couple of questions I have;

1) Tiling around a bath (with shower over it), is this stuff any good;

or should I stick with sealant and just change it when it gets manky?

2) Drilling holes in an acrylic bath to fit taps. I assume I tape over where I want the hole to be to stop the bit skidding but what sort of bit should I use?

[edit] same q: re holes for the wastes – do I chain drill or get a bit that drills big holes?

use sealant.. use a hole saw ( screwfix will sort you out..)

use silicone to glue the bath to the wall, be very generous with it, you should use a full tube. push the bath into the wall and force the silicone out so it’s tight and has no voids. This will create a completely watertight seal that will never leak so long as the plaster is solid. also the added bonus that the bath will be rock solid.

Tile on top of the rim of the bath using a 2mm spacer, then neatly fill the joint with Dow 785 silicone, or colour match using mapei silicone. this gives you a really neat seal that looks barely noticeable.

19mm holesaw usually works well for taps

+ filling the bath with water may help a cheap bath sag a bit before applying the silicon to the joint between splash back and bath top. Once its gone off, the silicon will remain under compression or neutral even if the bath is full of water/body. If you dont and the bath sags just a little it could pull the silicon away just enough to leak in places when loaded.

so one of these;

http://www.kelvinpowertools.com/bosch-progressor-power-change-adaptor-and-hss-pilot-14-152mm-c-241-p-2446

+ appropriate:

for holes with a bit of tape to stop splintering.

like the idea of applying sealant to the bath before pushing into corner, thanks.

Those bosch holesaws are fantastic, not cheap, but worth it if you’re going to use them all the time.

TBH, I never half fill the bath with water. Fitted right, even a tupperware £69 acrylic bath doesn’t budge. Silicone batens to the underside if you’re worried. You need to use silicone though, both on the top of the batten and the wall side otherwise it might squeak

tbh, given the money and effort going in I’d rather get the best tool even if I only use it infrequently – they’re not that much more than the no name ones.

use silicone to glue the bath to the wall, be very generous with it, you should use a full tube. push the bath into the wall and force the silicone out so it’s tight and has no voids. This will create a completely watertight seal that will never leak so long as the plaster is solid. also the added bonus that the bath will be rock solid.
Tile on top of the rim of the bath using a 2mm spacer, then neatly fill the joint with Dow 785 silicone, or colour match using mapei silicone. this gives you a really neat seal that looks barely noticeable.
19mm holesaw usually works well for taps

. Everything he said 😀

.
That’s exactly what I have always done. And I don’t bother filling the bath with water either
(normally not actually plumbed in for water or waste when it’s first fitted anyway)
And I’ve never had any problems.

think I may have to plumb the taps in using flexible hoses prior to fitting – they’ll be on the long side and against a wall so I’m not sure how much access I’ll have once it’s in place. I’ll plumb it all in a few inches away from wall to increase access and then push into place.

use 750mm flexi hoses, you may find that the 500mm ones kink and the standard 300mm won’t give you the space.

when you do the waste pipe, loop it around the long way, i.e go past the plug hole, then back towards it to connect, if that makes sense. It will give you more flexibility in the pipework and make connecting it easier. Use solvent weld waste pipe if you can, it will never leak, push-fit will always leak eventually