Tiling down to a newly installed bath or just past it?

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I'm looking to benefit from the collective wisdom of the forum here.

Intuitively, it seems to be that I should tile past the bath, install the bath and then silicone. But I see plenty of people saying tile to within 2mm of the bath and then silicone.
Others state that I should silicone the bath to the wall, tile to within 2mm of the bath and then silicone the bath to the tiles.

Tell me what works best from your experience.

This bathroom refit is happening in part due to water damage from a previous leaking bath seal so I'll be damned if it happens again!

Cheers!
 
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Fit the bath first & tile down over the edge leaving a 2mm gap, fill bath with water & apply a bead of silicone; leave full bath overnight for silicone to fully cure.
 
Position the bath pull out a bit and silicone the edges that will be in contact with the wall,fix bath in position.

Then silicone round the edges, tile with 2mm gap.

When tiling and grouting complete silicone with bath full of water.

This will give three barriers against water getting behind the bath.
 
Sorry, but if you seal it properly with the correct sealant, water shouldn’t get behind the bath! But look at the profile of the top edge of a bath, it slopes downwards, away from the edge, the bath should be under/behind the leading edge of the tiles. Suction aside, simple logic dictates that if the silicone seal fails, water will not flow uphill &, so, must drain downwards into the bath. Put the bath against the tiles & a silicone seal failure the will mean all the water will seep down between any gap present between the bath & the tiles; won’t it! :confused:
 
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Not quite sure why you feathers seem so ruffled Mr C.

I've removed plenty of bathroom suites on refits and found the moisture had got through to the plasterboard and thus has had to be replaced.

I can't see why a little extra silicone as added protection is a problem.

It doesn't take much of a gap or faliure in the silicone for water to be drawn in by capillary action.

I am only offering the OP advice from my own experiences and not telling them this is the holy grail of bathroom fitting.

Water will not nessacerally drain back into the bath due to surface tension and cohesion of water molecues.
 
Not quite sure why you feathers seem so ruffled Mr C.

I've removed plenty of bathroom suites on refits and found the moisture had got through to the plasterboard and thus has had to be replaced.

I can't see why a little extra silicone as added protection is a problem.

It doesn't take much of a gap or faliure in the silicone for water to be drawn in by capillary action.

I am only offering the OP advice from my own experiences and not telling them this is the holy grail of bathroom fitting.

Water will not nessacerally drain back into the bath due to surface tension and cohesion of water molecues.
My “feathers aren’t ruffled” & I’m sorry if that’s how it appeared; but & if they were, you would know about it! ;) Neither do you need to quote capillary action & surface tension & cohesion of water molecules at me as my background means I am fully conversant. With hindsight, my use of the word “suction” was probably a little condescending, I was, however, attempting to be more easily understood.

You say behind I say above &, for several reasons, I think above is the right way to do it if the room is not already tiled but opinion does seem to be divided on this although I really can’t think why! Contentious but perhaps that was the whole purpose of the post, who knows; I’ll leave it at that & let the OP decide or, perhaps, there will be some further collective comment, a poll or even a comment from God! :LOL:
 
You say behind

Oh no he didn't.
spanishinquisition.jpg
 
If you want overkill to make sure you get no ingress then tank it curium, over the top for a bath, but if there is a shower too then follow it round
 
If you want overkill to make sure you get no ingress then tank it curium, over the top for a bath, but if there is a shower too then follow it round
I'm DEFINITELY tanking but I want to protect my newly plastered kitchen ceiling. We had a very small flow of water through the silicon seal that led to staining and mould growth on the downstairs kitchen ceiling.
Don't want that happening again.
 
well the only thing i can think of is that the original silicone wasn't cured properly or applied correctly. Any premium silicone/waterproof beading fitted/applied correctly will povide a waterproof seal
 
well the only thing i can think of is that the original silicone wasn't cured properly or applied correctly. Any premium silicone/waterproof beading fitted/applied correctly will povide a waterproof seal
Precisely; the key is to use a quality Silicone of the correct type & clean the mating surfaces thoroughly with spirit. Even the very best silicone will never stick to release agent (new bath) or old soap deposits.
 
Not that I am an expert at all but here is what I did.

I fitted the bath and silconed it, I then tiled down to within 2 mm of it and silconed again. I then found a plastic sort of quadrant beading thing in Wickes that I thought would finish it off nicely and look good so I cut and siliconed that on.

It really finished things off nicely and looks really nice and I would be amazed if any water can get past it. The trim was only about £2 a strip as well. If you are interested at all let me know on here :)
 
Not that I am an expert at all but here is what I did.

I fitted the bath and silconed it, I then tiled down to within 2 mm of it and silconed again. I then found a plastic sort of quadrant beading thing in Wickes that I thought would finish it off nicely and look good so I cut and siliconed that on.

It really finished things off nicely and looks really nice and I would be amazed if any water can get past it. The trim was only about £2 a strip as well. If you are interested at all let me know on here :)
Any pictures?
 

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