waterproofing Archives - A Dabbled Dwelling

We continue the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge– Week 4! I’m totally *not* freaking out over how much I still have to do… the end of this week marks only TWO weeks left of the challenge. I’ll be transparent… I’m getting a little nervous about being able to finish on time. Granted, I’ve been nervous the entire time but now the pressure is really on!

Last week we left off with almost having finished the bathroom floor tile. Picking up there, it was time to grout! Grouting marked the very first completed task and now the floor tile was done!

woman smiles at camera while grouting geometric marble floor tile

Prepping The Shower

Now that the floor was finished, it was time to move on to another huge task, the shower! We finished up the last bit of cement board and moved on to prep for tile. This involved taping and mudding the seams of the cement board to have a complete surface. Next, we used AquaDefense to further waterproof the cement board. This is necessary because even though cement board is water resistant, it’s not water proof. In an area like a shower that’s consistently wet, the walls should not be able to absorb any moisture. The Aqua Defense goes on like a paint (pictured in light blue) and dries like a plastic. My kid’s were dying to help so this seemed like an easy task to get them involved in. Check out the last time we remodeled a shower.

Shower prepped with cement board and mudded seams

mom and 2 kids paint on waterproofing membrane as part of the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- week 4

The Shower Tiling Begins

Finally, it was time to tile the shower! I got my crappy clothes on since I tend to be a messy tiler. I was a little nervous about laying all this Suburbs marble picket tile but since they are on mesh sheets it went pretty quickly. However, I did get “off” somewhere with my spacing which resulted in some frustration. Luckily, white grout will hide lots of imperfections!

At this point I started having a little bit of a meltdown which tends to happen in any big renovation project. I had thought I’d be further along at this point so it was hard to see an end in sight. Sometimes DIY is just as mentally exhausting as it is physically! I just have to remind myself of the end goal and keep on pushing through!

We end week 4 with the shower not quite finished… but close!

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