Before any shower walls go up, there is some preparatory work required. I added a nailer to the left side of the wall and, of course, the sound insulation had to go in.

Before putting up the Kerdi board, and in order to make tiling easier, I spent some time locating the high and low spots in the framing so that they can be compensated for. The idea is to make the walls as flat as I can so that I don’t have to struggle with undulating surfaces during tiling. To do this I employed a technique known as wet shimming. I discovered this online and thought it made good sense, so I gave it a go. The idea is to identify the parts of the studs that need to be brought out a bit and put thinset mud on them. Then, when applying the boards, you use a straight edge (my longest level) to press it into place. The thinset should collapse a bit under the pressure applied by the straight edge. I used the screws and washers to keep it in place, but did not secure them. That would be done the next day after the thinset had setup and was strong enough to maintain its shape.

And here is the first Kerdi board set in place.

The next wall I tackled was the one where the shower head would emerge. It proved to be difficult because it was not at all flat.

If you look closely, and at previous pics, you’ll notice that I removed a stud. That stud was severely bowed. I started by planing it, but that would have taken forever. After realizing it wasn’t supporting anything (no drywall screws on the other side), I pulled it out. I then cut it up into shorter pieces and straightened them on my little 4″ jointer to use them as nailers for the shower head wall. You can see them if you look in the corner. That made things much better. I still needed some wet shimming, but not too much.

The Kerdi board for that wall went up vertically, as opposed to how I did the back wall. Doing it this way meant less seems to address later.

The wall with the mixing valve was next, along with the bits remaining on the top.

Something I should have done before putting up the Kerdi board, was test the water connections for leaks. That was a silly mistake and one I won’t make when I do the shower in the guest bathroom. If there was a bad connection, I would have to pull off some of the Kerdi board to address it. So I attached a small bit of PEX to the drop ear elbow where the shower arm will go and hooked up the water lines. I turned them on and was happy to see there were no leaks. Actually, I would have been surprised if there had been any because I’ve never seen a PEX crimp connection fail. Still, it was a relief to see no leaks. You can see the makeshift shower head I created in the image below. I did this just before I started adding Kerdi band to waterproof the walls.

To waterproof the walls, all seems must be covered along with all fasteners and any other penetrations (intended or accidental). Kerdi band is applied much like drywall tape, except using a special Schluter thinset. I started with the horizontal seems.

For the shower head wall, which is the shortest length wall, I decided to use a full length of Kerdi band rather than cutting little squares. I did this because I saw it done online and thought it would be a good idea. For the longer back wall, I did it the usual way by covering each fastener separately with a square piece of Kerdi band. After trying both, I actually preferred doing the little squares. It seemed easier to me, and faster. Perhaps with more experience I will change my mind. After this, the thinset I mixed up ran out, so decided to call it a day.

The next day I tackled the inside corners, including one vertical and the three that meet the ceiling.

Once again, I didn’t mix up the right amount of thinset, so I ran out before completing the job. You can’t store thinset, so you have to guess how much you’ll need. Mixing it up is a process. You have to get the ratio right and then it takes 5 minutes of continuous mixing, followed by 10 minutes to let it “slake”, then another 3 minutes of mixing. And you can’t just put the new stuff in the bucket with the remains of the old stuff you just used, like you can with drywall compound. So cleaning up is also a process. It’s not just about cleaning the mixing bucket, but also the tools have to be cleaned, and the dirty water used to clean everything needs to be disposed of outside so it doesn’t mess up your drains. Consequently, I only want to do the cleanup at the end of my day. So when I ran out of thinset this time, with time still left in the afternoon, I bailed out and decided to do the cleanup and then head home rather than mix up another batch.

The next day I replaced my makeshift shower head with the real thing, since that opening would need to be waterproofed too. In doing that, I ran the water again to make sure there was no leak between the shower arm and drop ear elbow in the wall. Even though I placed a bucket under the shower arm, there was still some spillage. You can see evidence of that by the water in the pan area.

With that done, I added the remaining Kerdi band, finishing up with the two circular pieces: one around the mixing valve, and the other around the shower arm. Further waterproofing will be needed between the walls and the shower pan, once installed. But I won’t do that until the walls and ceiling in the bathroom are skim coated and primed. I’ll also wait until the ceiling is painted; not only to eliminate the risk of spilling anything on the shower pan, but also so that I don’t have to put a ladder, or whatever else I need to reach the ceiling, on the shower pan. Once the shower pan is in and waterproofed, it will need to be guarded to ensure nothing punctures it until the tile is in.

