The rough with the smooth

Ivan did a great job tiling the downstairs bathroom. He used a laser guide to set things up and then always used a spirit level to make sure things were exactly flat and the result is clear to see. While I personally wouldn’t say that the room feels larger, the almost continuous surface is easy on the eye and does give a sense of space. The effect is enhanced by the grouting, chosen by SWMBO: visible but not really noticeable.

But it was also the first time that he’d done a walk-in shower. And, while it looks like he got the gradient spot on, the edge between the gradient and the flat tiles isn’t flat and a has noticeable slope where one of the swing doors was supposed to be. Not really enough to stub your toe on, but very definitely there. More importantly, however, the slope means that the planned doors can’t be used as there would always be a gap beneath them.

Mr Sauer explained all this to me on Friday as we considered the possibilities. The proposed solution is to have a glass wall sitting on the edge and a door that opens away from the shower towards the bathroom door. The entrance will be 48cm as opposed to 56cm if we had the swing doors, but that should still be enough.

Looking back, we should probably have gone with a prefabricated base that would have been easier to install and fit things around. But at the time we didn’t know they existed. We should have tried to get hold of a professional tiler, though we’ve been told by several people that wait times are over six months at the moment. So, even if we had gone down that route, we could easily still be waiting.

So, all in all, as with so much in the house, we were to lucky to get as much done as well as it has been. Yes, the edge is a mistake, but hopefully once the cubicle has been installed, it won’t be noticeable. I think we were right to go with a walk-in shower to make as much use of the space as possible and the tiles do look fantastic.