The biggest cake I have ever iced

Are you sick of shower posts yet? Let me tell you how sick I am of shower construction! We can only work on it during weekends, and even then we do a step and wait a day, then do a step and wait a day. (sigh).

It.
Is.
Taking.
Forever.

Today, behold the biggest cake I've ever iced: the shower!

With the cementitious backer units installed the next step is to mud and tape the seams, much like installing drywall with a few key differences. One, the fibreglass tape is of hardier stock than your run-of-the-mill mesh tape. Two, rather than using joint compound, you use dry set mortar; the same stuff you use to stick your tiles on later.

Step one, apply sticky mesh tape. I found it doesn't grip the wall like drywall tape does, maybe because the CBU has an irregular surface so there is less area for the tape to stick to? Some books say to apply mortar, then tape, then mortar again. Others say to tape then mortar. And instructions vary based on whether you have an amended mix (i.e with latex or other additives).

In short: What you need to do is read the package instructions for your mortar product and act accordingly.

Here's what a taped up shower looks like. OOoooooo.

With the tape in place, it's time to whip up a bucket of baby poo. Or, if  you're not crazy about the bucket of poo, you can opt for mortar.

With a spackle knife and/or some sort of trowel, commence mashing mortar into the taped crevices. Mash mash mash.

I was trying really hard to make it fairly smooth, because I didn't want to have to work around rock hard nubbins of mortar at the next step. But guess what?! Mostly wasted effort! Once the mortar dries you can actually skim a spackle knife over it and lop off any stickyouty bits.

Slop, spread, smooth.
Slop, spread, smooth.

Next it was time to work on the curb. This was challenging. The concrete board along the edges was jaggedy and rough, and -due to a slight miscalculation - we had to join two pieces to adequately cover the length of the curb, so there were plenty of seams.

It was a lot like icing a cake.
Slop, spread, smooth.
It's forgiving stuff to work with and doesn't start to set up right away.

Here's what it looked like when I was all done.

Not shown: kitty cat foot prints in the curb mortar after Indy decides we've made him the best deluxe cat box ever and walks the length of the curb before hopping in. Garg!!!

At least the mortar was still soft enough to clean up the footyprints. The cat was less pleased about being stuffed into the sink to have the mortar washed of his feet, though.