help with vinyl tile please.

[mustangmccance]

I have been working on finishing my bathroom. I put in a shower and used concrete board behind it. now I thought I would use vinyl tile around the upper part of the surround and on up to the ceiling as well as the little area between the shower and the door. has anyone used this kind of tile for this purpose? is there anything special that needs to be done? I am going to seal all the seams with silicone sealant before I apply the tile. afterwords I am sure I will need to seal it with something like an epoxy sealant. it will not be exposed to uv light at all.

so what do I need to know guys?

 

[csp]

Don't put silicone anywhere that you want the vinyl to stick. Nothing sticks to silicone.

 

[mustangmccance]

I was planning on using the silicone to seal the seams between the concrete board. is there something I should use instead?

 

[AlphaGarage]

If you use an epoxy sealer it will most likely flood into the seams and seal them up good.

 

[mustangmccance]

If you use an epoxy sealer it will most likely flood into the seams and seal them up good.

so you would recommend not sealing the concrete board seams at all and just seal the tile?

 

[WolverineCoatings]

Man... if I were greedy I would recommend some of our products. But, I'm just not.

Are you SURE about using vinyl tile on your shower surround? I'm just not sure that it's the best way to go.

I'm just not that confident that any vinyl tile is going to hold up that well in that type of setting. I think that it could hurt your resell value too. Think about what you see for vinyl tiles on the floor of a bathroom. It's a lot more attack in the shower! Those things just don't look good for that long.

Right now we have a project going at a major military base where the showers are being done. But, this is one of our liquid ceramics over concrete. It's going to look great and perform great. But, I think that the best financial decision in a residential shower is ceramic tile... and... if your budget can't take it... get one of those surrounds.

I hope I'm not hurting your feelings in any way. It's not my intention. It's just that I had a bad gut feeling when I read this. I'd hate to see anyone do something with our products that hurt them in any way.

 

[mustangmccance]

first of all I appreciate all advice given to try and help.
secondly. I have a shower surround that goes up to about 6 feet high I am just looking to cover the last 2 feet to the ceiling and I wanted something that would stand up to moisture a bit better than drywall. I also have never done ceramic tile and to be honest I am a bit intimidated by it. I have seen it done on diy etc and I know it is supposed to not be that difficult but there you go. third this is just in my detached shop. not in my house so I am not quite as concerned about resale value I think having the shop with the shower bathroom and shower will be a huge boost in my resell value if I ever have to sell.

having said all that can you explain to me why the vinyl tile would not hold up well. I am knew to a lot of this. finishing work has never been my strong suit. I like to frame things and have built 3 garages but the finish work like drywall and most inside work I usually hire done.

finally it is not really a budget thing. ceramic tile is not that expensive I have just seen a lot of people on here who have used the vinyl tile in there garages and it looks good. I thought it would work well in the bathroom too. thanks again for all input.

 

[Gath3r]

Please dont tile your shower surround with vinyl tiles..

Just..dont do it.. It would look so bad..IMHO

If you cant handle the ceramic tile..just paint it. They sell paint for bathrooms with an additive for the humidity.

 

[tcianci]

Besides looking hokey, the vinyl tile has no where near the non porus surface of ceramic tile and while you could attempt to seal the whole thing, it would likely turn out to be a funky mess over time. Use the cement backer board above the shower, and if the ceramic tile intimidates you (for whatever reason...vinyl is tile, ceramic is tile, it's all tile) hire it out, you already said that money is not your biggest issue here. If I were you though, I would spend an hour at a box store clinic and get an overview of the basics of ceramic tile installation. The rest is mechanics, whether its framing, roofing, siding, tile, its a matter laying out your job, cutting the stuff and stickin it on. The tile and the grout form a very water resistent system that is very easy to keeo clean and free of funky stuff.