Shower Tunes

Nontoxic tiling

D’Ann chose ceramic tile for the bathroom floor. Tile floors are durable and compare favorably in cost with other green flooring alternatives such as prefinished bamboo plank flooring and natural linoleum. Ceramic tile is the least susceptible to moisture damage, has relatively low environmental impact in manufacture, and is available in a wide variety of materials, colors, dimensions, textures, and styles. D’Ann chose a hexagonal white tile with small black diamond accent tiles at the corners and stripes at the borders for the tub surround, wainscoting, and countertop.

Tile was also the best choice for the countertops and the walls surrounding the tub. Cultured marble countertops and fiberglass tub surrounds, though inexpensive and easy to clean, aren’t recommended because their manufacture contaminates air and water and they can outgas harmful contaminants after installation. For the open side of the jet tub, we installed glass-block walls instead of a shower curtain or a glass shower door. Even with the shower going full blast, very little spray gets through the opening onto the tile floor.

The best way to install tile for tub surrounds and countertops is the old-fashioned mudset method. After installing moisture-resistant sheetrock (“greenboard”) on the walls, the tile installers apply a thick layer of mortar, or “mud,” to the walls. (Mortar mixes and thinsets are all fairly nontoxic as long as you’re careful not to breathe in the dust.) The tiles were applied with cement thinset. Fortino Rodriguez, an experienced tile installer in Austin, prefers this method to the more standard procedure of installing tiles with thinset over cement backerboard because he believes it’s the strongest, longest lasting, and least likely to let moisture penetrate, lessening the possibility of rot or mold.

Rodriguez recommends against using grout sealer on bathtub and shower walls; he says it won’t prevent moisture from penetrating the grout, but it does trap moisture in the wall. Other tile installers disagree. Like many choices in remodeling, this is a matter of the homeowner making a decision based on a contractor’s and subcontractor’s recommendations, his or her own research, and, finally, intuition.

To install the tile floor, we glued cement backerboard over a wooden subfloor. We used a low-VOC adhesive and ring-shank nails to fasten the backerboard to the subfloor and installed the tiles using thinset. Using larger tiles reduces the number of grout lines, and darker grouts are easier to clean and maintain. Whereas conventional wall-tile adhesives can contain toluene, benzene, naptha, and other dangerous solvents, Rodriguez likes to use Laticrete White Multi-Mastic 15, a water-based product, for both wall tiles and gluing backerboard. This product does contain ethylene glycol and mineral spirits, but it’s water soluble and relatively safe. Another safe tile adhesive is Safecoat 3 in 1 by AFM.