Tile and then texture or visa versa?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I am getting ready to tile a bathtub surround and texture the walls and ceilings of the bathroom.


Is there any really strong arguments about which to do first?

[Mark Bolton]

Like a spray or trowel on drywall texture? I would probably opt to texture after if it were me but I guess it depends on how your dealing with your transitions from texture to tile.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mark....it's a sprayed on texture.

[Phil Thien]

I'd tile first, you can mask the tile to protect it from overspray.

[Mark Bolton]

Mark....it's a sprayed on texture.

Assuming your tiling over backer and dont want to tile over the compound you'd have to mask either way so I would opt to tile and then mask a nice clean edge at the tile if it were me. Many ways to skin a cat though..

[Mark Furjanic]

I'd tile first but mostly because if you get texture on your tile it cleans off. If you get mortar on your textured walls it's a little more of an issue.

[ray hampton]

If you do the tiles yourself, will you feel like doing the walls after you work on the floor doing the tiles, will your knees be sore from the bending ?

[Jim O'Dell]

Definitely tile first. The over spray from the texture hopper will wipe off the tile with a wet sponge or cloth. Paint comes off easily also. But tape off the tile just to not have to deal with cleaning fresh grout. Jim.

[Rich Engelhardt]

it's a sprayed on texture.

Make sure it's one that can go in high humidity area - such as over a tub/shower. A lot of the "popcorn" types you apply with a hopper gun can't go there & since they have nearly zip for adhesion, they can't be top coated with a paint to make them moisture resistant.
Honestly - in a kitchen or bath, I'd never use that stuff. I'd go "old school" and roll on part compound/part paint & "stomp" it with a round texture brush.
After it dried, I'd give it a top coat of Kilz2.
I love Kilz 2 for ceilings. It's a soft white, high hiding (usually only needs one coat), is very forgiving about showing overlaps & has a soft sheen midway between a semi gloss and eggshell.

Speaking of "old school", I always work from the top down - ceilings first, then walls, then floors.

Having done a recent tile job on a tub surround, that's just what I did. Ceiling first, then tile.
It was easy keeping thin set and grout off the ceiling. It just takes a little effort.
In fairness though - I used 12x12 tile. Smaller tile, with more grouting, may have been a different story.

What little slop there was on the ceiling washed right off when I sponged down the tile.
There may have been, at most, three small spots that I had to go back and touch up the ceiling.

[Jay Jolliffe]

If the texture your talking about is the perlite texture I wouldn't do it in a damp ares as a bath. I use to spray it if people wanted but not in bathrooms. Holds moisture & looks bad after awhile....The stuff is garbage anyways.

[keith micinski]

I think the general consensus should be no matter what the order never take a smooth a wall and apply any kind of a texture to it no matter what the situation is. Same goes for paneling to. I am flipping a house right now that had absolutely pristine plaster in it untill the 70's hit and some worthless @&$/$! Put paneling up everywhere and now I am paying my drywall guy to fill in all of the damage. Thank god he didn't do a terrible popcorn texture anywhereor ai probably would have committed hari Kari.

[Rich Engelhardt]

@ keith,
Boy do I hear you brother! Every time I look at a house to buy, if it has drop ceilings, fresh texture paint or paneling in rooms like bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, etc - I refuse to look any further. That's usually a dead giveaway that there's a problem someone is trying to hide.

Kudos to you for taking down the paneling & fixing the wall underneath. Most of the "flippers" in my area would just leave it & paint over it.