Certainly not *necessary* to do so - this topic comes up here quite often (ie "should I tile before or after I install my bath") and in fact IIRC opinion usually comes down in favour of installing the *bath* first. That's certainly how I do it myself.
David
Is it necessary to install a bath after tiling, if so why?
And ... filling the bath with water -to depress it to the floor- then tiling .
And protecting the bath from falling tiles and tools. If you tile first you need to decide the level of the bottom edge of the last row, whether the bottom edge will just stop short of the bath edge or whether the bottom edge will be behind the bath. But if you fit the bath first against the wall you just tile down to nearly meet the bath edge. If it's an acrylic bath, make sure the edges are firmly supported otherwise you will get flexing with the weight of the water and person, and bath edge sealant will keep failing.
The message from Broadback contains these words:
No, you can have a shower instead.
But seriously, I've always put the bath in first. Remember to fill it with water when doing the lowest run of tiles to get it to settle down on its supports.
I use an offcut of tile flat on the edge of the bath to space the first row - that leaves a good gap to fill with silicone so you don't get any leaks.
Don't stand in the bath with gritty boots.
I installed the bath a week or two before tiling, which meant it had been used a number of times, and settled down.
I used tile spacers. I sealed the bath to the wall with silicone when installing the bath, so I don't think there's any way water will leak down the gap. Water had got down there with the previous bath and started dry rot underneath (fortunately, a very minor outbreak). Not sure anyone will ever be able to take the bath out though ;-)
I lined the bath with heavy duty bubble wrap (came on some new radiators), and put a piece of ply across the top after I'd done the first row. I would avoid standing in the bath at all when tiling -- it seems very likely some grit or something will get in there and damage it.
And remember to move the coal out first.....
Dave
Oh you tell SWMBO that too, do you? Works for me.... only in my case the interval is 8 months (and counting)
David
Why people don't use the correct sealing strip is beyond me, it's simply an 'L' shaped piece of plastic, but the bottom part of it is curved down slighlty and has a rubber seal on it, this laps onto the edge of the bath at least an inch and goes up behind the bottom row of tiles about 2 inches, so the best way of doing it is to cut back the plaster and insert the bath to the brickwork (with a big bed of silicone against it), fill in the gap with sand/cement, apply the strip mentioned above and then tile over it, end result is that the edge of the bath is set back about 30mm from the tiles, like this:
Probably because they look tacky, and don't work as well as silicone... ;-)
The message from "Phil L" contains these words:
'Cos they're crap and don't seal as well as a properly applied fillet of silicone.
I've had to put right several "sealing strips" over the years. They're crap.
That's my mind made up then. I will be fitting my bath this coming weekend and I am under strict instructions from the management that there is no way that I am going to be tiling with the bath in-situ. I was considering using one of these sealing strips but figured it wouldn't be so easy with the bath no there.
I considered the idea of using a tile on edge to form the space between the bath and but figured this is actually too thick so will use hardboard. I found this worked well when tiling the kitchen.
The batch is a plastic one and comes with two right angle metal brackets designed to fit the bath to the wall. I figure that I won't be able to fit these now. Can anyone foresee problems as a result of this? I figured I might use gripfill or similar along the edge of the bath to join it to the wall, or would silicon sealant have the same effect of firmly attaching it?
I used one 20+ years ago on the bath I've just removed and the wall behind it was as dry as the proverbial bone.
However, tastes move on and I'll be using a bead of silicone this time as it looks a little less clumsy.
YMMV
The message from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:
Why not?
she is mad. Its the only way to do it. Tell her I said so.
You are both mad.
Yo MUS rigidly attach te bath to the wall and then tile over the join to get anything like a decent looking sealed tiled surface.
In fact you need more than the two L brackets (let these into the wall by chipping out plaster etc so you can tile smoothly over the top).
The cheaper the bath, the more bits of wood and clips you need to support it so it doesn't bend when you put water in and get into it afterwards. If it flexes, the seal will break.
My method is first to install it as rigidly to the wall and floor as possible, even down to getting slabs of ply and MDF and attaching them to the bath sides with car body filler. Then you fill the gap between the curled over edge and the wall with a thick bead of silicone. This is tyhe real seal.
Then you tile down to about 3mm above teh bath top, and if you have made it rigid enough, seal with grout. Ore if its still flexible a bead of silicone.
There simply is no better way.
>
These would screw to the under side of the bath and then to the wall underneath where the tiles are. The alternative wouuld be to have these the other way round, screwing onto the wall under the bath, but I am fairly sure that I would not be able to get near these to screw them in.
This is another reason for fitting the bath first. In fact I usually hack away a line of plaster such that the bath edge can be sat into the wall a little. Also hack away a recess to allow these clips and their screws to sit below the finished plaster level. Make good with a bit of bonding plaster.
Then apply your fist silicone seal against the wall. Tile next leaving the tile thickness gap. Once grouted, fill the bath with water and do the final seal.
If you fit the bath after tiling you are going have a numher of potential difficulties - some will vary with the design of bath. First there is the issue of the fixing brackets that you have highligted. Also if it has a slight roll edge then you potentially create a moisture trap between the bath and the wall and it may be harder to get a nice neat seal. Remember with modern plastic baths they derrive much of their rigidity from their fixing, unles are fixed well they can still flex all over the place.
Well last bath I did, I bolted and siliconed the bath to the wall *and* used a sealing strip behind the tiles *and* siliconed the bottom of the sealing strip to the bath, and siliconed the bottom row of tiles to the strip. There's no way its going to leak (shower over). I agree, they look a bit tacky though. But they don't trap water under (siliconed down) and they dont go yellow (not made of straight rubber any more). In fact they attract less dirt than a thick fillet of silicone, IMHE.
Of course, the strip that you fix on top of the tiles sold on a roll is another matter entirely. Simon.
Thanks folks, for the answers and supplementary questions, sorted that for me.
Thanks everyone, I have now changed my mind again. I am going to get the bath rock-solid attached to the wall using clamps, silicon etc. Then will tile it. Looks like I will be doing this standing in the bath in my socks. with lots of plastic sheeting, cardboard etc. protecting the bath.
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