Never tiled before, does this plan sound ok?

[LadyM]

Hi, I've been doing our bathroom up and am finally on to tiling behind the sink. As I always seem to miss something important I thought I would post plans first then if I'm doing it all wrong you guys can tell me before I balls it up.

The tiles are a 4x4 square of 200 x 200 x 10mm travertine, with a border on top and then a row of 100x100mm tiles. Do you think it will matter where the top of the sink comes too in this pattern as I think the border will start below the sink? I was going to leave a gap between the tiles and skirting to grout as the tiles are thicker than the top edge of skirting.

The waste pipe will be in the middle between 2 tiles, would a hand tile saw be ok to cut this and is it very difficult to do, I only have two spare tiles to muck up.

As the tiles are reasonably big and thick is it best to put adhesive straight on the tiles? Is it ok to start tiling from the skirting board, I have checked it is level, and would use spacers to get the gap.

Any advice very much appreciated, sorry for the long post, thanks.

 

[vv2806]

Maybe some of the pro-s would reply, I have experience with one bathroom only - tiled all the walls floor to ceiling, and am going to grout the floor tiles tomorrow. I started with reading the sticky in this forum

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77709

What else is there on that wall except the sink? Why do you want the border below the sink?

The tiles ticker that the top edge of the skirting doesn't sound right to me. If you are going to tile the whole width of the wall, can't you remove the skirting and start tiling from the floor?

For cutting tiles around pipes I used a tiling sow and clippers but my tiles are 6mm tick ceramic.

 

[olly_k]

I used to do a bit of tiling and would start on the row below the border generally. Then work down / up from there. Never start from skirting / floor bath edge etc. IMO it usually result in a **** job. Make sure you cut to floor ceiling too.
Also your border should go above the sink really but every bathroom is different.
And yes get rid of the skirting.

Don't skimp on the tiling especially if they were expensive you have got to sit in your bath or on the toilet and I guarantee you will notice crappy bits a few weeks down the line if you take short cuts now.

 

[bathstyle]

Starting on the skirting is fine provided it is totally level which in my experiance, they rarely are.

The border should never go below the Basin top, that's much too low.

Never used a tile saw but some trav can be pretty hard, so the usual way to cut the waste pipe out in the two tiles would be a wet saw or angle grinder.

 

[LadyM]

I got muddled the border will be above the sink, not below it, i've drawn a little plan, but it is not in line with the sink, do you think that would look ok, I wanted to keep the cutting of tiles down to a minimum.
I had read the sticky first which was useful, i'm just a little nervous as I haven't really done much Diy and i always seem to do it a bit wrong.

The tiling will only be a large square behind the sink which is why the skirting is there, the majority of the bathroom is painted.

Bit worried about cutting the tiles, i've just read about the wet saw and that sounds scary and expensive. I might be able to borrow an angle grinder but how easy or hard is it to cut half a circle, the waste pipe is 32mm so it would be a tight curve.

Untitled

• LadyM
• 28 Oct 2009
• 1

 

[tictic]

will u be taking sink of wall first then tile.

as for the hole you could hire a bore cutter from local hire shop an use this or even better take ur 2 tiles down with with ur marking and ask them do do it for you..if you were local to me i would have down it for a cup of tea.

 

[tictic]

sorry has for cutting the tiles why not buy a small wet saw from wickes or the likes they are very easy to use "honest" just wear goggles take ur time when cutting.
then when done with it sell it on e-bay or advert in local paper?

 

[jctilingservices]

you mean your tiles are 100mmx100mm, try to finish with your cut edges at the skirting board, a hand held tile saw will be quite hard to work with on trav, although not impossible, as mentioned an angle grinder or wet cutter is your best option,cutting the tight circle you need is fairly straight forward, remember though, if you borrow an angle grinder you need a diamond tipped disc and be careful of your fingers,and wear safety goggles

 

[LadyM]

I'm not good with power saws, i don't like the kick back, if the hand saw will do it i might wimp out and use that.
We don't have a sink at the moment, but when we come to fix it would a good quality masonary drill bit be ok to drll through the tiles?

Does the layout i drew out look ok?

Thanks for all your advice

 

[jctilingservices]

yes an ordinary masonary bit will do fine, the plan looks ok