Beginner’s Guide to Tiling Shower Walls

The basement bathroom is finally transforming from a blank canvas to a beautifully tiled oasis! This is how the basement started after the plumbers left:

Since then, we have added drywall and green board to the entire basement. Now, we are moving onto the bathroom shower tile. Oddly enough, tiling is one of my special gifts (I get all the tedious, perfectionist jobs), so if you are new to tiling and eager to learn, you are in the right place!

How hard is tiling? This is definitely one of the more in-depth projects and I would rate shower tiling as above average difficulty for DIYers. The problem is that failures can be very costly. In general, I recommend starting with a tiled backsplash or regular wall to get some experience before tiling moisture prone or direct water areas.

Our Project Installation

We have done many, many tiling projects from glass backsplashes to herringbone shower walls and floors over a variety of subfloor types. Today’s DIY project is a full bathroom with a frameless shower, toilet, sink plus vanity, and linen closet.

After installing a real marble floor in a bathroom floor years ago, I pay attention to the long-term maintenance needs when choosing materials.

For this bathroom, we chose a 12×24 porcelain tile for the wall and 8×24 grey stone plank tile for the floor. To edge the tile, we are using metal strips. We are also using Mapei Grout in the color Rain.

Why did we do the shower walls first? Since we wanted the wall tile to sit on top of the floor tile, we used a ledger board to tile all the way to the ceiling except the bottom row. Next, we installed the first few rows of the floor tile. Lastly, we removed the ledger board and did the last row of tiles so that the wall sat on top of the floor tiles. This flow worked best for our time constraints.

Preparing the Surface for Tiling

Now that we have covered the basics of how to tile, there are many, many finer points to understand. The passages below include pockets of expertise that might help you best plan your tiling project.

Removing Old Tiles and Repair Damage

Honestly, if I am going to retile a shower, I find the easiest way is to start fresh at the studs. You just don’t know if the walls are completely straight or if there are problems lurking behind that surface. Better safe than sorry.

Use a hammer or prybar to break up the old tile and throw it out along with the backing board. This will ensure that you have straight walls and no damage, mold, pests, or other problems.

Check surfaces for level and plumb

Before you ever put a single tile, check for level in relation to the other elements that may be on the same wall. You may or may not be able to fix it, but you can plan around.

• Is the ceiling edge level?
• Countertops, benches, or perhaps cabinets?
• Check for bowing or trueness of corners.

When checking for level over long spaces, use at least a laser level or 3-4 foot level like this one, not a little level.

Ensuring Proper Waterproofing

There are a few options for waterproofing walls and showers. I go into much more depth in our post on how to waterproof a shower. For this installation, we used cement board with a liquid waterproofing membrane.

Dealing with Uneven Walls

The best solution is to measure at the studs and shim the greenboard/concrete board before installing them, but there are situations where this is not possible or ideal.

From personal experience, even ceilings are a pain and may require some creative solutions. For example, in our upstairs classic bathroom remodel, the ceiling bowed heavily in the center. Since it’s a 9-foot ceiling, we only tiled up 8 feet to avoid the problem completely. In this bathroom, we patched one larger spot in the ceiling because it bowed upward. Paintable caulk that matches the ceiling color also helps disguise this.

In another bathroom, the wall measurement at the top was nearly 2 inches wider than the bottom. For that situation, we marked the center line vertically plumb. We started out from center and it’s not noticeable.

Planning and Layout

There will always be special considerations for your specific project that deciding ahead of time will make tiling much easier. Here are just some of the examples of situations we have ran into and how we solved them:

• Tiling around plumbing. In this bathroom, we lined up the tile so that the shower fixtures lined up in a vertical grout line for easier tile cuts.
• Tile Edges. You have a choice to end the tile at the edge of the shower or extend beyond it. We have done it different way such as going just to the edge in our herringbone tiled shower and we went a few inches further because of the shape of the tub in this bathroom, which you can see in my post on caulking a bathtub surround.
• Sliver Cuts. It is usually better to start in the middle and tile out to the edges, but you may end up with tiny tile in the corner, which is not ideal. Layout your tile end to end and adjust as needed. For example, we started at the corner with full tiles on each side.

• Shower Niches. In this bathroom, we wanted a very modern look, so rather than lining up the niche tile centered, we cut all of the tile to line up with the grout lines of the wall tile.

• Toilet Flange. This is more related to tile floors, but I will add it here. How we approached this was to mark the flange and cut the tile across. Then ground out the hole for the flange and installed both pieces. The crack along the tile is hidden after the toilet installation.

Pro Tip: Roughly layout your tile pattern to ensure that you won’t end up with a sliver in a corner or something else odd and adjust accordingly.

What is a Ledger Board?

On a wall, we start at the bottom because gravity might cause the tiles to slip downward. I generally recommend adding a ledger board at the bottom, where the first tile row should go – this gives an even and level surface to start your tiling job.

A ledger board is just a very straight board you screw into the wall that the tile can rest on. When the upper tiles are dry, unscrew the ledger board and tile in its place.

Normally, we place the ledger board at the height one full tile (plus room for caulk) from the bottom. However, take your specific project into consideration. In our case, the best idea was to lay the ledger board 1 inch lower so that we had a tile edge to cut for the toilet water valve.

Tile Installation Tips

• The first row is definitely the most important to get perfect. Take your time.
• Your tile type and weight will dictate what kind of tile adhesive you use. For example, we used 12×24 inch tile, so we used Large Format Tile Mortar for Wall and Floors.
• Check that you are keeping a consistent height and width with a long level every few rows.
• Tile spacers need to be sized to your desired grout joint width. The most common sizes are 1/16 and ⅛. My preference is to use these T-spacers in between tiles on the wall, these leveling spacers on floors, and these wedge spacers for areas that can vary.
• Make sure there is no lippage!!!! Every time you put up a tile, check that the tile is level/flush/even height to all the surrounding tile at every seam. I brush across the seam with my fingers or use a small level.
• Maintain a clean workspace to ensure grout mortar isn’t tracked all over the house.
• A dropped tile can easily dent, scratch, or chip bathtubs, shower pans, and other tile. So, take some time to protect surfaces by covering them with multiple layers of towels and plastic sheeting. A scrap piece of soft carpet is my favorite thing to use.
• Do not grout right above a shower pan or bathtub (a stone floor is ok to grout). That area should be sealed with waterproof silicone caulk. Check out Caulking a Shower or Bathtub.
• I prefer using a grout additive rather than water. In bathrooms that I have used it, the grout lasted longer and is more even colored.

Tips for Cutting Tile

You will definitely need a wet saw for cutting tile. For years, I used this one with most of our tile projects, but we had to upgrade because of the larger format. We got a sliding tile saw.

Straight edges are pretty self-explanatory, maintain square.

Round Cuts. This photo is my husband demonstrating how to grind off the edges if you need to cut a round hole, such as those for plumbing. The problem with these saws is that they cut at an angle so the top side will cut unevenly, like a scoop.

Drilling holes in tile. This is definitely the most difficult and I recommend layouts that avoid this. Even with special drill bits, tiles can crack. Go very slow and larger holes (over ¼ inch) can be even more difficult or require special equipment.

Pro Tip: These saws fling water and dust around frequently. Wear safety glasses and keep towels underneath the saw or saw table. I usually wear scarves to protect my hair.