Tiling: where to centre

[F]

I'm about to tile the bathroom but am unsure about where to centre the tiles on the long wall against which the bath is placed.

The short wall at the tap end of the bath has a window in it. The opening into which the window is fixed has the usual step into it at its bottom and top and on one side. The other side has the long bath wall running straight into it. In other words, if you look towards the tap end of the bath there is wall facing you above and below the window, and to the right of it. There is no wall facing you on the left.

Long winded/convoluted description over, where do I centre the long wall tiles? Half way between the wall at the non-tap end and the wall just below the window, or half way from the non-tap end wall and the window frame?

TIA

[Phil L]

What difference does it make? - you will end up with a cut on all four walls in the corners, unless you are extremely lucky and full tiles drop in just right..this doesn't mean all eight edges of the four walls will have a cut, but at least 4 of them will.

[Osprey]

usual practise to lay out so that there are equal cuts on either end ... or put simply find the centre of the wall and first tile so that middle of that tile is on this line ... tile one way then other.

Do not be tempted to tile off bath or skirting, this will end up looking awful as it will probably not be true. I fix a batten to the wall, ensuring 100% perfect level ... ensuring that the space below is one whole tile or less throughout. Then tile up off that, then once set, remove batten and fill in below .. The actual space will be determined by where one or more horizontal runs ends up ... for example you wouldn't want to end up with a 10mm cut above a bath.

[F]

I realise that, but one set of cuts will be of two different widths depending how far up the wall they are.

It's an aesthetic thing: what will look best.

[F]

But the wall is not the same length throughout its height. It's shorter just above the bath and just below the ceiling, but longer over the height of the window where it runs into the reveal...

[Stuart Noble]

The tiles at the top and 2 edges are left till last and cut to suit. Make sure the gap is less than a full tile all the way (it can be difficult to judge visually). If in doubt, just draw the whole thing out on graph paper. Or, measure height/ width, divide by tile size and see what's left. If it's nearly a full tile, you're ok. If it's less than half a tile, consider not starting in the middle. All this is to avoid small tiles, which are more difficult to cut, more vulnerable, and look amateurish.

It's usual to start with full tiles at the top of the bath because this is a focal point and is normally level. The tiles sit on the bath rim and, depending on its shape, may be up or down a mm or 2. It makes sense to treat this as "the line" unless it leaves you with bad cuts at the top. It means tiling downwards when you get to the end of the bath but a few pins will stop tiles slipping

[Dave Liquorice]

ASCII art fixed pitch font required to view correctly. wt = whole tile, ct = cut tile.

--wt--+--wt--+--wt--+--wt--+--wt--+ct+ | | |ct | + | |wt | Window reveal | | + | |wt | | | | | +--wt--+ct+ | |wt | + | |wt

Obviously if the reveal isn't deep enough to take a wt you only have a ct in there... B-)

[sm_jamieson]

Or if the cuts are wrong, put a gap between 2 tiles on the centre line. One or the other will give you good cuts at the edges.

If you have small cuts just above the bath, if is hard to get the things waterproof, due to too many things going on if the same area. Simon.

[F]

My query was about the position I should treat as the centre of the wall rather than how to arrange the tiles on the wall once I have determined the centre (I've done any amount of tiling over the years but have not run into this scenario previously).

As described previously, the wall is not the same length throughout its height along the length of the bath. It's shorter just above the bath and just below the ceiling, but longer over the height of the window where it runs into the reveal.

A spot of ASCII art might help.

----------------------------------------------**** | | * | | * | | * Window | | * | | * | Plan | * | | * | |**** | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------

The room at the ceiling and floor is a rectangle as shown by the | and -.

At one end is a window which is not centred across the wall and which means that a plan drawn at the window's height off the floor will be extended as shown by the *.

So, on the wall at the top of the diagram, where is the centre to work off for tiling? Is it half way along the

---------------------------------------------- section only (ie half the length of the room at floor and ceiling height), or is it half the length of the wall at window height (ie half of the total length of

---------------------------------------------- and ****)?

TIA

[sm_jamieson]

For a long wall with window at one end, I don't think it really matters

- there is no obvious feature at which to judge symmetry. I would probably centre it ignoring the window, since there is still the wall above and below it I presume. But you may have to jiggle it to get good cuts. The bathroom I jave just done, I drew out the room on paper and the tiling grid on tracing paper (not 1:1 scale !) and slid it around - its always a compromise after all. Cheers, Simon.

[Dave Liquorice]

What is the obsession with a center line? The tiles need to be vertical and horizontal such that any joints are in sensible places. You have a horizontal set by the top of the bath and a vertical set by the reveals. IMHO on the long wall a joint anywhere other than joing the two short bits of long wall will look stupid.

As walls never meet at precisely 90 deg you'll have to ease the absolute position of the tiles anyway. To work into that corner mark vertical say

4 tiles width plus grout width away from it. Is that your "center line"?

[sm_jamieson]

I think the only centre line that is particularly noticeable is say when you walk into a bathroom and there is a window opposite. If the tiles are not equally positioned around the window and reveal, especially if there is a basin under the window as is common, then it stands out a mile. Simon.

[Osprey]

wall is not the same length throughout its height. It's shorter

doesn't matter, as long as you centre the first tile