Do It Yourself Recessed Tile Shelves for Showers

Turn off the power and water to the bathroom and to any room that touches the wall where you will build the recessed shelves. Do this before breaking through the drywall. Put on protective eyewear and a face mask.

Remove the tiles on the wall where you will build recessed shelves. Use a flat-head screwdriver and hammer to chisel the grout from between the tiles one-quarter inch at a time, and then tap the end of a putty knife behind each tile. Force the putty knife roughly one-half inch beneath each tile with every tap. Move the putty knife around the tile until all edges are loosened, and then gently pry up the tile with the putty knife until it comes loose.

Find the studs behind the backer board where you will build the recessed shelves with a stud finder. Mark each stud at roughly the top of where the recessed tile shelves will be and roughly the bottom of where you want to build the tile shelves.

Hit the wall in the center of two marked studs with the claw of a hammer. Use the claw to pull away the drywall over a 3- to 4-inch section. Shine a flashlight inside to look for piping or wires in the way. If the wall is wire and plumbing free, cut a rectangle out of the wall with a drywall saw, using the studs at either end as the side edges and making the hole the height that you want the shelves. If you find wires or plumbing behind the wall where you want to install the shelves, build the recessed shelving in another location free of wiring and pipes.

Measure the studs’ width and distance between them. Cut a board that is the same width as the studs, such as 6 inches, to the same size as the distance between the studs. Secure these boards at the hole’s top and bottom that you made for the recessed tile shelves by drilling 4-inch screws through the boards at an angle and into the studs.

Cut additional wood boards of this length making the number of shelves you want in the recessed compartment. Secure them to the studs with screws. Once the shelves are placed, apply waterproof sealant to the wood boards and studs and let the sealant dry. Cut down pieces of waterproof backer board to fit over the boards with a drywall saw and screw the pieces to the boards with drywall screws.

Apply thinset mortar to the drywall in the shelving area. Lay tiles into the mortar in the design of your choice and let the mortar dry for 24 hours. Apply grout between tiles after 24 hours and let the grout to dry for 24 hours. Applying waterproof sealer to the dried grout ensures a watertight shelving job.