How can I finish tile on the face of a tub platform where the top surface is short of the corner? [closed]

Question

I’ve got a situation trying to tile the surround of a tub. The biggest challenge occurs at the top edge of the surround’s wall, which is also the top of tub. At that location (see photos), the tub’s wall (above the surround and attached to the surround) slopes inward about 3/16-inch away from the back surface of the tile.

The photo is taking looking almost level along the top of the tub. The slope of wall (red) is shown sloping away from the plumb, yellow straight edge, which would be the back surface of the tile.

The top of tub is white, in the photo, the surround is red and immediately below the white. The black spot - seen between tub and yellow edge - is on the far wall (also red), at the end of the tub. The tile will come up from the floor (on right, not shown) and stop at or below the top of tub.

The question is how to finish what will be the top edge of the tile (once attached to the tub) and the space between tile and tub? I’ve considered

(1) sloping the top few inches of the tile to match the tub’s slope; but ruled this out because it causes too much lippage at the joints below;

(2) bring the tile up straight and either (a) fill the space behind with caulk, or (b) add edge trim to fill the gap: for this option (b), I’ve considered several different trims, including:

(i) edging, e.g., Schluter’s (or TrimMaster’s) L-, T-, R-, and RS- shapes (even some stair nosings)

(ii) aluminum and Flexstone L-caps

(iii) ceramic V-caps

(iv) pencil trim

and (v) something else?

I’m thinking the best option is to just fill the space with caulk, or put in two L-shaped edging profiles (not the L-caps, nor stair nosing) back-to-back.

I’m all ears. But please it’s too late to say "shoulda done this or that," and suggest starting over with the surround, that is just not a viable option at this point. so please concentrate on a solution of the situation given.

Answer 1

You can get bullnose tile with edge that curls over.

You can also get pencil bullnose that's just that curled part like quarter-round.

If your tile doesn't have matching pieces like this, try to find one that does fit. You may need to trim it with a wet saw, diamond blade on an angle grinder, and/or sanding block to fit neatly to the tub edge.

You're best off attaching the tile only to the wall surface and not the tub because the tub is going to flex. Caulk the joint between the bullnose tile and the tub, not grout.

Edit: When I wrote the above, I thought what was at the vertical front of the tub was a wall that was not part of the tub that the tub was just sitting on. If what you're actually doing is painting redgard onto the front of a tub and sticking tile to it, then you have a very high chance of the tiles falling off later. The tub will flex from people using it and expand/contract from the heat. The sideskirts are not a stable surface and the tiles will probably work loose later.