East Oakland Backer And Bath Walls, 2024

This was an incredibly complex bathroom in an older East Oakland home: new backer on every wall, new tile throughout, a marble herringbone floor, a floating vanity, and a new toilet, all using materials the client selected.

Starting behind the walls

The walls themselves were more or less square, which in an older house is a gift. But the earlier demolition of the old lath and plaster hadn’t been finished. Strips of lath remained, and finish nails were left in the studs all over the room. None of that can stay. Backer board has to lie tight and flat against clean framing, and a single leftover nail head or sliver of lath will push a panel out of plane, which then shows up in every tile set over it.

So the first step was preparing the surface: pulling every remaining nail, clearing the last of the lath and plaster, and checking each stud before any backer went up. Then cement backer went on every wall, with the seams taped with alkali-resistant mesh and set in mortar, and the wet areas waterproofed.

Every outside corner got a quarter-round Schluter profile. It protects the tile edge where it’s most likely to get chipped, and it gives each corner a clean, finished line.

A floor from another era

Under the old floor was mosaic tile, probably put down in the 1920s or ’30s over a floated mortar bed. It’s not uncommon for floors of that age to use mortar in the joints; grout as we know it came later. The skill it took to lay a mosaic floor like that, with those materials and those tools, is frankly astonishing, and you don’t see that level of craftsmanship anymore.

That old floor was also solidly bonded and flat. Rather than demolish it, we decided to go over it. The new marble herringbone was set directly on the old tile with a polymer-modified acrylic thinset, which bonds to a hard, non-porous surface like old tile. It saved the time, mess, and cost of breaking out a mortar bed, and it kept a sound, century-old base doing its job.

Herringbone in marble

Herringbone is one of the most demanding floor patterns there is. Every piece is set at an angle to its neighbors, the pattern has to stay perfectly straight down the length of the room, and every edge where it meets a wall or fixture needs its own cut. In marble, those cuts are slower and less forgiving. It was incredibly challenging, and it’s the kind of floor where patience shows.

Finishing the room

With the walls and floor done, I installed the client’s floating vanity and a new toilet. A wall-hung vanity leaves the floor visible underneath, which makes a small bathroom feel bigger and shows off the herringbone. The whole project took two weeks.

Planning a bathroom in an older home? See what we install, or send photos for an estimate.