Tiling a Shower Niche (Step-by-Step)

So how do you place a mosaic in a

shower

niche

? That is today's question. Well, we are going to share with you how to do it in today's tutorial. And Steve is going to share with you how to tile not just one, but two

shower

niche

s in the exact same shower surround. So this can be a little difficult. There are some tools you'll definitely want to learn how to use, and Steve will share them with you right now. I always use a ¼” notched trowel. This is a square notched trowel. A quarter inch is usually what you want to use for most tiles and mosaics.

It really depends on how thick everything is. But if you have a ¼ inch tile, the ¼ inch notched trowel works pretty well because it definitely gives you enough thinset but it also won't necessarily ooze through the joints. What I like to do is start from the beginning. And basically all I'm using are 12" x 24" pieces. I'm just cutting them to fit. I like to have the factory edge facing the front where the pencil edge will meet. And you really want that factory edge to show regardless of which setting is used, because you're going to have a nice edge.

So, I like to start with the base first and then do the wall tiles because it's pretty much the same thing as when you make a window, you start with the sill and then you do the sides, and then you do the top. Then, when the water hits, everything collapses on top of each other. When you place the tiles against the back wall above the bottom sill, it is a nicer joint to see the back of this rather than having a grout joint right in the bottom corner. That's where many soap operas come in and all that will stay there.

So do the bottom sill first and then the tiles. So let's thin out the back of the niche. Here we are also going to slim down the bottom. Next, apply butter to the windowsill. Be a little generous on the back of that tile so you can tilt it. You want to tilt that sill toward the front because you don't want water sitting on the back, and you want it to be perfectly level and still, so I would say, enough for a shampoo bottle to sit on and not fall over. and also enough so that the water can drain.

And one of the most important inventions that I use that has made my life with tiles much easier is this laser. I don't know if you can see this laser mark that appears here. This is a level line. It works vertically and horizontally, but I can place this sill exactly at the same level as this one, and it makes everything much easier instead of using a level or something. I use the level just to cast it, but everything else is used with this laser. And the way this laser works is that I have a LaserJamb and I can move it up and down to whatever height I need.

But that makes it tremendously easy to line everything up. So I can see here that I'm a little bit high on this side, so I'm going to press it down until my laser mark is completely even where I want it. I always cut the tiles in these niches a little proud of their substrate. And the main reason is that when you're going to apply a thin layer of this tile, you want to have a decent amount of reveal on this pencil edge. You don't want this pencil molding to be flush with the wall tile because it will look a little silly.

So you have to be proud of it so that it basically looks like a picture frame that you hang on the wall or something. So I always measure this. When I don't have sills, I even move them a little (I'd say about 1/16 inch) out of the substrate. It makes it easy. And you have a lot of room back here because I'm putting those tiles on the back wall so you have a lot of room to cover that back and take it out. So I can just look at my laser and make sure this sill is exactly level like the other one.

So when I make my mosaic, it looks good. Check and make sure this is draining. It's probably too much. Okay, so yes. That's perfectly aligned with that. And so to embed these tiles into the back wall, I have a little short grout trowel. But any grout float would work. But the shorter ones work in the smallest niche. But if you don't have that, anything as long as it's flat, even like a 2" x 4" piece that you can stamp incorrectly. It would work fine. Put those bedding back there. And the second most important thing I bought, besides the laser level, to do everything right, are these types of spacers.

They are called horseshoe spacers. And I always get the blue ones. They are 1/16” thick. But wow, these things make it so much easier than those little rubber ones you get at the big box stores. Sometimes those rubber ones aren't exactly consistent in thickness. But look how big you can insert this and it makes it so much easier to build them. If you want a 1/8” spacer, you can simply snap two together. And then even on tile or whatever, if I needed to build something, I can put this under the tile to lift it up. And even on the wall substrate.

If I'm having difficulty getting my lip to function properly, I can place them underneath. They make it very easy to take it out. So I highly recommend horseshoe wedges. So we're just going to place that right between the mosaic piece that meets the other one. So there you have the perfect space. Then we ended up doing the top crashing into that. So we have 4” there. Okay, so I'm going to move my laser up to the top level here and make sure this is exactly straight as well. There is nothing worse than having one side watching more than the other.

It's definitely more complicated to have two of them together. Okay, and then we'll do the sides here. Since we have this slope at the bottom, I would simply measure its long point. Cut it that way and then trim it with your grinder. It basically measures 14 7/8”. Like I said, you should have the factory trim on the front of this so that when you use the moldings, it looks good that way too. Okay, then use your little grinder. Just make that little angled cut to level this out there. I'm going to place my vertical crosshair here as well and make sure that vertically it's the same.

So there is also one thing to keep in mind when you order tiles for all this. Thinking about "What's going to get me the least amount of joints in my niche?" These are fairly small niches, but they measure 14” long. Luckily, we are making that 12” x 24” tile, so I get something continuous. But if you are using 12” x 12”, you might consider getting a few pieces of the larger material so you can make these niches without having joints. Not that it's a big deal on the sides, but it definitely makes a difference on the bottom. If I were to make a large 24 inch niche, it sucks to have grout joints right on that bottom plate.

So there is always something to think about when ordering tiles. So even if you were to get some marble with that, like a subway tile marble or something, if you want to make the niches, you need to get some 12" x 12" pieces of marble or whatever is the biggest you can get. . you can get so you can have a solid surface. If you get subway tiles, subway tiles typically measure 3” x 6”. Three inches deep is not enough. You'll have to make your niche shallower, which is something you don't want to do because if you have soap bottles and things like that, you'll want to have as much space as possible.

So you definitely need that 3 ½”, 4” to make the bottom sill. So you have to put a lot of thought into how to design these niches and make it easy. But if you're using a larger format mosaic, you probably already have leftover pieces you need to make them. I already have these niches practically finished. I'm actually going to do this pencil cutout after I put down the wall tile and basically use the pencil cutout as a guide for where I need to cut it. It will be a little easier to insert these pencil molding pieces when you have a wall tile up so you can apply a thin layer on the side and it won't move.

So by making these niches first it gives me a very good indication of where I need to cut the wall tile. So start with those niches first and you will find it much easier. Now you know how to tile a shower niche. Now, if you want to take your skills to the next level, you'll love our course called "How to Tile a Shower." So if you want to tile the entire shower surround in your bathroom (you want it to look amazing), just go to BathroomRepairTutor.com/HowtoTileaShower. The course is there for you. It's very, very affordable.

And we believe that in the end you will have an amazing bathroom if you follow all of our tips. But that's all for today. Thank you very much for watching this video. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments. We will help you with that. And that is. We'll talk to you soon. Take care.