Travertine Primary Bath Shower in Cherry Hills Village

About This Project

This primary bathroom shower was installed in a Cherry Hills Village home as part of a master suite renovation. The wall tile is a 12x24 filled and honed travertine — a natural stone that requires a different mortar chemistry than porcelain because travertine is more porous and reactive to standard Portland cement mortars. We used a white polymer-modified thin-set specifically rated for natural stone to prevent staining through the tile face.

The shower floor uses a 2-inch hexagon mosaic in a matching travertine finish. The transition from the large-format wall tile to the small hexagon floor tile is handled at the curb, where a full-height travertine piece caps the edge. The recessed niche is tiled with the same hexagon mosaic as the floor, creating a material continuity between the two horizontal surfaces. All stone was sealed before grouting to prevent grout absorption into the travertine pores.

What We Did

1. Installed waterproofing membrane on all shower walls and floor; verified drain slope at 1/4-inch per foot
2. Set 12x24 travertine wall tile with white polymer-modified mortar, back-buttering each tile for full coverage
3. Set hexagon mosaic floor and niche tile; sealed all stone surfaces before grouting
4. Grouted with sanded grout at 1/8-inch floor joints and unsanded at 1/16-inch wall joints; sealed after cure