Building a $20,000 Shower in an Old House

all right guys welcome back to another episode on the abandoned house series if you missed last week's video we transformed this vanity space and toilet [Music] area and like promise here we are doing the shower and I promise that this is going to be the coolest shower I have ever built I've gotten a few quotes on it between 10 and 12 Grand and that is already with a demoed bathroom here so uh I don't have any 10 grand laying around so we're going to do it ourselves one of the first things we need to start tackling is uh creating our shower pan and the reason that step is so vital is because an adequate shower pan creates proficient flowing of water that's draining and not seeping and kind of puddling up in the corner of your shower which over the course of anything it'll start breaking down material and cause a leak that is why we're going with the schutter system essentially it's like the Cadillac of all the Shower systems because they make it waterproofing and figured it out to like a science how to make it almost dummy proof for idiots like me it is kind of funny because majority of the products are like Styrofoam but the waterproofing system this is the bread and butter of it uh everything's all lined up let's see if this is enough length for us to work with we're going to have to trim this in size I was concerned for this this is not as long as we need it to be but fortunate enough this stuff is so Universal that we can actually glue on the scrap pieces that we just cut off hopefully it'll be enough now I know what you're thinking this is kind of janky uh to a degree there's a there's a way to make sure that this is perfect so once everything gets uh bordered in we're going to use a ctie band so it's going to overlap all these seams so it's going to create one uniform section here so in fact I actually got a big piece so we can just cover it all together and just make sure all of this is sloping down correctly now I got to start working on my curb here let me get that all right that looks good let's get our hole centered cut that out and then we'll slap some mortar down [Music] all right got our mortar quarter in sh ready to lay this down I had uh a t guy gave me a great piece of advice when you're mixing mortar now this rule doesn't apply to like concrete cement cuz moisture is important in terms of like how strength it's going to be strong it's going to be but with mortar uh they're saying that if you can get your mortar to be nice and wet don't go crazy but wet you'll have a stronger adhesion so that's something I put in my tool belt I recommend you do the same [Music] oh that's a snug fit huh oh that came out beautiful so I told you we're going all out on the shower so we're going to give it a nice little niche or Niche I don't know what people call it let me know in the comments cuz I really don't know I call it both sometimes so we're going to have a little cata here that's going to hold all your showers your razor blades all the fun stuff you need in the shower here I don't want to put it there because that's where the faucet is going to go and the fun thing about the faucet is I'm kind of building this bathroom backwards or the shower backwards cuz you're supposed to install the plumbing and the water mixer valve uh way before the drywall I mean you can do it after the drywall but definitely before the waterproofing it's supposed to show up tomorrow that's the story of my life I'm terrible at staying on schedule when to order stuff so we're we'll get this thing installed we'll start our waterproofing and pause over there and then therefore that'll be the last section to waterproof it sucks I know you that's just that's just me [Music] yeah just my luck uh stud right in the middle and I had to play around I either skew the niche to the left skew it way to the right this is ugly I have vertical pieces going here that's supporting this window uh and the faucet goes there so it this is literally my only option fortunately this is not a load bearing wall my my joist are going this way so what I'm going to do is I'm going to chop off this Stud I'm going to put a bracket across might have to take this little piece off or just to get access to it and then I'll just kind of frame out a thing to secure the niche in but that's that's uh remodels for you folks you never know you're going to come across [Music] all right guys we need to talk about something very important if you have anyone relying on your income you need life insurance it's just that simple and that is why I'm excited to talk about the sponsors of today's video policy genius policy genius is a One-Stop shop to find and buy the insurance you need for the right price you see with three young kids a dog the day-to-day obligations like mortgage payments credit cards uh car loans College costs these are all things that go on whether we're there or not so that's why Irene and I both have life insurance it gives us the Peace of Mind knowing that if anything were to happen to us our family doesn't have to worry about it you see policy genius has licensed award-winning agents and technology that makes it easy to compare life insurance quotes from America's Top insurers in just a few clicks to find the lowest price for you and even if you already have life insurance policy through your work maybe it may not offer enough protection for your family's needs and may not even follow you when you leave your job that sucks the process is super simple their licensed award-winning agents can help you find the best fit for your needs they work for you not the insurance companies that means they don't have to have any kind of incentives to recommend one insured over another so you can trust their Guidance with policy genius you could find life insurance policies that start at just $292 per year for a million dollar worth of coverage that's right a million dollar and some options even offer same day approval and avoid any kind of unnecessary medical exams policy genus has thousands of five reviews on Google trust pilot and customers who found the best fit for their needs so save time and money provide your family with financial safety net with policy genius so head to policy genius.com buildit to get a free life insurance quote and see how much you could save all right this section is going to cause like three people in the comment section to be like I've done tile for 50 years you cannot waterproof membrane drywall B you can if you go on the schutter's website they'll tell you you can so don't confuse people in the comment section with that advice use the right