Setting out question

[frigiliana]

Where would you start your first row in this bathroom , the tiles are 40 x 25 with a feature pattern of 12 tiles over the bath the rest are the white tile with a faint pattern matching the blue feature , I'm starting to over think it and confusing myself but as some one said on the forum don't fix the first tile till you know where the last one will be.
Cheers Dave (Walls around the bath are going to be tanked first and i still have to rub down the emulsion)

 

[jollyroger]

Try drawing it out on a timber rod. Cut a rod the full height of the room and transfer the heights of the window, the bath and the taps on the wall. Then lay your tiles out with spacers on a flat surface and you can move the rod left and right.

 

[frigiliana]

Thanks jollyroger appreciate that , would you start on the wall above the bath or the wall with the shelf and window ? i had intended to start above the bath then i thought with the shelf breaking up the vertical run i might be better of starting that wall first .

 

[jollyroger]

I like to start at the floor and work up. You need to work out what size to cut the first tile. I suspect you might be trying to keep the cutting to a minimum and get as many full tiles in as you can but you need to think about how it will look when its finished.
Also try not to have tiny cuts around the bath and the window. It won't make any difference which wall you start on. I like to start at the floor and work up 1 row at a time using a laser level.

 

[frigiliana]

Cheers for that i might have to invest in a laser level, your right i did want to keep cuts to a minimum , the bath height is not bad so i planned to put a datum line one tile up from bath minus about 20mm to give me a cut to the bath does that make sense ? so it won't make much difference which wall i start then good .

 

[Taylormade]

You have 3 important datums here. The bath, window and shelf. Floor and ceiling follow on from these. Make your rod as described and if need be cut it down to fine tune. I don't do that but I am old and do a lot by measure and eye. Focal points are the first 3 mentioned. Keep it simple but spend time setting out. If it takes a few hours to set out and it's right great if you set out in a hurry its a receipt for disaster! It's like the old saying measure twice too cut once.

 

[frigiliana]

Cheers for the help Taylormade , is it better if possible to have as near a full tile from the bath if everything else works out? i appreciate it may be a trade of over the window .

 

[RDTiling]

Cheers for the help Taylormade , is it better if possible to have as near a full tile from the bath if everything else works out? i appreciate it may be a trade of over the window .

Be careful which area you decide to 'compromise' on. The eye is natuarlly drawn to windows, so don't trade if it means slither cuts around the window.

 

[Taylormade]

RD is right the window and shelf are the focal points don't worry too much about a full tile over the bath. Difficult to tell without a drawing. Also remember each Wall is a 'picture' in its own right.

 

[frigiliana]

Thanks once again for the help , i'm getting obsessed with trying to achieve a full tile from the bath , i think i get what your kindly taking the time to explain , the window is crucial to the overall look when finished , Cheers

 

[RDTiling]

The ideal is to have a decent cut into the bath, ceiling, windows, corners, and floor.

There are however just some rooms, and tile sizes, where you can't get them all so you have to compromise. If I was compromising anywhere it would be the cut into the floor.

 

[frigiliana]

I'm taking everything onboard RDTiling thanks , going to do i dry run on the living room floor (not carpeted yet) with pencil lines for bath , shelf and window try and achieve the ideal cuts .
Cheers Gentlemen

 

[RDTiling]

You are right to ask questions. The first bathroom I ever set out I think I spent about 2 hours standing looking at the wall and triple checking I had set it out correctly before I screwed my batton to the wall and started fixing the tiles.

It may feel like you are losing time on getting stuck in with the tiling, but it's the most important part that can make or break a room!

 

[AliGage]

The underside of your bath should be at around 21" or 500mm. So a full tile off the bath would leave a 140-150mm cut to the floor. Bit small in my opinion.
Looks like a full tile from the bath will leave a similar size cut to the top of the boxing.
So, roughly (and only based on approximations after viewing the pictures) a full tile from the top of the box would leave 150mm-ish to the bath and somewhere around 280-300mm to the floor.
Hazarding a guess this leaves around......100mm to the ceiling, no good!

Best place for that 100mm is on TOP of your box. This is where it cuts into your window too? I take it the boxing has been built to ledge height?

Effectively, your best layout for a 400mm tile laid portrait is a full tile off the floor. You might want to consider your flooring options first.

This is all based on a standard room height of 8' (2400mm) or marginally under.
You should have around 250mm above your window so top corners of your window should be nice cuts too.
Hope that helps. Sorry if a bit speratic. Working it out in my head as i type. Just got in from work and i need my bed!

 

[frigiliana]

Sorry AliGage for not replying sooner been working away, thanks for the advise i should have given some dimension in my original post here goes .
Bath Height 56cm from floor to top of bath
Shelf & Window sill 109cm from floor
Top of Window 98cm from Shelf
Ceiling height 247cm
Been thinking of maybe doing the bathroom in Landscape if it would make it look better wife is quite happy to go with what i decide .