Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Skistack]

Just did a master bath with Schluter Ditra (floor) and the Schluter Kerdi shower system. Ditra is about 1000% easier than cement board backer to install. My first shower install, I probably would not have attempted it without the Kerdi system. Pretty happy with the results and confident that it will not leak.

[MontuckyFried]

^^^ Austin, clue me in as to what you guys are discussing exactly. Thanks

This stuff. It rocks: https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us...TRA-XL/p/DITRA
This is also pretty baller: https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us...T/p/DITRA_HEAT
Their website has TONS of great resources on how to do all the installations. I've used a bunch of their products including the Kerdi board for my shower walls as well as their profile trim pieces (very classy looking when it's all done like that). Bunch of tile pros I've talked to said it's all they'll use now. Easier installation. Way more bullet-proof in the long run.

Here's a decent intro:

[Name Redacted]

x 2!!!

I did my last tile job using the full system all the way around. NEVER going back to that cement board crap ever again. Totally worth the extra couple bucks.


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Anyone ever use this Wedi board stuff? https://www.wedi.de/en/products/buil...uilding-board/

Used it a little on a recent project but definitely not to it's full potential. Seems like it would make a full shower install/rebuild much easier.

[::: :::]

Wedi is good too

Our preferred tile guy is married to the Schluter world so we work with that system a bunch

[MontuckyFried]

Anyone ever use this Wedi board stuff? https://www.wedi.de/en/products/buil...uilding-board/

Used it a little on a recent project but definitely not to it's full potential. Seems like it would make a full shower install/rebuild much easier.

Huh. Never seen it. It looks just like Kerdi board, though just in blue rather than orange. I bet it's every bit as good, just a different brand.

Wedi is good too

Our preferred tile guy is married to the Schluter world so we work with that system a bunch

Yeah, the reason he probably does that is if you're an installer, you pretty much have to use the entire Schluter system top to bottom for the company to honor the warranty, which is lifetime if you do that.

[Name Redacted]

Huh. Never seen it. It looks just like Kerdi board, though just in blue rather than orange. I bet it's every bit as good, just a different brand.

Yeah, I think it is a little thinner. I don't know shit, but a GC friend of mine was telling me he uses it a lot in some high end builds in the Vail valley, so I figured it was pretty decent.

[Micol]

Tile advice would be to spend a bit extra on a quality system like Schluter. They have any product you need and really good instructional videos.
I’m about to pull the trigger (sledge hammer) on our tiled shower.

hey, i would just sawsall through the drywall and cut it out each wall in one piece...lot easier....then go back with green board....then wonder or concrete board....then tile

[::: :::]

Yeah, I think it is a little thinner. I don't know shit, but a GC friend of mine was telling me he uses it a lot in some high end builds in the Vail valley, so I figured it was pretty decent.

i've heard subs tell me one is better than the other, but i think they all get factory training & ultimately have a financial stake in using one vs the other per warrantees & preferred pricing

for all intents & purposes, they are of high quality & basically interchangeable

[MontuckyFried]

hey, i would just sawsall through the drywall and cut it out each wall in one piece...lot easier....

That may be, but taking a sledge to a wall is a WHOLE lot more fun than doing it the tidy way. I'm with ya, though. Cleanup's much easier using a saw. Still. Not as fun.

i've heard subs tell me one is better than the other, but i think they all get factory training & ultimately have a financial stake in using one vs the other per warrantees & preferred pricing

for all intents & purposes, they are of high quality & basically interchangeable

Yup. Spot on.

[RootSkier]

Just make sure you use the premixed "thinset" and grout out of the big tub. You can use the same product for both.






























Just fucking kidding. Don't be that guy.

[fastfred]

^^^
LOL root skier that was good

[old goat]

That may be, but taking a sledge to a wall is a WHOLE lot more fun than doing it the tidy way. I'm with ya, though. Cleanup's much easier using a saw. Still. Not as fun.

Seems like the sawzall would be a whole lot dustier.
BTW the proper tool is the maul.

[criscam]

All right I have another pergola question...
Pergola will be freestanding on back patio. Approx dims are 12’x10’ (centers of posts).Planning on 6x6 posts. Beams will be two 2x’s resting in notched posts (so four 2x’s total). Planning on running rafters on top (notching about 1.5” so they sit down into beam) then maybe some 1x purlins on top of rafters. Height to bottom of beam will be approx 8’.
Trying to determine beam and rafter size. Wondering about strength (be nice to hang a hammock if possible) as well as appearance. Thinking beams should be one size up from rafters.
Was leaning 2x10 for beams and 2x8 for rafters. Or one size down?Hard for me to picture.
Any insight?


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[schuss]

Yeah, schluter or equivalent all the way. I also did the epoxy grout, but note if you do that you're on a timer from when you mix to when it will no longer come off the tile.
Follow the instructions on the schluter/wedi stuff (need 2 kinds of thinset), be patient and layout your tile so you can cut before the big pour/setting.

[snoqpass]

Seems like the sawzall would be a whole lot dustier.
BTW the proper tool is the maul.

You can hook a sawzall up to a dust extractor these days and not breathe that shit in and make a giant mess,

[MontuckyFried]

Seems like the sawzall would be a whole lot dustier.
BTW the proper tool is the maul.