Before starting the first skim coat on the ceiling, I had to cover coat the Kerdi band between the shower and the drywall, which included the ceiling. I used all-purpose mud for that. After that dried, I applied the first skim coat to the ceiling.

As with the other rooms, I give each new surface (walls and ceilings) two skim coats before primer and paint. I let the first skim coat dry overnight then gave it a light sanding before applying the second skim coat.

After the first skim coat I discovered an issue. Before leaving for the day, I decided to take my 6.5′ level and check for flatness along the walls. The long wall where the vanity will go was not at all flat. It was quite wavy, actually. For some reason I never thought to check for that before hanging the drywall. It would have been at that time when I could have easily corrected for it. In one area it was 7/16th of an inch out. This would be evident once the vanity was in place and the backsplash installed, so I had to do something to even it out. This meant “mud framing”, which involves adding a ton of mud to make up the difference.

I started by simply applying all-purpose mud to the low spots to build them up. With such an amount of mud, it would take a couple of days for it to dry before I could put another layer on. So I decided to switch to hot mud, which would dry in a matter of hours. Also, I decided that rather than just slap it on and slowly build it up, as I started out doing, it might be a good idea to create “mud ridges”; a term I just made up. The idea is to just put down mud in the deepest troughs and use a straight edge as a screed to flatten the ridge relative to the higher parts of the wavy wall. They look like this

In the closeup you can see how thick the mud is. That is how much was required to bring it up to the level of the adjacent parts. Once that dried, I would use it and the other end of the wall that were at the same level to support the screed and even out the mud.

Creating these mud ridges didn’t take long, so I had to find something else to do while I waited for them to dry. I could have started the second skim coat on other parts of the bathroom, but I’d just ordered a set of skimming blades by a company called Level-5, and wanted to wait for them to arrive. So I decided to do some prefilling of the drywall I installed long back in the guest hallway and elsewhere.

The next day I returned to the master bathroom to build up the recesses in the vanity wall to meet the mud ridges. I used 90 minute hot mud.

As you can see, the mud ridges are no longer obvious. The surface is still pretty rough, but improving. At this point I just had to let the mud dry overnight before checking for flatness. Even though I used 90 minute mud, it was put on quite thickly, so it would take some time to dry. I didn’t expect it to be flat yet. I just wanted to see evidence that I was getting closer.

My fancy skim blade set arrived.

The longest blade in this set is 32 inches. My hope was that it would speed up the skimming process and provide me with nice flat surfaces. I tried using them on the wavy vanity wall as I continued to fill it, but they didn’t help much. I think they are best suited to skimming walls that area flat to start with. So I ended up building up the wall using my 14″ blade (not part of this set) until it was close enough. Eventually I got it to a point where it was far from flat, but good enough that it shouldn’t be obvious with the vanity and mirror in place, which is all I ask.

I then proceeded with skim coating the walls. As usual, I did two skim coats and it resulted in this:

In the images above, it not only received two skim coats, but also was prepped (i.e., sanded) for primer. It almost looks like it has been painted, except you can still see some of the blue drywall color in places. I was pretty happy with the result. Definitely a level 5 finish.

The next few days was all about priming and painting. As with the master bedroom, I primed all surfaces with a single coat, then applied two coats of paint to the ceiling. I will leave the walls with only primer for some time. I’ll probably do the final painting just before I’m ready to put the flooring down. Following are images of the walls and ceiling after priming and painting. Because the walls are still to be painted, I did not mask them off when painting the ceiling, letting the ceiling paint get on the walls at the junctions.

In the image above you can get a sense of how the vanity wall came out. It looks fine to the naked eye. Let’s hope it remains so once the furniture is in place. Also, the walls look a bit streaky in the picture above. They are not. That is just some light reflection. The primer on the walls looks good and consistent.

