Tile trim around the bath - should it be siliconed after fitting and tiling?

[Madrab]

Yeah, there shouldn't have been any grout between the bottom of the tile and the seal/bath edge. It would have always cracked due to the movement in the acrylic bath. Should always have been silicone.

Use a grout rake to remove that little line of grout. Just go nice and gentle and smoothly, don't need to remove it all just enough to form a channel for the silicone to grip to. Clean it out well with white spirit/meths and let it evaporate before applying the silicone.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Happy new year everyone.



Nope. Bathed wasn't filled when he initially siliconed, nor when the tiler grouted. We've only used the bath once so far and there's definitely cracks appearing, as @ktuludays spotted (they might have got worse since the bath but it's hard to say):

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No worries RE adding to the list! It's best to know these things. The bath came with 4 small plastic wall brackets. He used 3 of those. Aside from the it's just sitting on the legs/feet that came with the bath. I'll add a photo showing the brackets in situ. Is all that enough, or should there have been batons?

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Thanks for the optimistic words But it's hard not to worry and to enjoy it if it hasn't been done right. It's frustrating too. Cheers though.

the bath edges should be sat on a timber batten.

 

[opps]

Clean it out well with white spirit/meths and let it evaporate before applying the silicone.

+1 for the meths, even better = isopropyl alcohol.

I would not recommend white spirit, it takes much longer to evaporate and can leave a very, very slightly "greasy" film.

 

[opps]

We recently had a new bath installed. It is surrounded by walls on three sides, and it turned out that one of the walls wasn't square leaving a larger gap. So when it came to tiling, the tiler said it would be best to have a tile trim, the type you put into place before tiling and then tile onto. The bath was siliconed before the tile trim, then the trim was added and then the tiles..

Why didn't the tiler pack out the wall?

And why in image number 1, do you have a half tile on the left hand side of the back wall and only a 5th of a tile on the right hand side?

 

[DIYNotIan]

Hi

Thanks for the replies and sorry for the delay in replying. To answer the recent questions...

the bath edges should be sat on a timber batten.

Someone else mentioned that. So I contacted the bath manufacturer and they said batons are not needed or recommended where the walls are solid. I had been confused by the installation guide which showed wood within the lip of the bath. They have confirmed that there is wood encapsulated into the resin and that all is needed is the feet and wall brackets.

Why didn't the tiler pack out the wall?

I don't know. He didn't mention it or offer it as an option. To save time and money perhaps? I guess it would have left a thicker "tile" where it meets the wall, because of the additional packing. But given the choice I would much rather have that and a proper functional job than what we've ended up with. Function over form!

And why in image number 1, do you have a half tile on the left hand side of the back wall and only a 5th of a tile on the right hand side?

To be fair, that was our decision and I'm ok with it. I wanted it tiled around the window in a particular way and that meant different sized tiles in the (grouted) corners...


An update:

I have unfortunately since found out the exact trim that was used:

https://www.tilerite.co.uk/bath-trims/overtile-trim/bbs621/

It's an overtile trim ***facepalm*** And it says "WARNING - avoid silicone contact with trim flex" ***double facepalm*** So really, the decision to use it is going from bad to worse. Perhaps using at all was a bad decision. But if it had to be used, why he didn't use the undertile version I've no idea. Probably because it was a few quid more!

The other thing I've realised is that where the gap between wall and bath is widest, here:



Should water get under the trim lip, I think it will actually end up in a spot that is lower than the bath edge (where I've marked red), and so won't work it's way out so well.

Grrrr!