Shower Floor to Wall Transition Question

11 years ago

I'm using 12x24 tile on the wall and 2x2 mosaic for the floor of a shower. Wondering how the tile should be laid out at the floor/wall transition.

At the transition between the floor and wall, should A) floor tiles go under the wall tiles, or B) wall tiles go behind the floor tiles [or does it matter]?

I would think option A is better since the caulk line at the transition will be mostly on the wall, and the floor will be mostly tile. With option B, the caulk line will be mostly on the floor which will expose it to more direct water. Is this correct?

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Comments (3)

SYinUSA, GA zone 8
11 years ago
I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm currently tiling my hall bath and am taking the approach you describe in option A. I'm using a 1" hex on the floor and figured that sliding the floor tile under the cove base tile would be better for my sanity than trying to cut all those hexes around the perimeter of the room. It will leave a much cleaner line than all those cut tiles (with my wet saw skills anyway).
bill_vincent
11 years ago
Doesn't matter either way.

HOWEVER-- if you're using cove base, the floor tile should ABUTT the base, not slide under it. That completely defeats the purpose of "sanitary base", which is to eliminate the tight corner. As for cutting hex, that's no big deal with a decent wet saw.
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SYinUSA, GA zone 8
11 years ago
Bill, I read many threads on the cove base issue on this site and others, and saw many examples done either way. If I hadn't used the cove base, I would have used 3x6 subway tile which would have had the same 90* transition issue. I'm a mere mortal, not a Tile Deity like you and mongo, so I decided to save myself a severed finger and take the easy way out. I have had enough trouble with flying tile chips just cutting subways in half, I can't imagine the carnage with the hexes.