How to finish window and door trims used when tiling?

[stevenab]

Hi, as mentioned in my previous post. I am fully renovating my master bed ensuite.

The wall tiles were only one 300 x 300 tile up and originally the walls were lined with 6mm villaboard.

The 6mm villaboard was flush to the edge of the windows frame and also flush to the edge of the sliding door frame.

As there was no tile around the window frame or door frame, a piece of 70mm timber trim was placed as a border to hide gaps.

However, as I am now using 600 x 600 tile which is 10mm thick and covering the whole wall, this brings a couple of questions.

1. Should I be using 9mm villaboard instead of 6mm due to size of tiles and wall coverage ?

2. How on earth do I finish the window and door frames as there will now be a large step (approx 19mm) from top of tile to top of window frame ?

[EricL]

Hello @stevenab 

Thanks for sharing your question about tiling your ensuite. If I recall correctly the Villaboard at 6mm can hold tiles up to 50kg a square meter. As long as you are withing that weight limit your tiles should be ok. 

Generally speaking, if you were to calculate the entire thickness of the wall lining that would be the 6mm Villaboard, 10mm of tile adhesive which would be slightly compressed down to 8mm conservatively and the tile itself which is 10mm. You would have a total of 24mm, the question is how high is the window sill sticking out from the timber frame.

I see two possible options for you, if the tiles go past the window sill, I propose tiling the window sill so that it blends with the wall tiles. If the tiles are under the window sill, I recommend using timber moulding to disguise the gap. 

In order to get a better idea of what you'll be going up against, I suggest gathering the materials and putting them up against the window frame. This will give you an actual representation of the villa board and tile joined together. I propose using a timber filler to represent the glue. 

Once you see the materials in place, you can then judge for yourself how you wish to proceed. The other option of course is to trim the window sill and overlap it with tiles.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[stevenab]

Thanx Eric, yeah I'm thinking tiling the window sill is the way to go. Thanx for pointing out about grabbing materials and simulating the look, why didn't I think I that.

Appreciate your help.

FYI, I did call James Hardie and they mentioned 6mm villaboard is rated for up to 9mm tile at no more than 30kg per tile. It has to meet both these requirements unfortunately and my tiles are 10mm. As much as I'd love to use 6mm villaboard, I'm going with 9mm to be safe.

[Dave-1]

Morning @stevenab 

Now that looks like it will be a fun project, hard but so satisying to complete!

My thinking follows along @EricL 's comments (And I didnt know there was a 6mm/9mm villaboard before this) 

I like laying out the parts and then sitting nutting out how they will come together and more importantanly how I would put them together in what order.

As to your window. Mmmm As much as I wouldnt want to do it Id revist the window you have. You are going to all the effort of gutting and redoing the bathroom so maybe either adjust the window to where you want it (looks like the window is in a box by itself and then sitting within the frame) You could potentialy use a saw to slice through the nails holding in place so you can move the window in or out or change it over.

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @stevenab great timing on this question. Firstly the 6mm underlay as @EricL confirmed is perfectly adequate to support the larger format tiles.

With regards to how to finish the window and door frames, I have been dealing with this exact issue today. I have been enclosing an old 50's house sunroom that had weatherboard cladding. It's not being lined with VJ panels, but thats left a 20mm edge on the old sliding door and kitchen window. So, I am filling the old nail holes, dents and chips with the Parafix Multipurpose filler Then, I'll be giving it a good sand back and fixing 19mm x 19mm Tri-Quad Dara pine trim around the outer edge. Brads will be punched and filled with a gap filler bead along both the inside outside edge. I like to use these mini ones as it allows you to get in too very tight spaces. The tube doesn't keep oozing when you stop squeezing the trigger and it never dries out in the nozzle.

Regards, Nailbag

I also have other spaces where the VJ extends past the door and window jambs and have to router out a channel to make the arc's flush. This is a lot more complicated to resolve! 😫