How to Tile a Shower Wall

A tiled shower is a durable bathroom addition that will add value and attractiveness to any home, and tiling a shower wall is a job that many homeowners can do themselves. While tiling a shower wall isn't all that difficult, it does take a little thought and preparation beforehand. Doing the proper preparation before getting started will ensure that your tiled shower will be attractive and leak-free and will save you money on repairs that could have been avoided.

When installing a tiled shower, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you don't want it to leak. A leak can lead to mold, wood rot and other serious problems. The repairs to fix water damage along with the damage from mold and mildew can be very costly. Modern tiling materials, if installed correctly, can eliminate this risk.

In the old days, tile was often installed right onto drywall. If you've ever seen drywall when it gets wet, you have an idea of how well that usually worked. While moisture-resistant drywall can be used in the area above the shower, a cement board backer should be installed in the area that will get wet — essentially where tiles will be. Something to keep in mind when purchasing your backerboard is that it should be the same thickness as any surrounding drywall.

The backerboard is cut and installed in the same way as drywall, and there should be a 1/4-inch gap at the bottom between the cement board and the shower pan. Once the backerboard is installed, the seams and corners should be taped with backerboard fiber tape and then covered with thinset mortar, which is a cement-based tile adhesive. If desired, the entire area can then be painted with two coats of waterproofing membrane. This may seem like a bit of overkill, but the importance of making sure everything is water-resistant cannot be overstated.

Before beginning the actual tile installation, you will need to plan the tile layout as well as decide how much tile to purchase. To decide how much tile will be needed for your shower, calculate the area of each tiled wall by multiplying its height by its width and then add up the area of all the walls. Depending on the size of the tile you choose, you can determine how much is needed to cover the entire area. It's often a good idea to purchase a little extra just to be on the safe side.

When purchasing multiple boxes of tile, you'll want to check the box code to make sure that the tiles are all the same size and shade. Even if the numbers match, there can sometimes be slight irregularities. Because of this, the Tile Council of North America suggests opening all of the tile boxes to remove and stack the tiles randomly. This trick is also known as shuffling the tiles, and mixing the tiles from differing boxes will make any slight color differences less noticeable.

Once you have picked out the tiles, it is time to plan the layout of your tiling job. This can be the most time consuming and tedious part of the project, but it is also the most important. There are a couple of ways to do this. You could draw it all out on a piece of paper using scaled dimensions, but this method works better for someone with tiling experience. A simpler method is to lay a piece of rosin paper on the floor, draw an exact template of the shower wall and lay out the tile on the paper, including the tile spacers (although it's not always necessary to use spacers, depending on what kind of design you're trying to achieve).

Start your pattern by drawing a line marking the vertical center of the wall, center a tile over the line and then lay out tiles at both sides to complete an entire row from corner to corner. You don't want thin strips or slivers of tile at the corners. To ensure an attractive job, you should plan for the widest corner tiles. If your layout leaves thin corner strips, shifting the center line by half a tile length will widen your corner tiles. For exposed edge pieces, bullnose tile can be used. Bullnose tile is a trim tile with a smooth, finished edge that will eliminate sharp edges and give your tiling job a professional appearance.

Use the same layout technique with a vertical row of tiles. As with the side edges and corners, you don't want thin tiles at the top or bottom edge of your shower. For most installations, it looks better to have full tiles at the top, meaning the bottom row of tiles will need to be cut to fit. For this reason, start your layout pattern at the top of the wall.

When you are ready to start the installation, you'll actually install a level board and start with the second row from the bottom, allowing you to cut and install the bottom row after the other tiles are in place. However, if the layout leaves very thin strips at the bottom, you may need to cut both the top and bottom rows to give a more even appearance. You'll also want to leave a 1/4-inch gap between the bottom of the tile and the shower pan to fill with flexible caulk.