Run a damp sponge over the backer board in the area you intend to tile.
How to hang large tile on shower walls.
Large tiles tend to cup or bow upward in the middle of the tile.
This in turn creates a slight lip between two adjacent tiles.
You ll need a design plan before you start attaching the tile.
Before applying your tile to the wall decide on the layout and orientation of your tile by positioning the tiles on the floor.
If you wait to install the cut pieces use a notched trowel to scrape the thinset from the wall so it doesn t dry before.
Add up the wall areas and add 10 so you have extra tile for mistakes or future repairs.
One way to limit tile lippage is to stagger large format tiles into thirds.
In our project one wall is 31 and the other is 36.
Dry lay the panels and measure them to see where you need to make cuts.
Install full piece tiles first and fill in with cut pieces as you go or install them at the end.
Measure each wall area calculating the width times height.
Use a small amount of the excess mortar and spread it onto the back of a tile with the notched side of the trowel.
Stagger large format tiles in thirds.
For our shower we chose a running bond pattern.
Turn over the trowel to the notched side and comb over in one direction.
Set the tile panels on the side walls with thinset the same way as for the back wall using the starter board.
Measure the width of the shower walls on either side of the door.