trial size the right Notch the right mortar and install it how the manufacture told you to do besides we also got the mold resistant drywall in here which we're going One Step Above and Beyond the Call of Duty [Music] we're in it now boys no stopping no stopping us let's get after [Music] it oh forgot so when you do this stuff uh you got to overlap these seams by 2 in unfortunately how convenient they have a little special 2-in gap for you but it'd be helpful if you put some mortar on it all right this is as far as I'll take it the water mixing valve should be showing up here in the next day or two that way I can get access to it hook up all my Plumbing the pipes already there uh and then just put one big sheet over it and we should be done with that and start tiling this thing but uh big big pieces are done on the walls we're doing the ctie band uh and what this does is it joints any two seams together that couldn't overlap so all of these overlap by 2 in perfect but the ground is not so we're going to combine these two planes there we're just creating a crease and putting that across so that should give us our start the beginning parts of creating a shower pan that's waterproof [Music] pans done now we do the final details these are corners and it's cool is that they sell inside and outside corners so because we have all of this overlapping there obviously that crease uh in the corner is going to be the most acceptable for leaks so by putting a corner like this you've now created essentially a third layer that's going to join everything together to make sure that this is just one uniform form and then of course we have the outside corner so when we have something like the window sill and water gets accumulated on it it'll do the exact same thing pretty smart product if you ask me of course we're out of material I need two more outside corners but the nice thing is I could start my tiling and all that stuff and we can get to it you know tomorrow or something like that but uh in the meantime one of the last things we need to waterproof here is we need to install our drain right here get my pipe below slap it in there thin it around put it in and then put the ctie band ring around it this puppy will be done and I'll be ready for a water leak test look what finally showed up it's not supposed to be here for another I think day uh and it finally showed up last night so excited cuz I didn't want to come in and work on the weekend so I got my shower system look at this beautiful brass shower head rainfall uh Amazon 200 bucks and it actually matches all the hardware one of the hardest thing with brass is it's all a different shade of brass so it all worked out really well uh we can actually start doing the plumbing right now so take a break from the waterproofing do the plumbing and then finish off the waterproofing it's so backwards it's crazy it's a circus mixing valves here I'm always screwing up of how far I need to put it you just got to make sure it's far enough that the plate can cover it perfectly and the harder part is actually your drop ears that go on top and um it's really just amount how they can screw in so uh but other than that with these water mixing valves they don't come with the water connector so you have to get your own 1/ in PEX connector so we have our cold and hot coming in we have our handheld rinser off and then we have our top shower head so uh put the Teflon tape on there which the one that I go with is always gray it's a lot thicker just get I just hate Teflon the regular Teflon sucks gray is so much better less rotations but far stronger [Music] w mixing valve water regulator shoots up here sprays down here want to rinse off grab this I think it's all here folks I think all the hard part is done let's cover this up waterproof the rest of it and then we'll start laying the base floor tile [Music] oh shoot don't do that I need this part [Music] [Applause] clean wo all right Cris is averted clean it up with a good old F Shin pipe cleaner here should be good let me see if I have a plug for it bottom of my cat All Plumbing bin so cover these threads so we don't screw ourselves going forward here getting ready to do our floor tole you want to do floor towel first because there everything kind of trik down on top and you don't have any weird transition pieces so you want to lay them out exactly how you want to make all your Cuts including where the drain is and then once everything's in place we'll be able to start gring it in place using a 3/16 TR size and that's very important because with Penny tile if you use like a/ qu inch or anything like that a lot of the times that I've done it it would seep through where the grout would be and it's a pain in the butt trying to clean so 3/16 V Notch lay it all out make your Cuts but more importantly how cool is this tile huh Aria doesn't know about it she didn't approve it she approved the wall tile but not this tile uh I think she'll like it but you know it's a gamble like all the time [Music] all right folks big day big day for us today the floor is all cured I covered it all up so we don't make any more messes got my laser got my tile going to continue this exactor tile all the way across uh and uh a bad day happened for the brand yesterday uh it was basically Mr build it against you know hedge clippers and uh hedge clippers one so got a big old gash in there got a little splint in there but you know your boy will be okay just want to give you heads up in case you see me throwing up weird gang signs here just keep in mind we're on the on the rehab work and of course my finger doesn't fit in here ah that hurts well nothing to it but to do it now folks let's get after it all right checking in uh it's been about 2 hours tackled this entire side not bad I will say it's a little nerw wracking because I have the existing stuff here and to match it it's it's not as easy as that especially that the bottom pieces they do all these weird things but we're here I'm happy with it the Laser's looking good the levels are looking good uh we got quite a bit to go let's move on to the next wall buckle [Music] up I will say laser level is clutch uh I didn't do it when I did the vanity just cuz I really don't know why I maybe they had too much going on but uh it's really coming together here because there's a lot of variations from side to side and this keeps me on track so after it's all said and done you don't step back and be like great my shower is drunk uh so it's nice straight and leveled and also I got these shims at the bottom uh most of the time when you buy the pan from you know the the the drain pan