The winning project – black and white marble bathroom Occhipinti describes the instal- lation process of his prizewinning project, for a previous client. “The homeowner unfortunate- ly had a fire at their house that required a complete tear-down to the studs. This included the previ- ous work that we had done. The homeowner had a vision for the rebuild of their 1929 home, and we were fortunate to be a part of that vision. The upstairs bathroom had a tub surround with alternat- ing diamond shaped Blue Celeste marble and White Thassos marble, the floor was 3” hex and borders of the same materials. The kitchen floor, backsplash, and fireplace were Spanish style tile. For a vanity wall we installed a smoky mirror mosaic tile. “The master bathroom was the centerpiece of the project. A com- bination of Nero Marquita and White Thassos marbles comprised the majority of the materials used. The concrete slab was recessed to accept the curb-less entry mud- set shower. Everything was water- proofed with a liquid-applied, thin waterproofing anti-fracture mem- brane and the niche and bench were constructed out of wedi. The bathroom floor had Schluter Ditra underlayment and the bathroom floor and shower floor were both heated with SunTouch WarmWire. The job was finished with urethane grout and a penetrating sealer was UltraCare™ Penetrating Plus SB Stone & Porcelain Tile Sealer is a premium, natural-look, solvent-based penetrating sealer that uses VOC- exempt mate- rials and will provide maxi- mum protection against most com- mon stains for all interior and exteri- or natural stone (marble, limestone, sandstone, slate, granite, traver- tine, etc.), unglazed porcelain and ceramic tiles, masonry, quarry tiles and cementitious grout. The product can also be used as a pre-grouting sealer. UltraCare Penetrating Plus SB Stone & Porcelain Tile Sealer was specially designed for dense stones such as granite and unglazed por- celain tiles. It can be used on inte- rior and exterior applications, and it meets all EPA and SCAQMD stan- dards for VOCs. For more information about UltraCare Penetrating Plus SB Stone & Porcelain Tile Sealer and other fine products in the UltraCare fam- ily, visit www.mapei.com. STONE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 92 TileLetter | August 2018