height of border in tub surround?

[pipewoe]

Hey all,

Getting ready to tile. I'm putting in a 6x8 tile oriented vertically in the tub surround which is 73.5 inches from tub edge to ceiling. I plan on adding a 4-5 inch penny-round tile border amid the field tile. Question is: is there a "standard height" at which a border should be laid? Like does it go 2/3 up, 1/2 up or 3/4 up the wall (and is that 2/3 from tub edge or floor?) My tile guy wants to use whole tiles vertically, so that would mean I could start the border @ 32 inches ( 4 tiles), 40 inches(5 tiles), 48 (six tiles) inches, etc off the top of the tub flange. To me, in my bath (and I'm short) an eye level border looks like it would hit about 44 to 48 inches--the 40-44 looks too low, the 48-52 too high. Will it look funny to have one row of tile cut in half (an 8" tile cut to 4" to get to the 44 inches) in the middle of a field of 6x8 inch (high) tiles? Is there a standard, and is it undesirable to cut a field tile row in half? And if I resign myself to whole tiles, should I err on too low or too high?

Thanks!

 

[Statjunk]

The question you're asking is an opinion. There is no right way to do it. I tend to like a listello to be about eye level. After all it is the center piece of the tile work. It should be the first thing you see.

You can in most cases get it to fall right where you want it to simply by cutting the first row down.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Tom

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jimbo]

I believe the correct answer is that the border goes wherever the lady of the house says it goes!

I have mentioned that earlier this year, I helped my son in law redo his bathroom. We did the tub, lav, and did all the prep for the tile. THEN , my daughter picked out the tile, designed the border, etc. She decided she wanted 4X4 tiles on the diagonal, which added about a day to that job! But the lady is the boss on these issues!

 

[Jadnashua]

I would rather not cut a tile in the middle of the field to get the boarder exactly where you want it...as Jimbo indicated, if that is critical, try adjusting the first row's height. It really is up to you. If you have any features in the shower like a niche, you may want to avoid going through it. The showerhead is likely higher than you'd want it also.