Oh doy. The maul is the correct answer.

You can hook a sawzall up to a dust extractor these days and not breathe that shit in and make a giant mess,

Yup! Also like to use my Roto-Zip sometimes. Has a nice little attachment to plug it right up to the shop vac. Works great! If I gotta get more precise or up against edges though, I like my oscillating multitool and just hold the shop vac to catch the dust as it falls out. Easy.

[iceman]

BTW the proper tool is the maul.

A man after my own heart.

we installed Schluter and used the linear drains in the showers and are happy with the result.

[Buster Highmen]

How does the Schluter system provide enough rigidity for the grout not to crack?

[::: :::]

How does the Schluter system provide enough rigidity for the grout not to crack?

i've wondered that myself, but it does - i'll have to ask my tile guy
i know he only uses the foam panels now

they even do independent partitions with just the board

[Buster Highmen]

We've done some tile in a couple houses we've finished (finishing…) and have gone the whole max route with screwing down the cement board and painting that with that black sealant.

My wife is a perfectionist in laying the tile. She did our first house bathroom in cream 12" travertine with super thin grout spacing, reviewed by Bill Gate's personal contractor as professionally perfect.

She did a killer job on a bathroom in the new house with custom tiles and here vv is the layout, again with custom tiles in the entryway, prepped in the same way (haven't buttered and grouted yet obviously)



So all that prep is a done deal. My wife cut and laid out this ^^ from 4"x4" tiles.

But now, we going to finish a sunroom as a solar collector in dark green slate. I wouldn't mind skipping the days of measuring, cutting and placing the cement board nor the joy of painting the black sealant goo. I'd do this Schluter system if I understood why the grout wouldn't crack.

We've also got a steamshower and master bath with tubsurround to finish.

[::: :::]

tile guy response

schluter vs wedi: wedi ultimately relies on a sealant joint (whereas schluter relies on a 5" flashing that spans joints) & that opens up the ability for problems to form, but he agreed that installed correctly, it's great/reliable

schluter flex: Grout does flex on a micro level so it can handle a certain amount of movement before cracks occur. The board thickness is stipulated by tile size & joint size per Schluter rules. You have to work with their rules based on substrate makeup, but they pretty much have it dialed. And there are still needs for soft relief joints (ie, inside corners). He described test sample installs they did in training that proved how bomber everything ends up.

[Buster Highmen]

Is substrate makeup defined by sheathing and studs/joists?

btw, my dad's side of the family is from Paisley. He's kind of first gen.

[::: :::]

Is substrate makeup defined by sheathing and studs/joists?

yes, substrate is all those things, but you have options, either based on what's there already (existing) or what you choose to put up (new const). You can go straight foam over studs or put up sheet rock/cement board/green board. Schluter has rules for each.

btw, my dad's side of the family is from Paisley. He's kind of first gen.

my grandparents had a place not far from there (Clarkston, just directly south of Glasgow) that i visited growing up. i think my dad's house growing up was on the other side of the river nearer downtown glasgow proper...i'd have to ask him

[::: :::]

All right I have another pergola question...
Pergola will be freestanding on back patio. Approx dims are 12’x10’ (centers of posts).Planning on 6x6 posts. Beams will be two 2x’s resting in notched posts (so four 2x’s total). Planning on running rafters on top (notching about 1.5” so they sit down into beam) then maybe some 1x purlins on top of rafters. Height to bottom of beam will be approx 8’.
Trying to determine beam and rafter size. Wondering about strength (be nice to hang a hammock if possible) as well as appearance. Thinking beams should be one size up from rafters.
Was leaning 2x10 for beams and 2x8 for rafters. Or one size down?Hard for me to picture.
Any insight?


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(I have to admit I'm having trouble visualizing your arrangement...)

beams aside, i think you might have trouble with the hammock idea because there isn't anything really bracing this structure diagonally...so you might get sway, or worse

For lateral restraint, you can:
1) mimic a pole building & have a deep set post (basically cantilevering up out of the ground & restrained by the strength of the posts); or
2) have a design that has either sheathing or diag corner brackets resisting the out-of-plane forces [you seem to be in this world based on your footing ques earlier]

I think what might determine your sizes for a small structure like this is more likely what looks good proportionally for timber framing (bigger likely better & showing differential btwn sizes of sub-elements).

[criscam]

(I have to admit I'm having trouble visualizing your arrangement...)

beams aside, i think you might have trouble with the hammock idea because there isn't anything really bracing this structure diagonally...so you might get sway, or worse

For lateral restraint, you can:
1) mimic a pole building & have a deep set post (basically cantilevering up out of the ground & restrained by the strength of the posts); or
2) have a design that has either sheathing or diag corner brackets resisting the out-of-plane forces [you seem to be in this world based on your footing ques earlier]

I think what might determine your sizes for a small structure like this is more likely what looks good proportionally for timber framing (bigger likely better & showing differential btwn sizes of sub-elements).

basically something like this


yea posts will be set on top of footings and anchored in w post bases. the sway thing kinda makes sense but it will/should be pretty rigid when all said and done so...
i think i'm leaning toward 2x10 beams and 2x8 rafters (and 1x purlins) but...