Click4Bathrooms
Site Navigation:
Mini-Info-Page
Tiling
Around
Bathtubs
Author:
A.Jeffers
Date Written:
14 Oct 07
Copyright © 2006 www.click4bathrooms.com
Tiling around a bathtub can look very impressive and can give the bathroom an integrated and even space-age feeling, where the bathtub appears to erupt out of the floor or walls. If done properly, it reduces worries of ruining ceilings on floors below due to splashing. This may be very useful if you have young children who play in the tub with their toys.
Counter-sunk bathtubs are even more impresive as they give an even more integrated feeling.
Where the bathtub meets the tile, it is necessary to seal any joins with a waterproof sealant such as silicone rubber caulking. This type of flexible sealant is necessary, because the bathtub can move enough to crack an otherwise rigid seal, allowing water to penetrate any surface between the bath and the tile.
This is obviously extremely undesirable as water penetration leads to further complications involving dampness and leaks to ceilings below. There are various coloured sealants available to compliment your existing fixtures and fittings. They are generally sold in tubes or cartridges and are made to deal with gaps up to a width of approximately 3mm. This is around an eighth of an inch.
If you have a larger gap to fill, try cutting smaller pieces of tiles to partially fill it or pack it with lengths of soft rope and then apply the sealant. Always fill the bath with water before sealing, to allow for the stretch movement experienced under the weight of the water. If you fail to do this, you will probably find the sealant cracking earlier as opposed to later, due to the different stresses placed on it.
This stretch movement is unlikely to occur in the more robust cast iron bathtubs, but it certainly needs to be considered for most other materials, such as acrylic. Alternatively, make-shift coving is available in a range of materials, including ceramic.
Plastic strips are another example and are easy to use and cut to size. Whilst it is not essential, it is wise to fit the tiles using water resistant or waterproof adhesive and grout, but take extra care as this will be increasingly difficult to clean off the finished tile surface if allowed to splash the tiles and dry there.
Tips With Grouting
Grout is available in a range of colours, but the standard ones are white, grey and brown. Use a plastic scraper or a rubber-bladed squeegee to push grout into the gaps between the tiles. Make sure all the spaces are evenly filled and then wipe the grout off the tile surface before it dries, as mentioned above. Try not to push too hard into the grout otherwise it will be very thin between the tiles, leading to reduced bonding strength.
An attractive bathroom really warrants a tiled floor. Tile is a premium product and as such is an impressive upgrade over any other type of bathroom floor. The only immediate disadvantages are the cold feel and risk of slipping. For more information on combating the cold see heated tile and on a safety note, find information on slip proof mats and grids in this article about bathroom accessories.
