Best method for positioning towel rail pipework before tiling

[smallsteve1]

The new towel rail (en-suite) will be arriving this week and I need to sort the pipework for it - comes out of the floor, which is not yet screwed-down. My issue is how best to do this to allow for (small) error, as the tiles are not on the wall either i.e. I don't know exact thickness of tiles or addy, although I reckon it'll be 8mm tiles / square trowel.
The towel rail brackets allow for small adjustment and so I guess i can aim for tile thickness (incl. addy) of 12mm and then situate the pipework in the middle of the rail adjustment!? I assume also that I should do the pipework such that it has some give to allow for minor adjustment i.e. not secure it so well that there is literally no play!?
Any suggestions for better ideas would be much appreciated. TIA

 

[cross thread]

You could leave your holes in the floor and tile’s bigger and finish the floor off with pipe collar’s this will give you some movement.

 

[dilalio]

Tile the walls first.

 

[smallsteve1]

Tile the walls first.

I think I’d rather tile the floor first and then bring the wall tiles down over the floor tiles.

 

[smallsteve1]

You could leave your holes in the floor and tile’s bigger and finish the floor off with pipe collar’s this will give you some movement.

Yeah I did think about that, but then I would have to leave some play in the pipe to make use of the additional space and I’m not quite sure how best to do that!?

 

[Elkato531]

I think I’d rather tile the floor first and then bring the wall tiles down over the floor tiles.

Tile the wall leaving out the bottom row. You can mount the rail and get exact pipe positions. Tile the floor then finish off the wall.

 

[smallsteve1]

Tile the wall leaving out the bottom row. You can mount the rail and get exact pipe positions. Tile the floor then finish off the wall.

Hmm, never even thought of that approach. Thanks for the suggestion. You might’ve just saved me a ton of hassle!

 

[dilalio]

I think I’d rather tile the floor first and then bring the wall tiles down over the floor tiles.

Why? Makes no difference.

 

[smallsteve1]

Why? Makes no difference.

I should probably mention that whilst i have done an awful lot of DIY in my time, I have never tiled before and so I checked on the web and read a number of posts that suggested it was better to do it that way. Perhaps these were inaccurate statements!? Is there really no benefit to it?

 

[dilalio]

Is there really no benefit to it?

Benefit of tiling walls first... You don't have to protect the tiled floor.

 

[drives]

We’ve recently done this. I got the towel rail fitted with adjusted pipe work through floorboards, adjusting the brackets to allow for thickness of wall tile and adhesive as you suggest (I think ours were 6mm so went for around 8mm).

Removed towel rail. Flooring and tiling done. With the screw holes in the wall I used a hole saw to drill a hole in the corresponding wall tile where the screw hole was (just to give me a bit more leeway rather than trying to line up a 6mm hole), but obviously a smaller diameter than my towel rail brackets.

Refitted towel rail adjusting brackets back down.