At this stage I am ready to put the shower pan in, but that will be put on hold until I address something else. I ordered my wood flooring quite a while ago, thinking I would need it by the fall. The company I purchased it from was willing to hold it that long, but after doing some estimating, it is clear to me that I won’t be ready for that for a very long time; well into next year, given my pace. As a result, I am going to have to find space in the house to store the flooring, since they will grow impatient with me after the fall. I’ve decided to store it in the dining room. In general, I’d like to have all the painting (walls and ceiling) done before the flooring goes down to avoid the need for drop cloths. However, once the flooring arrives and is stored in the dining room, it will seriously limit access to that area. So I’ve decided to finish the walls and ceiling in that area before the flooring arrives. I’ll return to the master bathroom once that is done. In the next post I’ll be covering the work in the dining room.

Continuing with the master bathroom, I hung more drywall. I started with the ceiling on the other side of the door. While technically not part of the master bathroom, I’ve decided to include it here because it is the hallway to the master bathroom and I will be working that area at the same time.

Above you can see where the new attic access will be. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll have drop down ladder or simply put a cover that can be pushed up and out of the way so that a ladder can be put in place. More research will be required for that.

With the ceiling out of the way, I could start working on the walls. Walls are far more “fun” than hanging drywall on the ceiling, so it was nice to be able to graduate to the walls. I started with the west wall, which is an exterior wall. As usual, the insulation went in first and then I started hanging the boards.

This was the easiest wall to work on because it was straight and required no cut-outs.

Before hanging drywall around the toilet alcove, I had to fasten the water supply line. I picked up some dedicated hardware for that.

I like this because it did not require a 90 degree connector. I could simply bend the PEX 90 degrees and fit it to the metal bracket. I also added supports for the rest of the line as it rose to the ceiling.

After adding a couple of staples to keep the wires from the switch box together and secured to the stud, I put up the drywall around the outside (only) of the toilet alcove.

Before enclosing the electrical in drywall, an inspection was required, so I turned my attention to preparing for that. This meant securing any wiring I hadn’t and adding the required spray foam in the openings where the wire enters from the attic, which acts as a fire block. I also secured the water supply lines to the vanity, which I show below.

Here’s a closeup.

I scheduled the electrical rough in inspection on the weekend, so I had some time to wait for that, so I started hanging drywall in the places where I do not need pre-approval. This meant I could start on the entrance to the master bath and just inside the master bath.

Below I show a picture of the work in progress just so you can see that I have added sound insulation.

In the image above you’ll notice that I used some of the left over pieces I had of the water resistant drywall (blue). They were a suitable size, so I used them. I try to use as many of the off-cuts of drywall as I can. I have many hanging around, so I always look for opportunities to use them before cutting up a fresh sheet.

While working on the area I’m showing above, the inspector came and gave me the green light, so I was free to cover the rest of the master bathroom walls. Ideally I’d have started work on the shower, but the materials I ordered still hadn’t arrived, so I pushed on hanging drywall. The toilet alcove was next. As usual, I added sound insulation first. Very important in this area ;-).

Even though the toilet alcove is not fully enclosed (no door), adding the sound insulation does make a difference. It noticeably deadens the sound. The drywall was added next.

The next day, my kitchen cabinets arrived!

But there is an unfortunate story behind this, so we’ll take a bit of a detour before returning to the work in the master bathroom.

I first purchased cabinets from Chris Haley in December of 2019. I have referred to Chris on multiple occasions in much older posts. I paid in full for the cabinets and the installation. When Covid became an issue a few months later, I stopped work on the house. I contacted Chris and asked him to have the cabinets delivered. I wanted store them in the house because I didn’t want the order just hanging out there indefinitely. I didn’t know when I would resume work on the house. He was adamant that I not do that because of warranty issues, and that it was best to leave them in the warehouse of the manufacturer. So I took his advice and backed off.

It turned out that Chris’ insistence was really due to the fact that he never ordered the cabinets. When the time came to have them delivered, he stopped communicating. I could not reach him via phone, text, nor email. He blocked me. I did have one avenue open to me and that was via the fellow who he worked through to order cabinets. His name is Jared and just happens, by coincidence, to be someone I know. We used to work at the same company and had come to know each other from our mutual interest in working out. It was just a fluke that I discovered his relationship with Chris. One day Chris learned where I used to work and mentioned that his supposed “silent partner” Jared worked there too. When he told me Jared’s full name, I exclaimed “I know him!”. So that was kind of cool. Of course, this was way back before I knew Chris hadn’t ordered the cabinets. Jared was an engineer, but did this cabinet thing as a side hustle. It was only through Jared that Chris was able to get cabinets. So Jared was important to his business.

