Installing tile edge trim first

[cale]

Can I install tile edge trim by embedding it in thinset, and letting it dry? And then install the shower wall tile at a later date? Or, should tile edge trim be installed at the same time as the wall tile?

 

[Jadnashua]

Are you talking about a profile, or an actual tile that is the trim? IF a profile, the following applies.

You really want that first course of tile to be installed at the same time, otherwise, getting the heights just right can be problematic. On a floor, you need to put thinset underneath the whole thing, but on a wall, you can place it, then spread the thinset over the bonding flange, getting it into the holes, then setting the tile on top to lock it in place. In effect, on the wall, the thickness of the tiling flange ends up being part of what would normally be the thinset thickness everywhere else across the tile...but, through the holes, it ends up that normal thickness.

Depending on the finish, if you don't clean off the outside surfaces completely before the thinset cures, it can damage the surface, and that's easier to do when there's a tile in place, and, if you don't clean the top of the tiling flange off when just setting it in place, you might have some high spots that would then prevent the tile from ending up the right height of the edge. That doesn't tend to look good

To hold things in place temporarily, you can use some tape, just don't get any underneath, and remove before setting the tile!.