# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  How to tile a shower niche with trim??

## mgt

All, 
I have a shower niche that I need to tile and would be keen on some advice an experience. 
I have tiled the wall and taken the tiles level to the opening of the niche.  I plan on using some sort of aluminium trim under the internal wall tiles  (top/bottom/left/right)  to cover the exposed edge of the tile. 
My question is:  What order should I tile the niche?  Back wall first, then sides followed by top and bottom?  Is there a preference to the order? 
Also - I notice that the aluminium trims have a little lip that goes up and over the tile edge.  Would this actually hold water in the niche?  I have 10mm tiles for this wall so I am guessing a 12mm trim would be ok as not too much tile glue would need to be used within the niche??? 
Thanks in advance,
MGT.

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## FrodoOne

I have only ever used a short length of plastic trim where two tiled surfaces met at an external right angle when I needed to replace a layer of tiles at the end of a bath.  However, I assume that the aluminium trim you propose to use has a similar profile. 
I would asses your order of working to be appropriate and I believe that any gaps will be filled by the subsequent grouting process.  However, take a tile with you to the point of supply for the trim and check it against the trim.  I suspect that you may need only 10 mm trim as it would be better if this trim did NOT stand above the surface of the tiles but, if it were just slightly below the level of the tiles, that would not matter. 
Since you have finished tiling the wall it is now too late to adopt another approach to which I was introduced many years ago when I first tilled a Bathroom.  There was one vertical external corner involved, about 2 metres long where plastic trim could have been used.  However, the tile supplier provided the "service" of chamfering  one edge of any selected tiles at 45 degrees, so that the corner could be made using the chamfered tiles and the "normal" spacing, later filled with grout.  Hence, no trim was necessary. 
(See http://www.renovateforum.com/f209/gr...corner-112934/) 
When I later purchased tiles for another bathroom, I attempted to have the same supplier chamfer the edge of some tiles, so that I could form a similar external corner.  However, he could not then provide this service as his chamfering machine had "broken down" and had not been replaced.  As only about 10 tiles were involved, I did the job myself, carefully using a diamond wheel in an angle grinder.  It does not matter if the angle achieved is somewhat greater than 45 degrees, as the grout will fill any spaces but care needs to be exercised so as not to grind away any "dints" into the surface edge of any tile.

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## mgt

Thanks FrodoOne, 
But I am beyond the stage to undertake it in the way you describe. 
I am thinking Back wall first, then the base, then the roof, then the two sides (to hold the roof up).  Any thoughts? 
Cheers,
MGT

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## FrodoOne

> Thanks FrodoOne, 
> But I am beyond the stage to undertake it in the way you describe. 
> I am thinking Back wall first, then the base, then the roof, then the two sides (to hold the roof up).  Any thoughts? 
> Cheers,
> MGT

  Certainly the back wall first and the order you specified should be OK.  I had not thought about the top as I have never tackled such a job!   A good adhesive may hold up OK but you might wish to use a temporary support for the centre - such as suitable length of timber supported by another cut to (under) size and adjusted by a wedge. 
I realize that you had past the point where you could use chamfered tiles but I mentioned it for future reference and there was another thread which referenced them close by. 
Good Luck.

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## Oldsaltoz

The last niche I installed for client was bottom first with a gap on both sides and the back for sealant not grout.
The top was next hen the sides and back all grouted.
The edge trim was a stainless steel box section with a tab that held it in place under the tiles and it was a couple of mm less then the height of the bottom tiles to allow for drainage. 
Good luck and fair winds.   :Smilie:

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