Mosaic Tiles

[alexbartman]

Have decided to tile a bit of the wall that butts up to the bath i

mosaic tiles - they come in a sheet, held together with backing string they're each about 2cm x 2cm.

Does anyone have any good suggestions or short cuts for cutting them. I was going to tile up to the top of the bath, but am now thinking t tile below the level of the bath (steel) and then rest the bath u against the tiled wall and fill the gaps with lots of silcone.

Am I crazy to do this - ie butt the bath up to tiles - i know it i perceived wisdom to tile up to the level of the bath - but I'll eithe have a 1 cm (ish) grouted gap or have to cut c. 60 2cm tiles!!!!

Thanks for any help!

Ale

-- alexbartman

[Dave Jones]

Tile up to the bath, and leave the gap at the top not the bottom!

[TonyK]

To date I have tiled 3 kitchens and 4 bathrooms in various mosaics and, for me, the big advantage is being able to make the tiles fit to an existing space. For example, latest escapade involved tiling a kitchen with 5cm tiles on a mesh backing. By cutting the tiles into strips I as able to adjust the spacing slightly so that there very few cut tiles. It takes a lot of planning but makes for a very nice finish.

For bathrooms I would suggest tiling from the bath up and stopping at an appropriate point so you don't leave gaps. get a calculator out and work out the spacing and you will end up with a much better result.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Get an el cheapo Plasplugs electric tile cutter. About 30 quid. With a bit of care - using the provided tool to push the mosaics - or make your own, you'll get a perfect cut of as small as you want. You can remove the bottom strip of tiles from the backing and cut them one by one if necessary. Butter them and fit individually - because they weigh next to nothing they should not sag.

[Fitz]

string-

I just used a standard Plasplugs manual tilecutter (i.e. a flat bed with a scoring head on an arm). Rested the sheet of tiles on the bed and ran the scoring head over them, the mesh holds them all in line. Then used a small nail under the score line to snap each individual tile. Sounds like a ballache, but actually didn't really take very long at all.