pre-formed shower niches

[Richard S]

I'm in the process of rebuilding my tub surround & will be using tile. I've been trying to find the best alternative to custom building a wall niche. I had previously found out about Recess-It which I didn't want to use as others had noted that the flange protrudes a bit out from the cbu & I didn't want to mess with feathering out the thinset to get the tiles to look right. I've found 2 other products: Duk Liners & ProForm that seem to not have the same problem as the Recess-It (see attached links). I was wondering if anybody had experience with these products. All input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Richard

http://www.ctile.com/DukLiners.htm
http://www.noblecompany.com/proform2.html

[jimbo]

If you look at the installation insructions in your links, they show that you install the niche over the moisture barrier ( I would caulk this joint) then the backerboard overlays the niche flange. This will be imperceptible, and the tiles lay on a perfecly smooth plane.

[Richard S]

Jimbo,
Thanks for the reply. Have you used any of these products? The reason I'm asking is that I'm wondering if it's as easy to tile on the products as the manufacturers claim & also, if you feel that the quality of the products is up to the task as I'm worried about water leakage. I should have been more specific in my original post - sorry about that.

Thanks again,
Richard

[lajoe]

HI

I used them all, and I would highly recommend the preformed niches

Check this online store http://www.tiledepot.us/ the do carry them all, and you can read abut their product too

[jadnashua]

Noble and others make some nice ones. Check out this site for some examples of things and some ideas and help on tiling things www.johnbridge.com.

[johnfrwhipple]

There has been a lot of chatter lately on "How to build a shower niche". There are so many ways - some easy and some hard.

If your doing a complete renovation and making changes to the floor and wall framing putting a shampoo niche anywhere you want it is not that hard to do. The tools and material will be all over the place to build a custom niche.

The easier route to take is a pre made niche that just installs between common 2X framing. ie 16" centers...

Waterproofing is the key. The choice you make in waterproofing will really determine the amount of work a shampoo niche is to build. Water proofing a niche with Nobel TS or Kerdi is a Pain in the A--. Very hard and fuzzy work to keep it tight and no so much build up. A ready made niche here is a good idea to save some time - if you can live the standard sizing.

A niche waterproofed with Hydro Ban, AquaDefense or Red Guard is far easier to do and do well. A single gallon of liquid waterproofing products like the three I mention above do roughly 60 square feet of surface area with two coats. A standard tub with a shower needs about 55 square feet of waterproofing to make it a life long install. An average shower will require about 100 square feet of waterproofing and most likely 2 gallons is needed to do it up right.

We build most of our shower walls with cement board 1/2", Hardi Board 1/2" or Green EBoard (not drywall and not green) 1/2". To build a niche we add in 2X lumber in between the studs top and bottom and we cut a piece of backer board to fit the opening with a little wiggle room. We apply thinset to this and stick it into our niche opening. We then cut the two vertical pieces and attach with screws. Then the top. Then the bottom - but with the bottom we tilt the board and set it in with thin set and not screws.

This building gets done when your hanging your wall backer and uses up the off cuts. Once boarded - tape the seams as per the manufactures recommondations and then waterproof the following day.

Without the pitch on the bottom of the niche and waterproofing measures taken the niche will rot out. Slowly...

JW

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/42722...to-place-them- This is a great link that shows some nice shower design.









Building a shower niche is easy. Building it custom - not so hard.


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[johnfrwhipple]

I have three young daughter's and they love Bath Time. Especially the Five Year Old. When I designed the three wall niches I wanted them to step back to compliment the sloped ceiling's of my home. I designed them to fit the tile layout perfectly and as an unexpected bonus they have become "Bed Rooms" for the various Barbie's and Mermaids that visit at bath time.




The kids have a lot of fun with these games and the soap dish fits to!

The other thing I did which I love in hind sight is stepping back the smaller shelf in the larger niche on the short wall. This is the catch all for our shampoo and conditioner as well as my wife's lotions and potions.




With a little more time I will get the final back light working and then this niche will really "Sparkle".



All these niches I built in my daughter's bathroom have been build with Green EBoard our favourite backer board of choice here in Vancouver.

