bathroominteriortiletiling
I'm in the process of re-tiling my bathroom shower wall and I'm stumped on how to properly tile the window sill near our shower. Here's a picture:
It's roughly 3 inches deep and 18 inches wide. We want to install subway tile for the walls and the tile we've selected is roughly 2.5 inches tall (which is obviously too small for the sill).
What is the preferred way to handle this? Should we use an entirely different shape of tile for the sill?
If your tile is not secure, then the backer is not secure either. You will need to gut it to the studs and install water proof membrane, concrete board or heavy hardy-backer to tile over. The window frame must also be carefully water-proofed as well and trimmed out with a moisture resistant material. Get some professional advise on this one, a new tile job is not cheap or easy and be a shame to have a leaky, grout dropping job when you're done.
As far as the type of tile, ceramic or porcelain are similar products, difference being the hardness grade and the type of glazing. Porcelain is always a better choice in my view as the surface glaze is smoother, easier to keep clean and usually a harder grade.(3 to 7) prices can vary wildly, usually again because of the glazing and hardness factors. Designer patterns also effect the cost as well.
If you want to ensure a perfectly straight and level corner along the entire length, then I'd suggest you build a two sided "box" to rest on the raised surface. Build it out of 1x1s, making a frame that consists of 3 long straight edges connected at perfect 90 degrees by short supports (cripples) spaced 12" on center.
Lay that box over the concrete edge, and use shims to get it perfectly level. Glue in place.
Then apply plywood to the frame and proceed with tiling as normal. (You don't need to ditra the box in this scenario, just tile to the ply)
Rough sketch showing cross section of wall/floor and stick diagram of proposed box framework:
Best Answer
First, make sure the rough sill slopes toward the shower. Measure it with a level; if it's not appropriately sloped, build it up with more mortar to create the requisite slope.
Then, once you've painted all that cementboard with RedGard, the whole assembly should already be waterproof. Just tile over RedGard on the sill however you like. Any water that gets behind and under the tile (and it will) with harmlessly drain down the wall. If the tiles are too big, cut them. Or use dedicated bullnose tiles, which may be the right size and are likely to have a nice lip to them.