more accurate.  This way we could aim for a line on the measuring cup (380 mark) vs a half way distance between two marks.

380 mL of water we used to 6 pounds of powder

Notice we use de-mineralized water and my wife's kitchen scale for this process
Kelly loves this! Me using her scale....lol

These food scales are priceless and allow exact measuring.
Once the scale is calibrated it only measures the product and not the container.

Once we mixed this up we allowed it to slake for 5 minutes and then we re-spun the grout.  Even with this altered formula the grout was a little to wet (loose) for my likening so we let is sit for another 10 minutes before applying.  This was the winning mix for us.  I found the grout excellent to spread and the consistency was great. This is a rapid setting grout so I worked quickly and continued to mix the remaining grout in the bucket.  I could feel the mix getting stiffer and would recommend calculating enough grout for each wall.  I did the three shower walls in two passes but next time would do it in three.

We managed to get two of the three shower walls grouted with this batch and then mixed a 10% batch for the final wall.  To keep things the same we used 190 mL of water to 3 pounds of powder.  Let it slake for 5 minutes then respun the grout.  Then we let it stand for ten minutes before using.  This happened while I was cleaning off the first two walls.  Knowing it would take me a little time I had my apprentice jump on the second batch before I needed it.

Testing.  Trying out.  Mocking up.  Three things that always come back to improve the end result of a project.  Mapei's white grout is to white for this tile and not a good match.  The Laticrete grout almost made just for this tile.  Thanks to our due diligence we avoided a disaster on the job site.  Always test your products before using them in your home!

If you would like more information on PermaColor Grout from Laticrete it can be found here.

http://www.laticrete.com/portals/0/datasheets/ds2500.pdf

This is a rapid setting grout and is a type of product we have a lot of experience with.  Using rapid setting grouts can be tricky and I would not suggest them for a first time user.  Grout is cheap.  If you want to use a premium grout like this prepare a large sample board and do a small lot batch.

Here is a little peak at the first 10% batch we made up.  You can see in the video how loose the mix is.  Clearly here in Vancouver at this time of the year the water ratio was to high for this grout.

Getting the water ratio just right for

PermaColor Grout

The bucket is moving so you can get a feel 

for the consistency in the original mix.

Test. Test. Test.  It is the only way to be safe and ensure you do the best possible job.  A grout sample board is one of the simplest safe guards for your new shower renovation.  Skipping a sample board and skipping safe guards like these can only save your time and money.  Get these steps wrong and you need to live with it forever.  Or spend hundreds if not thousands more in repairs and "Do-Overs".

This was our first experience with Latecrete's PermaColor grout.  We are huge fans of Latecrete and their products and I'm sure with a few more installations only improve on the grouting process.  I did not wait as long as I should I think on the last wall.

Look closely at this photo and you can see how a hair of the grout got raked away in the cleaning process.

I went back yesterday and worked a little off the clock to fix this.  As far as colour matching the "Bright White" is not white.  It's off white and a perfect match for this tile.

Here are a few close ups of the miter and the grout colour alongside the tile choice;

Outside corner - mitered edge

Here you can see the glass coming right out of the tile
We used Ardex 8+9 to darken the edges of the tile prior to silicone

What a killer colour match!

If your looking for more grouting tips on Laticrete's products you can sign up for my private photo albums.

JW

Using A Kerdi Board Niche in your new barrier free shower - Good Idea? or Not?

Building a barrier free shower is a very detailed procedure.  If you have decided to use Schluter System's waterproofing products you may be enticed into purchasing one of their ready made or pre-fabricated Kerdi Board Shower Niches.

I viewed them yesterday for the first time and like my review of Kerdi Board think they suffer from poor design and are far to over priced for what you get.

I went out to Ames Bros in Burnaby to purchase a small lot of uncoupling membrane for a new series of test yesterday and stumbled upon Schluter System's new shower niche's on display. The shower niches are made from Kerdi Board and what looks like a type of silicone. I was surprised to see that Schluter did not think to design a slope into the niche. I think this is a huge oversight but something that can easily be fixed.

Just in case I was mistaken I used my wife's Air Miles Card to check to see if the niche had a slope.

Here is a recent Idea Book of mine on Houzz that offers up a few more pictures;

This is a view looking into the Kerdi Board Niche
Notice the Air Miles card makes contact fully on the side and bottom

One of the other draw backs for this new prefabricated shower niche is the use of some kind of silicone product (looks like) to build them.  The face edge is a mitered corner and the install sheets do not show wrapping this with Kerdi.  Again I think this is a mistake and I would strongly recommend anyone using this niche to add in a sloped bottom and wrap Kerdi from the face of the shower into the niche to seal this corner.

This is another type of ready made niche.  A much better design.
Notice the bottom is sloped.

No slope on the Kerdi Board Niche.

This is a custom niche I made.  I used Kerdi Fix and Kerdi Corners for the waterproofing
with some Ardex 8+9 as well.  This niche is custom sized and has a slope below
the bottom tile.  Not to much effort in making them from scratch.

Click the left and right arrows in the lower left corner of this picture to see more shots on my Houzz Idea Book

To Uncouple or not to uncouple? - A closer look at using an uncoupling membrane on your next no curb shower

I have never liked the term uncoupling membrane and think the concept is a little bit of a stretch.  What I can tell you is that over the past 12 years of installing Ditra we have never once had a failure and this is why we started using it in the first place.

I remember reading an article in Fine Home Building about 12 years ago and a builder back East in New York referenced the drop in call backs he has realized since switching to Ditra for his tile underlayment preparation.  That struck a cord with me and I have been using Ditra on many of my installations (nearly all) ever since.

I have a bitter sweet thing going on with Schluter and for years blasted this company over silly standards and many times crappy advice (my opinion).  Just of late I have switched to using tile setting products from Ardex and since then been able to go back to using more of Schluter's products with my shower builds.

The key to me is in the bonding of the tile to the floor or to the waterproofing.  I'm a huge fan of working with modified thinsets and sadly Ditra (by Schluter) does not endorse this practice.  Here in lies my beef with the company.  That's a long story and I'll save it for another day.  What I do find interesting is that Ardex has come up with a better warranty and includes the use of Ditra and Kerdi in their installations.  This I find fantastic.

So as I see it there is two ways of installing Ditra and you need to pick one.  Ditra has a new competitor out and the product is called SpiderWeb II.

SpiderWeb II Video Slideshow

 I loved SpiderWeb and am not sure why they changed it.  Take a look at this ideabook of mine on Houzz and you can get a better idea of what SpiderWeb I & II look like.

SpiderWeb II - Uncoupling Mat

Houzz- Kitchen, Bathroom and More »

Find Home Improvement Professionals- For Example:

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Tomorrow I'll do a new Ideabook for Ditra.  Then we can discuss the Pros and Cons of each.

Update April 24, 2013

So yesterday we started the testing of Spider Web 2 vs Ditra and Noble Seal TS

I have uploaded a ton of pictures over on Terry Love's plumbing forum.

You can see them here.

JW