More pictures and the build process located here.

John Whipple
By Any Design Ltd.

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[johnfrwhipple]

A little Hydro Ban Niche I was working on today. The fabric reinforcement works well for taping out the corners. Notice that there is little to no build up in the corners and change of planes. This reinforcement material is even optional but I love the added strength it provides.

If your going to build a shower niche remember to do your tile design and layout first.

If the niche is going to be 14"x30" finished dimension you will want to make your niche roughly 15 3/4" x 31 3/4". This will give you a little wiggle room.

Make sure that the bottom of any niche is pre-sloped.

Before starting any waterproofing measures double check your wall board to be true and securely attached, we help out many homeowners here in Vancouver and either their tools or biceps don't have the power to get the board flat to the studs. A little 12V or 14.4V drill is not ideal for hanging wall board. This movement in wall boards is called deflection and deflection is a dirty word in the tile industry. Once secure make sure you clean everything. Many times we will vaccum the wall board then damp mop it clean. This removes the dust and allows for a good bite. When installing the first coat I like using a brush and forcing the waterproofing material into the pores of the backer board with a strong hand and multiple angles of attack.

[LLigetfa]

Nice work, John. I had to do mine with KERDI origami and preformed corners because it was the size of one wall tile. The flash on the camera doesn't do justice to the grout on the glass tile bands. They don't look that bad.

[johnfrwhipple]

Nice tile instal. Love the boarder and your niche placement.

Here is a peak at our last set of Kerdi Niche's;



Kerdi Niches x 4

It took my guy almost three hours just to waterproof these four niches. This is a steam shower and in this type of a setting Kerdi and Nobel TS are king. I favour Nobel TS more than Kerdi these days because of the broader range of setting material choices and even more so that it has a better Vapour Perm rating.

When your building a regular shower - no steam, I think liquids are the way to go. So much easier and not so much work. Prepping a tiny bit of thinset to do the niche and getting all the Kerdi folds to lay flat with no build is not a fun day at work.

In a head to head race I would be 1/3 done waterproofing a shower and single niche before a Kerdi Man had his buckets, water, drill, thinset up and ready to go.

[johnfrwhipple]

The one nice thing about building a shower niche is you can customize it.

This shower is also a steam shower and this Niche was covered like the floors and walls with Kerdi. I love this building this apartment is located in here in Vancouver. It is all historical and build with Red Bricks. The charter is amazing and one of the coolest postal codes in Vancouver.

The custom shower niche is a little on the tall size because the clients like the big shampoo bottles with the pump.


Steam Shower Niche

[jono604]

Has anyone had success with the pre-formed niches from TileRedi?
http://www.tileredi.com/

They look pretty handy but I've seen some chatter about their shower pans being hard to work with.
Is it true that the tiles have to be set with epoxy thinset and if so is it considerably harder to work with.

I'm doing a full bathroom renovation (down to the studs) so I'm open to options for creating a niche.
Building from scratch with framing and backerboard is an option but I'm also intrigued by the ease of creating a two compartment niche using one of the pre-formed models.

Can anyone recommend a good brand that is easy to work with and provides a great level of waterproofing.

thanks
Jonathan

[johnfrwhipple]

The ready made niches from Noble Company are very easy to work with. I have one here in North Vancouver if you would like to look at one before buying one.

Centanni Tile in Burnaby sell them and I'm hoping soon so will Golden Flooring.

If you call Gloria at Centanni Tile tell her John from By Any Design said it's OK to use his account. She can order you the size and shape you want.

Or you can order it from the Noble Company Website.

Or you can just make your own. It is not that hard and requires very little in the way of materials. For the price of a ready made niche you can waterproof 60+ square feet of tub surround or shower stall. The materials to build the niche you most likely already have in the way of off cuts.

We just love building with Green EBoard and niche construction is easy as pie. The Green EBoard cuts so easy with just a simple box cutter type razor blade. For finer cuts we score both sides and snap.


Here is my Ideabook on Houzz.com. This IdeaBook is on Shower Niches and might give you some design ideas for placement.


JW