Amy Matthews: Well there’s the first part of your shower, the glass door. I think it’s going to be really nice.

Kristine Yeah, I think it’s just going to work perfectly. We actually found the shower from a company called OBEN which is out in New Zealand and it’s supposed to be pretty easy to install.

Amy Matthews: Yeah. I think it will be. There are only five major components to the putting the shower together. So let’s take a look at how it works. Let’s grab one of these door posts here and that’s going to connect to the door right here.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And then there’s going to be a glass panel that connects that to the wall. And this is already pre-plumbed, so if you’ll take a look, you’ll see where the water jets are going to come through.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And the same thing is going to happen on this other side. There’s going to be another door post with your jets, and then the glass panel connecting that to the wall.

Kristine: Perfect.

Amy Matthews: So it came with pretty detailed instructions to take us through step-by-step.

Kristine: So how do we start?

Amy Matthews: Well, the first part is already done.

Amy Matthews: The first step was to install the shower base that came with the glass enclosure system. The water supply flows in the pipes inside the base. Water from the base then flows up to the four body jets built-in to the door posts.

Amy Matthews: Alright Kristine well, if you take a look down here you’ll see where these door posts are going to go. They’re going to set up something like that.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And the first thing that we need to do to get this in place is drill some holes in here to connect the glass so we can get this stabilized.

Kristine: Perfect.

Amy Matthews: And you know, even though some of these directions are pretty specific to your particular shower system, it’s not really that different than most showers around that you’ve put in.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: Using a hammer drill with a quarter-inch masonry bit will drill holes for the glass support brackets then tap-in plastic anchors.

Now, while Kristine holds the door posts, I’ll make the water hook-up by connecting the flex hose inside the posts to the fitting in the base. Don’t over tighten it.

Then temporarily stand the post in place using Meckam locking system at the base. We’re ready for the first flat piece of glass. To handle it safely, use a heavy duty suction cap which is available at most rental centers for $15.00 a day. Carefully slide the glass panel into the channel in the doorpost which is lined with a silicone glazing strip. Once the glass is in position, gently twist the doorpost until you feel the cam at the base locked into place.

Amy Matthews: Do you feel it's locked in the place?

Kristine: Yeah, I heard that.

Amy Matthews: For the time being, we’ll steady the glass with a couple of nylon shims then repeat the process for the flat glass panel on the other side. Now we’ll tie the two doorposts together using a curved rod. The rod attaches to the top of the doorpost using small hexed-head bolts. The next step is to attach another short tie rod from the doorpost to the wall. We won't secure the end bracket to the wall quite yet.

Amy Matthews: So Kristine, the next thing we’re going to do is plumb this.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And then we’re going to drill a hole on the wall and attach the bracket.

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: So what I need you to do is step into the shower and I'm going to give you this pen and when I tell you to go, you see where that hole is right up there?

Kristine: Yeah.

Amy Matthews: I want you to make a mark on the wall through that hole.

Kristine: Oh I can do that.

Amy Matthews: Okay, alright we’re good.

Kristine: There we go.

Amy Matthews: After drilling holes, screw the brackets into the wall and slide the bracket cover into place. Next, we can go back and attach the brackets that will hold the glass panels to the wall. You’re all set?

Kristine: Yeah. I'm all finished. This looks just incredible.

Amy Matthews: I think so too and look even better when this door gets on.

Kristine: It might be a little drier that way too.

Amy Matthews: Exactly. While we’re ready for, let’s go get it.

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: The hinges are in two pieces. After removing the hinge cover plate, we center the hole in the door on the bushing in the hinge and then replace the cover plate and tighten the assembly with a hexed bolt. There’s room to adjust the tilt of the door if it doesn’t close properly. Well that’s about it.

Kristine: Now we’re so close. So when can I take a shower?

