Silicon in corner of 25mm mosaics

[cornish_crofter]

Went to Silicon my shower area today, bearing in mind it's got floor to ceiling mosaics with irregular profiles.

How?

I tried, but ended up with a complete mess!

I did the normal technique of cutting the nozzel failry narrow, running it from end to end, flicking sopey water at it (didn't have a sprayer so I used a small paint brush to 'flick' it on) then using the profiler to get a radius.

Because of the shape of the tiles it was impossible to get a good consistant finish.

I even tried using my finger.

I cleaned it all off whilst it was still wet, so I can make a fresh start tomorrow.

I've thought about masking tape, but that doesn't work for me with normal tiles, let alone irregular mosaics!

This Silicon crap is really frustrating me lately.

 

[Colour Republic]

so the surface isn't flat? the depth of the tiles are all different? is that what you mean?

 

[Alan.P]

Tricky one, never actually done it before but would this work ? Silicon between the mosaics flush to the tile surface one day, leave to cure, then you should have a continuous line to Silicon down.

 

[DHTiling]

Hugo......use clear Silicon....better for rough surface siliconing....

 

[cornish_crofter]

so the surface isn't flat? the depth of the tiles are all different? is that what you mean?

The tiles are set level with each other but the surfaces range from nearly flat to quite raised from one tile to another.

 

[Colour Republic]

Tricky! I can see alot of mould build up in this shower with water sitting on the tiles or are they treated?

 

[cornish_crofter]

Hugo......use clear Silicon....better for rough surface siliconing....

Hmmm, see what you mean.

There are now problems with this approach.

1) I've used grey Silicon between the tiles and the tray, that doesn't look too bad, actually it's worked quite well, good bead etc.

2) There are gaps in the grout right in the corner that would show through. I didn't pay too much attention to these as I was going to be using the grey.

3) I was hoping to use the grey behind the bath, where there is a bit of a varying gap. Although I got things pretty level, due to the nature of the tiles being slightly different sizes (blame the wife!) I was looking for a gap filler here as well, grout would give the game away whereas a radius of Silicon would not.

4) Around the bath there is a small but varying gap between the lip of the bath and the surface of the tiles. Again this calls for a colored gap filler.

I've got some older profiles that have been cut down in size to fit in strange places. Now I seem to have sussed not squirting so much of this stuff out the tube and am wasting much less at the moment I may be able to take time over the profiling and end up with something reasonable.

 

[cornish_crofter]

Tricky! I can see alot of mould build up in this shower with water sitting on the tiles or are they treated?

They are vitrified glass, smooth surface, and they are on the walls.

Good point though.

 

[mikethetile]

have you considered corrner tape

 

[cornish_crofter]

have you considered corrner tape

Yes I have. But I was going to try masking tape, the issue is the surface of the tiles. I've done this plenty of times with success with normal ceramic tiles. However getting the tape to adhere 100% to avoid seapage underneath the tiles is likely to be difficult.

 

[user123]

Hugo, did you get my last PM about this? From what you told me and the fact that you don't want to use clear Silicon Alan P's suggestion seems really good to me....

 

[Ren+]

Yes I have. But I was going to try masking tape, the issue is the surface of the tiles. I've done this plenty of times with success with normal ceramic tiles. However getting the tape to adhere 100% to avoid seapage underneath the tiles is likely to be difficult.

I'm very particular with my Silicon finishing and use masking tape in 99% of jobs. It's hard to visualise your exact dilemna as I can't see the actual job. A few thoughts: Mask off the bath edge so that once you've applied the bead of Silicon, cleaned off most off excess and shaped with your finger you can pull off the m'tape and be left with a clean edge on the bath. The masking edge left can then be smoothed with a wet finger (gently does it). However, before you apply the Silicon, if the gap between the mosaics and the bath edge are large enough to make the Silicon joint look excessive(don't overkill on Silicon where possible), you could first fill the entire edge to the bath with grout clean off excess grout and then scrape out enough grout (before hardened) just above the bath edge so you have a channel for the Silicon to bite into (if that makes sense). Now you can apply your Silicon over the top and will loose most of te visible grout under the Silicon bead. With the Silicon on the tiles you'll just have to take extra time to clean off with your finger and then a papertowel or something similar.

I know it sounds lengthy, but if you want it too look good then will take some effort.