I am planning to have a bathroom tiled, wals and floor. I want to
remove the skirting and run the floor tiles right up to the bottom of
the wall tiles with no trim. Is this OK?

Secondly I plan to replace a tired old bath panel with some marine ply
wood which will then be tiled with the wall tiles. Is marine ply the
correct choice and if so does it need any preparation or can the
adhesive go straight on?

Thanks

Ernie Bilko wrote:
I am planning to have a bathroom tiled, wals and floor. I want to
remove the skirting and run the floor tiles right up to the bottom of
the wall tiles with no trim. Is this OK?
Yes
Secondly I plan to replace a tired old bath panel with some marine ply
wood which will then be tiled with the wall tiles. Is marine ply the
correct choice
Worked for me with the correct adhesive.
If the panel is not removable you need to plan how to get access under
the bath in future, or just use mirror mounting screws which doesn't
look as nice.

On 2007-08-29 19:27:29 +0100, Ernie Bilko said:

I am planning to have a bathroom tiled, wals and floor. I want to
remove the skirting and run the floor tiles right up to the bottom of
the wall tiles with no trim. Is this OK?

Mechanically it is. The best way is to leave an expansion gap at the
bottom of 4-6mm and to fill it with a silicone sealant. THis will take
up any significant movement.

Whether this looks good aesthetically is another thing. It can look
rather strange unless both sets of tiles are chosen carefully.

One solution is to make a small upstand skirting using the floor tiles
- perhaps 75mm or so high - and to wall tile down to that.

I used this approach in my cloakroom project recently, cutting strips
of the floor slate and tiling down to that. I used strips of 9mm ply
behind the slate upstand so that there would be a ledge where the wall
tiles meet it. The result is very effective.



Secondly I plan to replace a tired old bath panel with some marine ply
wood which will then be tiled with the wall tiles. Is marine ply the
correct choice and if so does it need any preparation or can the
adhesive go straight on?


marine ply is specific and not needed for this application. The
normal choice is WBP, which is commonly available.

The key things a

1) Make the framing absolutely rigid so that there is no movement.

2) Use 18mm ply, nothing less.

3) Use a good quality flexible adhesive. These are either specific
products or a non flexible one with an ad-mix. Ardex and Weber are the
market leaders in tiling adhesives and own other brands such as Dunlop,
BAL and Howtex. You will be able to use the adhesive for the rest
of the installation as well. A similarly flexible grout is needed as
well. Check with the manufacturer about the installation procedure
onto ply. Some require no primer at all (specifically), others
suggest painting on a PVA solution and yet others specify a two part
resin primer.
You must use the manufacturer's recommendation.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-08-29 19:27:29 +0100, Ernie Bilko said:

I am planning to have a bathroom tiled, wals and floor. I want to
remove the skirting and run the floor tiles right up to the bottom of
the wall tiles with no trim. Is this OK?

Suspended floor?

Mechanically it is. The best way is to leave an expansion gap at the
bottom of 4-6mm and to fill it with a silicone sealant. THis will
take up any significant movement.

Whether this looks good aesthetically is another thing. It can look
rather strange unless both sets of tiles are chosen carefully.

One solution is to make a small upstand skirting using the floor tiles
- perhaps 75mm or so high - and to wall tile down to that.

I used this approach in my cloakroom project recently, cutting strips
of the floor slate and tiling down to that. I used strips of 9mm ply
behind the slate upstand so that there would be a ledge where the wall
tiles meet it. The result is very effective.

A solid floor?



Secondly I plan to replace a tired old bath panel with some marine
ply wood which will then be tiled with the wall tiles. Is marine ply
the correct choice and if so does it need any preparation or can the
adhesive go straight on?


marine ply is specific and not needed for this application. The
normal choice is WBP, which is commonly available.

The key things a

1) Make the framing absolutely rigid so that there is no movement.

Yes, IMO, critical.

2) Use 18mm ply, nothing less.

3) Use a good quality flexible adhesive. These are either specific
products or a non flexible one with an ad-mix. Ardex and Weber are
the market leaders in tiling adhesives and own other brands such as
Dunlop, BAL and Howtex. You will be able to use the adhesive for
the rest of the installation as well. A similarly flexible grout is
needed as well. Check with the manufacturer about the installation
procedure onto ply. Some require no primer at all (specifically),
others suggest painting on a PVA solution and yet others specify a
two part resin primer.
You must use the manufacturer's recommendation.

On 2007-08-29 23:34:19 +0100, "clot" said:

Andy Hall wrote:

One solution is to make a small upstand skirting using the floor tiles
- perhaps 75mm or so high - and to wall tile down to that.

I used this approach in my cloakroom project recently, cutting strips
of the floor slate and tiling down to that. I used strips of 9mm ply
behind the slate upstand so that there would be a ledge where the wall
tiles meet it. The result is very effective.

A solid floor?

In my case, the floor is concrete, some walls plasterboard on studs,
some ply and others breezeblock. Either way, I did expansion gaps
underneath the upstand sections just in case. This is simple to do.
When sticking them, arrange a gap at the bottom of about 3-4mm using
tile spacers or wedges. Then on completion, fill the gap with clear
silicone (or possibly white if appropriate) up to just flush with the
surface.

The other thing I wonder about with tiling a bath panel is the weight.
Over the length involved, it would be quite difficult to produce
something that isn't going to flex if removed, even if ply is used.

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:04:17 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-08-29 19:27:29 +0100, Ernie Bilko said:

I am planning to have a bathroom tiled, wals and floor. I want to
remove the skirting and run the floor tiles right up to the bottom of
the wall tiles with no trim. Is this OK?

Mechanically it is. The best way is to leave an expansion gap at the
bottom of 4-6mm and to fill it with a silicone sealant. THis will take
up any significant movement.

Whether this looks good aesthetically is another thing. It can look
rather strange unless both sets of tiles are chosen carefully.

One solution is to make a small upstand skirting using the floor tiles
- perhaps 75mm or so high - and to wall tile down to that.

I used this approach in my cloakroom project recently, cutting strips
of the floor slate and tiling down to that. I used strips of 9mm ply
behind the slate upstand so that there would be a ledge where the wall
tiles meet it. The result is very effective.



Secondly I plan to replace a tired old bath panel with some marine ply
wood which will then be tiled with the wall tiles. Is marine ply the
correct choice and if so does it need any preparation or can the
adhesive go straight on?


marine ply is specific and not needed for this application. The
normal choice is WBP, which is commonly available.

The key things a

1) Make the framing absolutely rigid so that there is no movement.

2) Use 18mm ply, nothing less.

3) Use a good quality flexible adhesive. These are either specific
products or a non flexible one with an ad-mix. Ardex and Weber are the
market leaders in tiling adhesives and own other brands such as Dunlop,
BAL and Howtex. You will be able to use the adhesive for the rest
of the installation as well. A similarly flexible grout is needed as
well. Check with the manufacturer about the installation procedure
onto ply. Some require no primer at all (specifically), others
suggest painting on a PVA solution and yet others specify a two part
resin primer.
You must use the manufacturer's recommendation.





Thanks. I assumed marine was the only ply proof against water, I'll
look for WBP. As for the tiling wall to floor, you are right about the
matching. It will depend on the choice of tiles which will be made by
a higher authority than me (wife). If she goes mad with colour/pattern
I may just replace the current scruffy skirting with new stuff.

Thanks for the replies.