advise on starting tiles

[bmcg78]

hi,
i am new to the whole tiling experience and having completed a weeks training course in Scotland im confused about where to start tiling!!
On the course i was on the guy stated that you will not always start with a full tile above your bath but since completing the course and paying alot more attention to tiles in bathrooms i have to say that the majority of ones i have looked at tend to have a full tile above the bath???? personally i think it looks alot better with a full tile at the bath at perhaps a cut at the top than a cut at the bath and a full tile at the top!!!
just a bit confused with this and would appreciate an experienced tilers views/reasons for this???
any tips appreciated...really enjoying the forum
thanks guys
brian

[Matty A]

The way i do it is if the top of the bath is level on the longest & shortest sides then i place a full tile on the bath & work out what size cut iwill have at the top and the bottom of the walls but bare in mind that where ever you start from remember to check the walls which have obstacles on such as windows etc as starting from the bath may work on that wall but when you come to tile arond the window you may find that you end up with (for example) a 10mm cut along the bottom or top of it.

Hope i explained it ok.

[Fekin]

As Matty A has said really.

In an ideal world, you'd start with a level bath, go full tile from the bath upwards, and still have a full tile top and bottom of the walls, but that will hardly ever happen anyway.

Now if you mark out as if your going to start with a full tile from the bath edge, then wrap that line all the way around the room, and come across the window, and your line falls so you have to cut a slither just to get upto the bottom of the window ledge, it will look bad, so that's when you end up halving the tile or so from the bath up instead.

But generally, where possible, I frankly start from a window, center it, check each end of the walls first for cut sizes, then if that's ok, wrap the line around to the bath and see where it falls, and work from there, trying to keep a happy medium all ways round, but you'll always get one where no matter what you do, you'll end up with a nasty cut somewhere.

Good luck

[whitebeam]

If for any reason the bath is'nt level you won't be doing a full tile without a cut, The whole point is to set out and get a good balance of tile, Don't rely on any area's of ceiling and wall's being level or plumb, chances are your'll be cutting in every corner.

[Ric]

even if bath is level and you mark for full tile when you get to ceiling you may have an unsightly slither of a tile!!! so it may be aesthetically more pleasing to go with a 2/3 or 3/4 tile or whatever makes the top look good aswell, and as the others have said it affects the rest of the room!!! take everthing into consideration when setting out........

[tiler tom]

Personally I think it looks better to start with a full tile around the bath. But first thing is to work the setting out. If for any reason you cannot start with a full tile ie. slivers above/below window, door and so on then you will have to place a cut tile around the bath. If the setting out allows for a full tile this is dependent on the bath being level in both directions. Start with a full tile at the lowest point of a bath and be prepared to cut a small amount off the higest point. A way out of this is to perhaps cut 20-25 mm of the lowest tile and that way you could use your cutter around the entire bath and it will not look that obvious. But remember to check it will not effect your setting out.

[Matty A]

If you spend a good amount of time setting out then it makes the job go that much quicker once you start fixing and the thing to remember is your new to the trade and you will get quicker i only been doing 2 years and im still learning and will cntinue to learn for years to come..

If a jobs worth doing (you know the rest)

all the best mate, going to bed now to be up 5

over and out..