A tiled shower adds beauty and durability and value to your home, and you can choose tiles for your shower all by yourself. There are several things you need to do to properly prepare a leak-proof shower. If you are tiling a shower tile for the first time, consult with a general contractor before starting the job.

Grout the tile. Mix up a batch of grout and let wall tile rest for 5 to 7 minutes. Lightly wet the tile area you’ll be grouting with a damp sponge and dump a bit of grout onto the tile area. Use a rubber float to smooth it into the joints, attacking each joint at a diagonal angle. After 30-40 minutes (check the directions on the bag of grout) you want to wipe the excess grout with a damp sponge and a circular motion. Keep wiping with a clean sponge until the shower tile is clear.

The tiles may look a bit hazy even after wiping, so you may have to buff small tile with a clean sponge to get rid of this haze. Let the grout cure for approximately 3 days before sealing. Then, seal the grout. Run a thin bead of liquid grout or aerosol grout sealer onto the grout line and wipe away. Let dry and then test its water resistance by dropping water onto the sealed grout. Correctly sealed grout will cause the water to bead up on top of it.

Caulk any needed tile size areas. Make sure to use a grout caulk to match the colors. As you caulk tile design, remember to pull the caulk gun relatively quickly across the joint. Most amateurs caulk too slow and end up dropping too much caulk down on the joint.

Other things to remember: Keep the tip angled as you run the bead along the joint. Match the speed with which you pull the caulk gun trigger with the rate at which you pull the gun along the joint. You don’t want to be pulling the gun fast but triggering slowly, or vice versa.

After applying the bead of caulk tile, “bed” it by running a damp finger across the bead with light pressure. Make sure that your grout chalk matches the grout. Let the caulk dry and redo it if you are not happy with the results.