Putting trim between bath and wall tiles.

[Iotrez]

Hi all,

I've finished tiling my bathroom walls and I've put some trim where the walls meet the bath.

The trim has a strip of sticky material on the bottom of it which i used to stick it to the bath.

The problem is that because the wall isn't completely flat, there are areas along it where there are gaps between the trim and the wall tiles.

Is there some kind of adhesive that I can get so that where the gaps are, i can push the trim closer to the wall?

Thanks.

 

[gcol]

You're wasting your time with that kind of trim. Remove it and put a silicone seal around the bath.

 

[Iotrez]

You're wasting your time with that kind of trim. Remove it and put a silicone seal around the bath.

Why is that?

The trim is specifically sold as a bath trim.

I wanted to use it because I think it looks neater than only using sealent. It does say to use silicon sealent on the top and bottom of the trim though(where it meets the bath and the walls) to make a watertight seal.

Cheers.

 

[gcol]

Because the adhesive strips come unstuck.
So you're going to forgo 1 silicone seal and replace it with a length of plastic trim and 2 silicone seals? Take my advice, bin the trim.

 

[Iotrez]

Another problem that I have is that because the walls are not very straight, there are some gaps here and there between the edge of the bath and the wall tiles. So if I just use sealent on its own then I won't be able to get a nice even line of sealent and I'm worried it won'tl look very tidy, wheras at least the trim will help hide the gaps.

However, there will still be gaps between the trim and the wall tiles (again due to the wall not being 100% straight). Do you think I could use no nails glue to stick the trim to the wall where these spaces are?

Cheers.

 

[gcol]

No matter what you decide to do, you need to silicone the bath to wall joint anyway. Do that first and see what it looks like.
I'm not going to help you to stick up a piece of plastic trim because....
1. They look garbage
2. They come unstuck

 

[Iotrez]

Oh I didn't realise I should put silicone between the bath and wall first. I've already put the trim on.

 

[gcol]

Well in my experience they ALWAYS come unstuck and leak so if you were to insist on fitting one then I would suggest sealing beneath it. As you've already fitted it, just wait until you start to get water dripping into the room below, then rip it off and say "damn that gcol" and silicone it.

 

[under pressure]

I bought some plastic quadrant from Wickes I think and siliconed that all around the bath its plastic its quite solid its siliconed top and bottom and sealed nicely and it looks great it was only about £2 for a 7 foot length. I think its meant to be outside window trim

 

[PilotPete]

I'm with gcol on this one. I have owned a number of bathrooms in my time with such strips fixed to 'seal' baths and they always fail eventually. Another problem I have experienced is when bath users put their hands on the bath top to 'lever' themselves to a standing position to get out; if they put pressure on the strip it fails in that area relatively quickly. A thin bead of silicone is the way to go. Here is a view of my washstand top (covered with mosaic tiles) which has been siliconed with Bal silicone containing Microban between it and the stone wall tiles. Thin bead, followed immediately by a finger dipped in washing up liquid/ water mix. Very neat.

And here's another view of the basin to washstand top seal, this time Dow Corning 785 Clear and the same method.

Can't beat properly applied silicone for a neat finish, which also won't look dated.

PP