shower pan whatever you want to call it I'm spacing I'm tired from doing all this uh it's perfect Rim around but when you have to trim it to size well now you're creating a little bit of a divot cuz this is all sloping in so having a little shims just in this little section where I needed came out perfect so I'm really happy really happy how such a meticulous thing is coming together so all around Good Vibes [Music] okay guys day two so yesterday I busted out about I want to say close to 60 square ft uh maybe a little bit more uh 4x1 12 in tile not too bad I think today I'm hoping to finish off the rest of the tile my strategy is just to kind of run it all the way to the top and then work my way on this side and the reason why is because this window and this little niche here are going to be pretty meticulous and running with one finger I'd rather just focus on my energy there so uh that's the game plan start up here run it up and then focus on the headaches afterwards that's the [Music] plan I really don't like this um I already tapered this little edge here to fit better but this taper goes out wide enough to which I'm going to call that about half an inch that's not good that's going to look wonky and if the transition becomes very you know ends up being a small piece here I think that's going to look tacky as well because this is going to be the first thing you see when you walk in so I'm going to pop this off and I'm going to start my way from here and then because this piece is already cut it's kind of going to be like a mirror image of itself and I can make each one kind of custom fit so it looks good these are just kind of the variables you have to deal with and uh we're dealing with it [Music] working on day three it's the home stretch and this is where I really need to start slowing down so I cut my aluminum channels by the way if you want to save some money these are like 28 bucks a stick from schutter uh but they also have these that are not aluminum in a plastic which are like eight bucks so there's the same thing and I don't know what the benefits of plastic versus aluminum cuz there's not a lot of wear and tear but I end up getting this before I realize the plastic is much cheaper so we got our miters cut for all of these channels the most important part here is it has to slope downward so you can't have this flat and especially you can't have it downwards because when the water's splashing whatever accumulates here will sit here and start rotting away any of the th set get behind your window all this Jazz not a good day so slight slope down drain the water water and we should be looking Penny tile is awesome Until It Breaks off and you got to play another game of puzzle so you find where everything goes they break off sometimes folks and that's when it's not fun tiling with it [Music] damn that looks really good it actually makes everything stand out so much better there's a part of me that kind of almost regrets not putting a like a small section like trim piece around it like a little accent piece that's the same as that but I like how clean it is it's simple with a little accent part here last order of business rub this not rub hug this curb with the tile nobody's rubbing this curb uh going to use the same trim pieces on the Outside Inside side and then top and we should be ready for it to dry to do the grout [Music] I I'm done I'm so done with tiling for a while even though this only took about 2 and 1 half days uh it's only 2:00 right now I think I'm going to take a break from to for a while so it's going to dry overnight we're going to hit it with a whole crap load of grout and then do a whole lot of washing that's going to be fun all right see you in the morning it's a big day the tile is finally dried overnight and let me show you how it all looks together take a look at all of this this could not have been a better match I do still regret having a little accent piece down the middle but you know this is still gorgeous especially with all the brass that's going to show up and the big glass that's coming here it's going to look perfect now I need to stretch my joints here because the amount of grouting that I got to do is absolutely ridiculous so buckle up folks I might hit grat after this [Music] it's a lot going on today so the shower glass showed up but before we can install it and install all our Hardware we got to do our final secondary or actually third protective barrier for waterproofing down below and that is this uh silicone mixed caulk so it's the same shade as this grout which is great I got it all masked out that way when this floods and the first two barriers fail this is this like the you know the backup plan so we'll do a bead once that's done we'll do we'll start handling the glass [Music] let's get our goodies all put on should go relatively straightforward as we triple checked everything but you know how that gets I was at home yesterday taking a shower and it dawned on me that this Hardware that I'm using is the exact exact Hardware including color that I built in that double steam room shower in my house um so it's been about a year now and being an Amazon product it lasted really well so uh you know I'll link it down below for you guys to check out cuz uh now sometimes Amazon products especially Plumbing stuff can be you know a little iffy so there's your onee review [Music] okay so as you can see I don't have room to feed my Teflon tape behind this so here's a trick I learned from a plumber get yourself a long drill bit the one that has the hexagon or whatever on the other side wrap some Teflon on it and then this way when you start it you can conveniently go around it applying all the Teflon that you need in the world not too bad huh all right last order of business is to do the shower glass the shower glass cost me roughly around 1,500 bucks and the reason it's 1,500 bucks because it's a customade glass the sizes at Home Depot Low's they're so limited that they're probably about this big by this big as you can see we need something yay big by yay big so I also ordered the hardware from them the hardware is going to sit just like that because how heavy they set the glass is they need to have a channel here and then we're going to have two brackets here now the best way I think to fit it because the glass has notches uh I don't know if it's laser or whatever cut out I think what I'm going to do first is secure this bottom section down first and then we'll dry fit the glass see exactly where the brackets are and then go from there here she is guys 54 in wide 7 ft tall I made a little gap on top so I we could…