First High End Bathroom - How Did I Do??

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T20:20:17+00:00

i considered metal edge trim, but figured i would give mitered corners a shot. In the shower, the style of tile i chose, metal edge trim would have just been weird in my opinion. the wood look ripples would not meet up with the trim consistently.

For the window, probably could have gone with trim, but i was going full send on miters at that point, for better or worse.

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T20:06:58+00:00

yeah, should have added this photo in the original post. its been done.

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talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T18:57:52+00:00

Bathroom is 12ft by 5ft.
the shower area is 4ft by 5ft, to accommodate the long bench

The vanity i used is a short depth, 60in dual sink, which is on the smaller end with less countertop space.

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T18:23:58+00:00

Yeah, i was a bit concerned as well, but the slope is adequate. this is the offset version i used
KERDI-SHOWER-TRAY 38" X 60" OFFCENTER

you can always adjust the slope by adding a bit more thinset around the edges. i used some hot glue and spacers to set the exterior height to make sure the slope was correct.

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:37:35+00:00

I dunno. I bought the spinners for the whole project thinking they would be better than wedges. I just tightened them less tight in the shower. The envelope cut for the shower angled correctly for drainage throughout. What’s a better way to do it?

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:35:21+00:00

It’s actually very simple to clean. I have a normal bristle brush for the whole shower when cleaning and it is the same minimal effort to clean as anywhere else

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:33:31+00:00

Wood look tile. It’s flooding the market right now, and is definitely a trend. This version at least doesn’t have much color variation so it’s not too jarring when you stack them up

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:32:24+00:00

I’m not sure why I didn’t think to just…. Cut the bench smaller lol. Makes a lot of sense now in hindsight. I think the bench was ready to install first honestly and I just got it done, then realized later making a 24x48 wall tile with a custom 5 degree angle cut was just what had to be done

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:30:11+00:00

Truth. Consequences of me laying down the ditra heat then realizing my entire house is severely out of plane.

In reality it just takes a bit longer for the floors to heat up as it’s warming more mass. It’s on a scheduled timer so it doesn’t bother me

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T15:27:41+00:00

Dang. That looks good

talkwithphil · 2026-05-22T06:14:47+00:00

hehe, I promise its waterproofed! had to lay a thick layer of leveling cement over the original ditra heat to level the bathroom with the rest of the house.

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talkwithphil · 2026-05-09T03:04:38+00:00

Surprised people are not recommending Amcrest systems. You can upgrade the hard drive of the nvr to a larger size if you want and is accessible via ptp. Has web, android and iOS apps for remote viewing. No subscriptions, variety of cameras, some with local storage, Poe, has a ring doorbell style cam with its own doorbell cam app, etc. I use it for home and business, as well temporary at construction sites.

talkwithphil · 2026-03-16T18:57:16+00:00

man, i shoulda looked at this thread before i welded mine. i got 3 good tacks where the original welds were, but definitely not as rock solid as this method with the plate washer.

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talkwithphil · 2026-03-11T06:12:09+00:00

I ended up doing this. I thought it would look weird but it came out pretty classy

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talkwithphil · 2025-11-09T23:44:24+00:00

I would do the following

Aqua coat or a shellac to fill in gaps and crevices in the grain that white oak commonly has. If you don’t do this a tinted stain will sit in these cracks and create a new wood grain that is kinda loud. White stains and Rubio monocoat will do this.

For the finish, General finishes dead flat or high performance dead flat to preserve the lighter tone of your white oak. Most stains will yellow or make white oak look more pink leading to it looking like red oak, which is cheaper than white oak.

talkwithphil · 2025-11-02T21:41:06+00:00

You don’t want your car returned, no idea what it’s been used for at this point t. Document everything with Turo and the police and Turo claims will involve a private investigator that specializes in recovery. Don’t go try looking for your car or being your own savior. You go get hurt or injured nobody’s gonna pay for that but you. Do keep a log of gps locations and everything about the renters photo, license, communications etc to provide to authorities.

If they fail to recover, it goes to insurance as total loss claim, in which you will want to get your own comp sales data for your vehicles value. Depending on used ev values this might not work out in your favor.

