Hello all!
I have an old house, a Craftsman Bungelow built in 1923, in Cranston Rhode Island.
I am gutting the bathroom. Nothing original is still there but the tub. I am attempting to make it look period in nature but with modern functionality. I have built a med cabinet, wall cabinet and vanity. Purchased most of the materials and am ready to go. Almost.
My problem is with tiling around the tub walls. 3 walls. one rear, one side, one front.
The tub is original cast iron with porcelain glazing. I am having it refinished. The rear of the tub is level against the wall. The side and front are not.
Let me clarify. The long side of the tub has a built in dip. The tub itself is level but the manufacturing process has a curve that drops off sharply about 1 foot from the rear, against the wall, approximately 3/4 of an inch. So, the first row of tiles are level at the top but the 1st tile on the left is cut 3/4″ short at the bottom to compensate for the added height. Tiles are 12 x 12 inches. The rest of the tiles on the first row are longer at the bottom to fill in the extra space. This just does not look correct.
The front of the tub starts level with the long side of the tub, on the left. Then it drops off about a half inch and then comes back level with the right long side of the tub. Again, the center tile is full size. The tiles to either side are cut short.
How do I re-tile and make it look correct?
I can post images if that will help.
Thanks.
Mike
Replies
I can post images if that will help.
Please do.
I will. Got sidetracked. Ripped a tendon. Got an operation. Ouch!!
Hope you're feeling better.
if I understand your description...
...then the way that it's currently tiled is generally the better way to do it.
An alternative might be to have the bottom course of wall tile that is scribed to the tub to be a contrasting tile. Sort of like a baseboard. Then start your wall pattern with the field tile above the "baseboard".
If you want the entire wall to be the same, and for example you were using 6" tiles on the wall, then you could use cut down 8" tiles for that first scribed course, the extra size can absorb the tub's dip. Plug in your own numbers as needed.
Or try a different pattern.
Or a different tile size. If you want to hide the dip, your best bet would be to use a larger the tile. So if you went with large format tile, the dip would be camoflaged more when compared to using a smaller mosaic tile.