Tiling over Tile | Week 5 & 6 | Spring 2020 One Room Challenge

This was a big week for our One Room Challenge master bathroom! We tiled over the accent tile! WHHAAAAT???? I hear ya. This was a scary and risky thing to do. There is little to no advice or How To’s on tiling over tile in a shower. There are some YouTube videos of the shower walls, but very little info from months of searching on how to do it on the floor of the shower. Since the floor is what the water sits on directly we wanted to make sure this is something that would work and not damage the entire shower over time and use. Let me dig in and share how we did this and how it was an affordable option.

First, I wanted to share that this is technically Week 5 and Week 6 rolled into one. The One Room Challenge creators put the challenge on pause for a week to support the Black Lives Matter movement. This is a historic time in our lives. I appreciated having the week to educate myself on these major issues. I hope we can continue to move forward together and united.

I had so many people ask about why I didn’t just rip out the whole thing and do a new shower all together. So, let me explain. We chose to do this room for the challenge because this bathroom was recently remodeled when we moved in 2.5 years ago, but it wasn’t our style. The goal of this project was to use as much of what we already had and not spend money on things we didn’t need to. Another reason we didn’t just replace the shower is because almost the entire room is covered in the same tile. If we ripped out the shower we would essentially have to rip out the whole bathroom. We simply couldn’t justify or afford to rip out a perfectly good bathroom and replace it. The only part I wanted to cover is the glass accent tile that is on the back and around the base. As you can see below, these glass tiles were blues and browns and didn’t go with this new bathroom design and style.

Another question I received, why don’t you just rip out the accent tile and replace it? If we ripped out the accent tile there is a high probability that we would be damaging the water proof membrane. This is a layer that goes under the tile and over the backer board and seals the space so that there is no water damage. We were advised by multiple professionals not to rip out the tile. There was a good chance we would be risking mold and major damage if we did and that was not a risk we were willing to take.

Now, let’s get to the good stuff! First, I cleaned the shower with a bleach toilet bowl cleaner. It helped to kill mildew or anything on the tile that we were covering up. I definitely didn’t want to leave room for anything nasty to grow underneath.

Next, we taped off the area that we were tiling to keep any primer from getting on the tiles we were not covering up. We used Eco Prim Grip primer. We covered the entire space that we are tiling over in this and let it sit for 24 hours.

I chose a long black tile to cover the accent tile areas. The base is framed in the black tiles, but in the middle we chose to use the same tile that is underneath, but we cut them a different size so we could create a more interesting pattern as seen below. Luckily, we had extra, large pieces of this tile from the previous owners that we were able to cut to whatever size we wanted for the floor. This saved us a chunk of money. We decided to make the tiles 3×6. For a tile floor it’s not recommended to have tiles bigger than 6 inches so you can keep a steady slope for the water to drain properly.

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Once we cut all the tile, we dry fit it in the floor with spacers. We wanted to make sure it fit in this shape just right. It was difficult to get the tiles to line up straight, but once you add the grout it isn’t very noticeable.

I took each piece out and laid it on the floor so when I put them back in they would fit the exact same. We got the thinset mixed and applied it with a trowel in the section we were doing. We did a small section at a time so that it didn’t dry out in the process.

We tiled the floor with the thinset and waited 24 hours for it to set before standing on it to do the accent wall tile. We didn’t want to risk moving any of the pieces when standing on it. The next day we tiled the wall and waited another 24 hours before grouting all of it. We chose to use the same sand colored grout that was already throughout the bathroom. That has to cure for approximately 3 days before we are able to shower in here. We have a couple more days before we can test it out. I will update you on how that goes in next weeks blog.

One of the major challenges with tiling the floor was raising the drain up. Looking online and finding a drain extender was not easy. We found one that we thought would work, but after being delayed in shipping and putting us a week behind schedule, it came and was the wrong size! After yet another trip to the hardware store, we got creative. We took a drain the same size and cut off the top part and used the rings that it came with as a spacer and grouted them all in. Now, the drain is extended and reaches just under the top of the new layer of tile.

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Since we took the shower head and hardware off to tile we decided to give them a face lift too. There was a lot of build up on these pieces since we have a lot of minerals in our water here in Utah. I soaked them in hot water and vinegar. In just a few hours they were all clean and ready for some spray paint. Last Spring’s One Room Challenge my friend Miranda of Blue Agate Abode spray painted her shower hardware. Her’s still looks great even a year later. That gave me the confidence to try it on mine. I bought this automotive Primer and Paint spray paint at the auto part store. This paint is meant to hold up in all weather. We masked off the area that has the tiny holes that the water comes out of. I didn’t want to risk clogging those. We went with satin black paint and I love it!

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The shower now looks sleek and modern! The black tiles really pop and tie the room together. I am so happy we took the risk because it’s definitely paying off.

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I recommend heading over to check out the Featured Designers and other Guest Designers!

This week we will be taking some basic barn doors and giving them an overhaul! Follow my stories on Instagram to see it come together! Here is Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 to look back on what we’ve already done so far.

Cheers Friends,

Jenasie