Tiling behind Bar shower.

The pipes feeding a bar shower are clipped onto the wall and so the bar shower is hanging some 2.5 inches from the wall. I will be screwing battens to support the (half-inch) Hardibacker board I have. Anyway, up until now I have felt obliged to cut the hardibacker into 2 where the cut will be along the horizontal axis of the bar shower. And of course there will be holes to accommodate the plumbing. This would allow maintenance to be carried out without taking the shower head off. I've figured on tiling the 2 pieces of hardibacker board and then drilling through the 2 pieces to screw each tiled board to the battens.

But this will force me to use conventional sized tiles and the tiles to be positioned around the split back board with added risk of leaks behind the tiled panel.

But now I have an inclination to use a single large tile that will require the shower head to be removed for mounting.

The former idea is safe and easy. The latter idea might cause a plumber (or me) in the future to spit and curse.

I'd like your advice and experience on this. Any accepted wisdom or no-no's in this situation?

Thanks.

Arthur

It's certainly normal to remove the bar unit from the inlets when installing, but you need to switch off the water before (there should be service valves in the pipework somewhere, so the whole house need not be switched off). You may need new washers when re-installing, and tighten with a cloth under the spanner so the chrome is not damaged. I installed mine in so each inlet went through the middle of a tile - much easier to seal properly. I cut the whole using a drill, then a tile saw. If you want a removable panel, best way is to silicone around it instead of grout. To remove, just slice the seal with a knife and remove the panel. When servicing, you would expect to remove the bar from the inlets. Simon.