Definately tile behind sink & cistern. Of the bathrooms i've seen where they've been tiled around it looks tatty. Slow and steady with the correct drill means you wont crack any tiles.
Tile around bath / shower tray to give you a better seal between unit and wall.
I'm about to start tiling my renovated bathroom and was wondering what the pro's and con's are of tiling behind installations (e.g. toilet cistern & sink) vs. tiling around them. As far as I can see:
Anyone got anything to add / any recommendations on how I should do it? At present I think I'll go for the tile behind option.
Cheers, James
The other downside of tiling around is appearance. It is relatively difficult to cut curved or fiddly shapes to fit around things, so there ends up being a line of grout highlighting the items. This looks crappy, however well you do it.
With reasonable care and the correct drills, you are unlikely to crack tiles when drilling.
If you are doing floor tiles, then the same applies in respect to toilets and basin pedestals etc.
The best answer is probably "both" ;-)
Fit baths and shower trays before you tile. Then you can tile down onto them. This allows you a better seal and also makes sure the tiles are draining into (or onto) the bath/tray, so less chance for water to get where it should not even if the sealant fails. With baths it also affords the chance to chop it into the wall. This makes the whole thing more rigid (if you are using a plastic bath) and also allows the tiles to drain onto the flat surface of the bath and not the rolled off edge, so again far less chance of little moisture traps.
For everything else it is better to tile first and fit the fittings after. It is much quicker to tile this way and looks much better. You also avoid problems like not being able to get the lids off some designs of cistern!
It looks much better if you do that, too. If you've any picture tiles, plan their positioning carefully - they don't need to be exactly regular.
I'd always tile behind (and below) WCs and basins - it's easier to tile, looks better and makes maintenance/replacement easier. With bath and showers it's optional. As said, you'll get better sealing if you tile after fitting a bath or shower, especially if your walls are not very straight.
Hi James
Tiling behind makes far more sense.
Whan fitting the sink toilet etc. Drill the holes through the tile with a larger drill than what you need for the wall plug, ie. if yo are using a 8mm drill for the wall then use a 10mm drill on the tile and don't overtighten the screws
-- weekendwarrior
Providing the adhesive is dry, you can drill into tiles with any masonry bit, and without too much care. If it isn't, the tile will crack, whatever bit you use.
I used to think that until helping a friend build a bathroom for someone. The tiles in question were some form of porcelain and about
15mm thick. You could make a small dimple in them with a masonry bit before it would drill no further. A standard spear shaped tile bit got not much futher. The material in question also generated great heat that would kill a bit that was not cooled. It turns out these tiles were rated at a hardness of "5" on a scale of 1 to 5.In the end we got a Armeg pro tile bit with a solid carbide head and a water spray kit to go with it. It had very strict instructions on cooling, RPM, and drill pressure (IIRC very high at 250N). Cost of the bit alone was over 20 quid. It did actually drill them - slowly. Lasted about 10 holes in total! so the cost was getting on for £4 a hole. Toward the end of its life it was also taking 15 mins a hole.
For "normal" tiles however you are right that a masonry drill will usually hack it. The bosch multimaterial drills also do very well in tiles at lowish rotation speeds without cooling.
I'm about to tile my bathroom as well - however I;m putting laminate down on the floor.
There was laminate down already, and it was cut around the wc (looked awful).
I'm shifting the wc - so question is, should I put laminate down first or cut around the wc?
We've just had porecelain tiles put up - managed to drill these with a glass bit without too much hassle. Larger holes were all positioned at the edges of tiles so that pipework came through at tile edges/corners.
Paul
Sounds like a good enough reason to avoid porcelain tiles altogether. I have gritted my teeth on occasions when the tile you're drilling sounds hollow i.e. it's been packed out with dollops of adhesive on the corners and you're drilling in the middle.
Yup, that was the conclusion I came to. It was not as if they even looked any better/different!
(might make some sense on a floor with heavy foot traffic I suppose)
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