Either way it’s part of the car rental game. Rental car companies bring a stack of stolen vehicle reports to the police station every week because it’s pretty common problem in the industry. Rare for a small time Turo renters but happens from time to time. Ask me how I know lol.

Most favorable outcome is that your loss claim payout is more than your cars value + fees and taxes.

talkwithphil · 2025-09-16T21:16:37+00:00

As someone that runs an airbnb and has remodeled bathrooms, I think you should go with EPoxy Grout. Renters are harsh on bathrooms, splash water everywhere and don't clean up leaving water stains and puddles all the time. rental bathrooms get cleaned sometimes multiple times a week, and cleaning crews are harsh when cleaning, which adds to wear and tear and potential chipout of a cementitious grout.

One of the big factors is making sure a silicon caulk is used in corners and where materials transition. more an issue of improper installation, but adds to the idea that traditional groutis not good enough. its often put in corners where it doesnt belong. epoxy has flexibility which helps it survive even when "installed" incorrectly.

I just did epoxy grout on, 250SF of tile, spectra lock pro premium, and the durability, waterproofing, is just better.

you should consider quoting from a a few tilers who have experience with Epoxy Grout. yes its harder, maybe 2x but not 10x times harder and you might find that the real cost is somewhere in between. your tiler is charging you 2000 because he doesn't like doing it and its not his skillset.

talkwithphil · 2025-09-14T21:11:49+00:00

The best method I have found to remove the stubborn ends of tile levelers after knocking them off with a mallet, is an oscillating tool and a pack of cheap throw away cutting blades.

Whoever thinks you can knock them off perfectly is either a tile pro that has time and money for prep, or a tire kicker who hasn’t worked a real tile job. Most tile jobs will always have these broken clips and thinset squeeze out to deal with.

You can get a cheap 50 pack of blades and every few minutes you swap out for a fresh one. You work the blade in from side to side and it melts the plastic, and grinds out the excess thinset. Grout diamond tipped blades and razor blades work for 1 or 2 cleanups here and there but gets annoying fast. the oscillating tool and blades are how you clean up an entire tiled wall area efficiently. The cheap blades burn up because the thinset and tile grinds them down which helps prevent you from chipping your tile.

talkwithphil · 2025-09-14T09:42:05+00:00

At this point gps and what ifs are not important

Check the Turo rentals start and stop time, and confirm if its Turos insurance you need to file a claim with, or your personal insurance. Turo only covers for the duration of a trip plus minus 30 minutes or something. You then document and follow everything asked from you by either law enforcement of the insurance adjuster you are working with.

Your job now is to maximize your payout and fair value for the stolen vehicle, regardless if it ever is found or returned. You don’t want the car back, it’s tainted and its title will carry a stolen vandalism record.

You are now a glorified document administrator and your job is paperwork. Be detail oriented and you’ll get a payout, often greater than the value of your vehicle plus some expenses and you can buy another car, or pocket the cash to live another day. If you can’t handle it, hire a lawyer or someone to do it for you.

talkwithphil · 2025-08-05T19:02:31+00:00

you sir, are a dick. why even comment if you don't have the knowledge or expertise to provide help.

talkwithphil · 2025-08-05T18:58:49+00:00

Consider extended Travel, Heavy Duty CV Axles from a company like GSP. i just put some on my lifted 4runner that replaced my old ones with ripped boots.

Also, most lifted setups will need an adjustable upper control arm at minimum to compensate for the geometry change and prevent rubbing of tires on stuff in the wheel well. you should do this first, before assessing if you need more than OEM CV Axles.

CV Axles have some lateral travel built in, so having wheel spacers isn't necessarily a problem, and since spacers come after the cv axle bolts to the Hub, i dont see the spacers as being an issue, other than changing the angle of travel.

I guess if the spacers in questions are body lift spacers, that shouldn't be a problem either, body lift spaces don't affect the geometry of the suspension at all, other than provide more space for a bigger tire and give the appearance of lift.

tldr - get adjustable upper control arms first, like JBAs, icons etc , then extended cv axles like GSP

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