I hadn’t spoken with Jared in years, so when I could not get in touch with Chris, I contacted some former colleagues and they were able to put me in touch with Jared. My subsequent conversation with Jared made it clear to me that Chris never ordered the cabinets. Jared explained that no manufacturer would store cabinets for very long, let alone years. He was of the opinion that Chris could not have ordered them. Jared also tried to contact Chris, but he too had been blocked. It wasn’t quite as simple as this. It happened in stages, but I won’t bore you with the details. The bottom line is that I am no longer in contact with Chris and the money I gave him.

Fortunately, Jared did me big favor. Although he had nothing to do with this fraud, he volunteered to allow me to purchase the cabinets I wanted through him at his cost. That was very nice of him and I was very thankful for his help. We spent an afternoon at his house going over my order and he was able to steer me in the right direction. He was also able to speak directly with the delivery driver and the cabinets were delivered directly to my house. Normally they are delivered to Jared’s warehouse where I would have to rent a truck to pick them up and drive them to the house. So, despite being ripped off, my experience with Jared made this a whole lot better. Thank you Jared! Jared has since shut Chris off. Chris is no longer able to order cabinets through Jared. We both do not know what he is up to. I decided not to take legal action because it would mean more expense and effort that would likely not result in any benefit. I’m quite sure Chris doesn’t have any money, so would likely just declare bankruptcy. I mentioned the incident in a review on his web site and decided to move on.

Although I may never know, I don’t think Chris originally intended to rip me off. I suspect that when he cashed my check at the end of 2019, and knowing I would not be needing the cabinets for some time, figured he had plenty of time to place the order. That money should have been sitting in a separate business account, but I bet he wasn’t that organized. So it was probably just a pile of money available to him. He probably had some more pressing financial issues/desires at hand and used the money for them. After all, he kept in touch with me for more than three years, so he probably figured he’d come up with the money when needed (Charles Ponzi would relate). When time ran out, he just ran away, so to speak.

So that is the background and I am pleased that I now actually have kitchen cabinets. I’ve since moved the cabinets into the house to store them in an air conditioned space. I gave them a quick inspection and they looked fine. I’ve left them in the boxes to keep them from harm and then got back to work on the master bathroom.

Returning to the main thread, i started work on the vanity wall by first adding sound insulation.

Lots of nooks and crannies, so this was a bit of a chore. Since this wall backs onto the guest bedroom, it was important to add the sound insulation. This will also be added, and probably most importantly, to the area around the shower. The first board I added was the one that will be right beside the shower, so it was a moisture resistant board.

Unlike most of the boards I hang, I put this one up vertically. I did this because there was a pair of studs on the left edge where I could fasten it and retain the bevel (i.e., no trimming). But I also liked the idea of having no seem to tape, except up high, where there is unlikely to be any risk of splashing. It probably doesn’t really matter, but that is why I did it. The rest of the wall was hung in the usual manner.

I used regular drywall for the area further from the shower. Being far enough away from the shower, I didn’t think there was a need for the moisture resistant variety. I used some of the off-cuts of the blue board to cover the small area up top.

The wall adjacent to the shower entry was also hung using the blue board, since it too is subject to splashing.

I figured that after hanging the drywall, I would start working on the shower, but the Schluter products I ordered had still not arrived, so I pushed on with prefilling the gaps in preparation for taping.

After some light sanding, I moved on to taping.

While this was being done, I picked up the Schluter shower system materials and the floor tiles. But I didn’t just switch to working on the shower. Instead, I decided to continue with the drywall and take it further, adding two cover coats over the tape.

After the cover coats, I would normally start the skim coats. However, I decided I would leave that until the shower had been waterproofed. The waterproofing would have to interface with the drywall I just coated, and that interface will require a kind of taping that will overlap with the drywall. So I did not want to apply any finishing coats only to have to redo it at that interface. In preparation for hanging the Schluter Kerdi boards around the shower walls a few things would have to be done. The first was to hook up the shower valve and add water hammer arrestors.

This was done on the last day of June. Tomorrow, I start putting up the walls around the shower. But that will be chronicled in my next post.