What's tanking, I thought that was something that you did to basements?

Well fundamentally it is exactly the same thing, the term tanking, in simplified terms means the installation of a waterproof membrane to a substrate rendering the area impervious to water.

It's a common misconception that tiles are used to provide an impervious waterproof barrier.

There are two fundamental reasons to install tile, firstly it looks good, and secondly it's hygenic and easy to clean. If waterproofing is required this should always be undertaken before any tiling is fitted.

For domestic installations I'd generally advise the use of a BAL WP1 tanking kit, simply through ease of use and the fact it comes in a ready made kit with everything you need in it. There are other systems available that work equally well.

I have installed this system and found it performed exactly as described and we easy to provide a professional finish.

A tanking system is a product that will put a barrier between the wall surface and any possible water contact. It comes in a tub with three parts, acrylic primer, thick paint and a polyester webbed tape. The tape is for all the joints. AA adhesives should be used in wet areas as well, as this type of adhesive will not break down with water contact . Bal and Webber produce them as well as other brands but these are the two I use, cost arround £50 trade price.
From Darren North East Tiling Training gaffa

Big tip if you get any dried primers on the baths that you cannot get off as they tend to be blue or purple in colour, use some T cut that you use on your car, takes it off no problem without scratching

Originally Posted by darren, NE TILING TR

Big tip if you get any dried primers on the baths that you cannot get off as they tend to be blue or purple in colour, use some T cut that you use on your car, takes it off no problem without scratching

good tip daz. just acrylic baths or enameled aswell

Interesting post, Tcut on the bath? make sure you keep the windows wide open while you do that one lol.

I think tanking sounds a lot more technical than it actually is.... just creating a waterproof area really... stop things going soggy and falling off!

DIY Wet Room - the only low-cost, easy to fix, complete wetroom supplier another site.

on the subject of t-cut....if you accidentally scratch that nice shiny bath and it's not too deep you can use t-cut to take the scratch out..Mark.

in deeper scratch ...wet dry it out...then t-cut polish, just don't do this to those expensive satin finished baths...or you may end up t-cutting the bloody lot.....Gaz