Lots of people know that the first piece is critical as everything else evolves around it. The same holds true for the first row as well. With wall tile the first coarse needs to be in a straight and level line on the wall so you can then stack the rest of the tile on top of the first row. Often times, especially in custom showers, the bottom row is normally not a full tile off the floor. This is mainly due to the need to position the wall tiles up or down to accommodate feature stripes, design elements, and basic layout issues.
I lay out what I call a "story pole" on the floor. I space the tiles and all of the design pieces out on the floor just as it will go on the wall with no deviation. this then allows me to measure where the tile will sit on the wall. Now that I know where the first grout joint near the bottom will be I can now get ready to get started. All to often the floor or tub/shower basin is not level and sometimes not flat. To eliminate the head aches of trying to get started on a less than optimum starting platform, I like to screw a slat of straight wood where my story pole tells me my lowest joint on the wall will be. Make sure it's in the right place and level as well.
Now that I have a straight and level "bridge" screwed onto the floor I can quickly get started setting my wall tile on the bridge. Once the adhesive is dry I can now remove the bridge and cut in the lowest piece and scribe the bottom to the un level or undulating floor surface.
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