Amy Matthews: I know I promised you shower by the end of today. Well we’ve still got a little bit of siliconing to do and we’re going to do that when we get the tile up. And of course we’ve got to put the valves on but I think this is going to be great.

Kristine: I know, I think it’s just fantastic. I really can’t wait to take a shower.

Amy Matthews: I know. The best part about that is you’ve got 4 hydro-massage jets in there.

Kristine: That’s my favorite part.

Amy Matthews: Well there is one more thing I want to get started on today, and that is the floor. Hey.

Kristine: Hey.

Amy Matthews: So what we wanted to do here before we put the tile down is we need it smooth out the flooring. So we put down some skim coat, and it’s pretty close to dry. So I think we’re almost ready to go.

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: But let’s talk about the tiles you guys picked out. I think these are really nice.

Kristine: Yeah. I think Jake and I mastered tiling the walls that we’re really looking for something easier to do on the floors. So we found this product from Edge Tile and I think the colors are really going to be great in the bathroom.

Amy Matthews: I think they are too. Well I think with tiling is he usually has several steps to do the process. You’ve got to put down the cement board and you’ve got to put down a thin set. But the thing about this tile that’s so cool is that you can see it’s already attached to a high density fiberboard backer and that saves you those steps. And then you’re also putting down two at a time with a cam and that’s going to make it even faster.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And then the other thing is it’s got a tongue and groove locking system. You can see right there and this literally just snapped into place like that.

Kristine: Wow.

Amy Matthews: Isn't that great?

Kristine: Yeah, it’s pretty easy.

Amy Matthews: It’s going to make it really fast for us hopefully. Alright, let’s get started.

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: We’ll start by testing the layout on the first section of the room and we’re in pretty good shape. We can just about lay five full tiles across the space. If we trim the fiberboard along the edges, we’ll probably get the tiles to fit without having to make cuts. Before we lay the flooring, we’ll roll out a foam underlayment that’s made specifically for this tile. This silver slide goes down and acts as a moisture barrier and a radiant barrier to keep the floor warm.

The foam also helps cushion the tiles. Buff the edges together and seal the joints with cellophane tape that comes with each roll of underlayment. We cut the first tile to fit around the door jamb and we also turn tongue off the edge so it would lay plush to the wall. We didn’t have to cut the undercut the jambs as they were already trimmed to accommodate the old carpet.

We want to stagger the tiles as we go because that way, the edges will lock together more effectively. You make single tiles by cutting the doubles in half. The tiles can slide around too which makes life easier. Once you get going, the job goes pretty fast. Alright Kristine we are ready to start grouting

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: Now you guys have this really cool grout that actually came with this flooring. It’s really easy to use and it comes in this can that’s pressurized. It’s kind of like cheese on a can. And what you do is you would lay the tip down in the area that you want to grout and then squeeze it, and it’ll come out just like that, and there’s sometimes some excess.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And that’s alright. So the nice thing about this stuff is since it’s made specifically for this flooring, it allows for a little bit of giving the tile.

Kristine: So the grout won't crack that.

Amy Matthews: Exactly.

Kristine: Oh okay.

Amy Matthews: So once you get it in the crack there, you’re going to want to take your float and you’re going to smooth it over at a 45-degree angle; and that’s going to get the grout nicely in place.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: And if there’s some excess on here and there are areas that haven’t got the grout in, you could just kind of go back over it; lay that in there just like that.

Kristine: It looks easy.

Amy Matthews: Yeah. And then you’re going to take your sponge and get all the excess water off of it.

Kristine: Okay.

Amy Matthews: Take the soft side and smooth it over and try and get all of it off that tile there.

Kristine: So you don’t want to let any of it dry on the tile?

Amy Matthews: You don’t; it’s really difficult to clean up if you don’t get it off now. So it’s better to get as much off as you can.

Kristine: Great.

Amy Matthews: And that’s it. I think I find this pretty easy after all the tiling you’ve done.

Kristine: Yeah, and it’s pretty.