[jerkbag]

Hi All,

I am not DIYing this job, but would love some advice: In preparing to redo our (small) bathroom, my wife and I really want this tub (60 X 30 X 22 -- it's a really deep tub with a narrow flange / lip).

http://mirolin.com/wn-content/documents/envy-sell-sheet.pdf

There is currently 58" wall to wall (finished, tiled) in our tub. Our contractor is discouraging us from this tub, as he says it will be hard to make it look good with the wall and tile eating up so much of an already narrow lip (lip seems maybe 1 1/2" I will try and find the exact measurement).

Thing is: the extra space in the tub this narrow lip gives us is the difference between being able to stretch our legs fully and not. So I'm trying to weigh how weird / bad it will look vs. being more comfortable for the next 20 years.

Does anyone have experience with something like this? How much of the tub lip can you tile over? Is it possible to bring the tile completely flush with the edge of the tub wall? If so, i thought maybe going flush on one side, and leaving a relatively normal lip on the rest might work. If that's even possible, do you think it will look terrible?

any input appreciated -- thanks

 

[woodchopper65]

once you rip the old tub out you will have 60 inches between the studs end to end, you have about an inch of sheetrock and tile on all sides now..if the contractor doesnt know this..get ride of him..the dimensions on the new tub are standard for a bathtub 30 x 60, its just a little deeper..

 

[Nik333]

I'm not a tiler or contractor, but have had experience with guys (3!) that wanted to cut a hole in the bedroom/bathroom wall to make it easier to get tubs in & out of the bathroom. In desperation, I had to call my dad/Contractor/Civil Engineer who yelled - "why don't they just cut a hole in the side of the house!?" They did it with walls intact.

It does look big, but comfort is everything, esp. as you get older.

I'm sure an expert will comment. :wink2:
And did, I see :}

 

[jerkbag]

Thanks for the comments. Just to clarify the contractor is fully aware that there will be 60" between the studs when everything is ripped out. He was just saying that in his opinion he doesn't think it will look very good to have tile so close to the tubs edge -- the lip is very narrow on this tub to allow for more space. Has any tiled right up to the tub edge?

Hmmm. Here's maybe a better version of my question to clarify this: will a 60" tub *always* work if there's 60" between the studs? Because when I look at photos it almost looks like people who are getting this tub have a little more space and are able to have a gap of 59 / 60" after tiling, as the lips is only an 1 - 1/2". . .

 

[oh'mike]

Typically the tile is spaced about 1/8" above the top of the tub---

A 1" flange is plenty---a cast iron tub only has a flange of about 1/2"

Perhaps he doesn't like the tiled skirt--I did not see a drawing of how that skirting is to be constructed.

It looks like a handsome tub---I do not understand why the contractor does not like it.

Will a plumber be installing this or your contractor?
Does your contractor have proper training and experience with plumbing?

 

[Jim F]

Is this tub in a showroom where you can hold up the tile and backer you want to use to see how much overlap there will be and how it will look? You could look for a thinner tile that you like In a proper installation the backer board ends just above the flange, not overlapping it then your bottom tile goes down über the flang with thin set. I wonder if the guy you are hiring is planning to have the tile backer overlap. It seems like a tub is designed to have a tile surround so the tile should not make it look strange.

 

[jerkbag]

awesome -- feeling much better about this. thanks so much everyone!