Hello all, New to this forum. I am having serious reservations about the outcome of my bathroom shower remodel project. It is actually a new shower in a different part of the old bathroom. I have reviewed many online videos of how to do the whole thing. So i built the enclosure and curb etc to specs and did the preslope using that green bag of mortar mix that was highly recommended on the videos i watched. I did notice that the preslope mud bed seemed to be kind of weak and the top just peeled away like brushing sand off a board. However, i just figured that was ok cause no video seemed to make an issue of it. Then i installed the 40 mil plastic pan liner as seen on these videos. Next, i used that same green bag of mortar mix to make the shower pan just like in the videos. I let it dry about 12 to 14 hours and proceeded to lay the floor tile, a hexagonal pattern mosaic tile. First thing i noticed was how crumble the mud bed was. I tried brushing the loose sand off the bed and it just kept coming off the bed. So i left it alone and started trying to lay down the thinset and it just rolled up in the sand off the top of the bed! So, my question is, what went wrong? if anything. I did everything just as the videos said to do. Surely i am not the only one who has had this problem?

I went to Floor and Decor today and I saw one porcelain tile that I like the design idea but I don't like the 17" x 17" square. It has a look like random slate tiles but if you laid it out you would see the lines going horizontal or vertical. It is the (Mix Aran Stone Anti-slip Porcelain Tile, https://www.flooranddecor.com/porcelain-tile/mix-aran-stone-anti-slip-porcelain-tile-911103865.html). Is their any place that has individual pieces so you can actually make a random pattern and not just square grouped pieces?