Bathroom tile join sealing

[ofn01]

Should tiles in a bathroom be sealed along the top when they don't go = all the way to the ceiling?? Some say that they should not be sealed so = that heat can be released from the tiles??

[Lobster]

way to the ceiling?? Some say that they should not be sealed so that heat can be released from the tiles??

Never heard of that one - can't imagine how heat could be an issue. I just grout along the top to make a neat finish - that's never caused me any problems.

David

[Andy Hall]

You don't need to account for heat release. The point is to avoid cracks appearing in the corners as a result of building movement through expansion/contraction with temperature and humidity changes.

However, tiling books recommend using expansion joints at corners and periodically where there are large areas of tiling.

These involve using a 3-6mm section of suitably coloured silicone sealer put into a tile gap where grout would normally go. So on a joint at a ceiling, you would leave the grout gap and put in sealer instead of grout. It just goes into the gap and does not need to be brought out onto the surface and tooled as you would for a joint on a bath.

I have a couple of books written in the U.S. and both recommend that. Sections in DIY manuals don't tend to mention it.

It's possible that the U.S. books recommend expansion joints because houses are typically timber framed (so have movement) and rooms larger (resulting in expansion on large areas).

An average sized UK bathroom is likely to be too small to *require* this treatment. Having said that, the technique is commonplace in the rest of Europe.

[Stuart Noble]

Or tile trim