Perfectly vs. Imperfectly Wrapped "Inside Corners" with 3" x 6" subway tile?

[Houston DIY]

Perfectly vs. Imperfectly Wrapped "Inside Corners" with 3" x 6" subway tile?

Background
I'm preparing to tile a tub surround. Centering on the back wall results in alternating and matching 2" and 5" tiles along the inside corners of the back wall (see attached drawing). Along the sidewalls, I am limited to an total tile width of around 30" so that the outside edge of the bullnose tile dies just into/before the rounded edge of the tub deck.

What are your thoughts about how to "wrap" the tile into the adjacent sidewalls? I have two options:

"A" would be perfectly wrapped corners and

"B" would be imperfectly wrapped corners because I would be centering along the sidewall.

The attached diagram shows my preliminary layout.

Concerns with Option "A" (Perfectly Wrapped)
1. Will the 1" slivers look stupid?
2. Will the alternating 2" and 5" bullnose tiles along the outside edge look stupid?

Concerns with Option "B" (Imperfectly wrapped corners)
1. Will the 3" tiles adjacent 2" tiles (apparent 5" wrapped tile) look stupid because it isn't a full 6"?

Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

[cx]

Looks a lot like your therad about subway tiles on a backsplash from a few years ago, Bob.

If you can't find something you like in the long thread on subway tiles in the Hangout, from which I separated your individual project, I'm not sure just what we can tell you.

There is really no right or wrong way to do what you wanna do, there are just different ways to accomplish the task. Best layout is always gonna be the one Mrs. Bob likes best, eh?

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Houston DIY]

CX,

Thanks for your less-than-helpful response, but this is a slightly different layout issue than my previous question (which you linked). Further, Mrs. Bob doesn't care about this, but I do.

I simply desire to hear from professional tile installers as to how they would handle this issue to provide the best visually-pleasing installation.

Hopefully JB, Paul (aka Houston Remodeler) or other professionals can reply.

[Carbidetooth]

Option 2 would be my choice. I doubt anyone will ever see it, but the skinnies in option 1 will be saying "look at me"! If I listen hard, I think I can hear them now, but then I'm just an OCD house nerd.


No hard and fast rules. You're the one looking at it so you get to be your own contractor and client to boot.

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Hi, Bob.

They both have give & take. But I like Option #1 because it looks more natural flowing around the corner to my eye. One thing I concentrate on corners is using the very closest color and sheen silicone to the tile and making really neat beads of caulk. The corners blend in when the caulk helps to visually join the corner tiles.

If you can use advice on caulking, do a few things: practice discharging smooth beads of caulk into the corner of a mock up, get some caulk spray (or use a pH neutral cleaner in a spray bottle), and use a corner tool made specifically for striking off excess caulk from a corner joint. With these, you can make incredibly neat, discrete tooled joints. Don’t use your finger to tool the bead as that imparts really thin edges along the beads that are prone to peeling. The plastic tool I linked tool keeps the bead at a 45 degree angle without the thin edges.

But the best option on this layout is the one you gravitate towards. This is your creation. And there are no hard rules in design.

Oh, and we can probably do without the sarcasm. We are all here to help.

[t2jeff]

IMO.....option #2 looks best.

The wrapping effect seems like it would be well appreciated by professionals, knowing what the intent of the layout was.

To the common person, the skinny tiles may look like it wasn't laid out correctly, completely missing/overlooking the "visual effect" of the wrap..

My rookie .02 cents......good luck!

[Houston Remodeler]

Either works for me. Unless you told folks the fine differences in the layout, they wouldn't notice.

[JerseyDIYguy]

My opinion (based on a bit of personal experience and the look of my own works) is that B (Imperfectly wrapped) looks better.

A two dimensional drawing tends to accentuate the imperfections in the drawing of your imperfectly wrapped corners. However, in a real world three dimensional application the 3D nature of the corner tends to reduce the effect of these imperfections.

In a real world 3D application the small slivers of tile in your "perfectly folded" corners will stand out greatly in comparison to the flow of the field tiles and crate a visual distraction at the corners.

How do I know? I tiled around a tub about 20 years ago and being a stickler for geometry I made sure that the corner wrapping was "perfect". The problem was that it had pieces of tile in the corner that were small compared to the field tiles. These small pieces tended to draw the eye to the corners and created a visual discontinuity compared to the field. Many years later I tiled around a tub and balanced the wrapping to keep the tiles sizes larger with no small fractions. The recent job looks much better.

[muskymike]

Hi Bob, I would do B but shifting the 6" to meet the 2" and the 3" to meet the 5".

[alexander H]

"I am limited to an total tile width of around 30" so that the outside edge of the bullnose tile dies just into/before the rounded edge of the tub deck."
You might want to extend the tile out a couple inches past the edge of your tub to the floor, so any water that dribbles over the corners of tub will run down next to tile instead of drywall.

[Houston DIY]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Your input is sincerely appreciated.