Any Ideas for a Tub Surround?

We bought this house almost 2 years ago and the tub has been nothing but problems since. Within a few days of moving we found out that there was shoddy work on the plug and the pipes underneath when a big leak started and shorted out the phones for the entire house! I suspected that the tiles around the tub were a problem and have managed to keep things ok by waterproofing around each one until last week. That's when tiles started jumping off the wall and into the tub! Now that they're off I can see that they were never put up properly.
What does everyone think -- one piece tub surround or tiles installed properly? Which do you think will last longer? What about cleaning. I think it should be a fairly straight forward job except for one thing -- there's a window right in the middle of where the surround/tiles would go.

We had one like thaT AND THEY CUT IT TO FIT AROUND THE WINDOW- WORKED BEAUTIFULLY.

I think tiles are nicer, but I also think they are a bigger pita to clean. Then again, they aren;t har dto put up but it's a lot more work than a surround, but the look is worth it, imo.

idatater46 wrote:We had one like thaT AND THEY CUT IT TO FIT AROUND THE WINDOW- WORKED BEAUTIFULLY.

Cool, I wasn't sure if that would work or not. Good to know it did.

When we bought this house I gutted the Kids bathroom. I put in the 2 piece tub surround. ( it is a tub/top surround, but in 2 peices, so you cang et it through the foor) I LOVE it, easy to clean, no issues, and it has been in there 10 years or more.

I replaced all the tiles in my master a while back, huge PITA, but worth it IMo.

We did the same in our old house, ripped out a mess and installed a 2 piece. It helps if you get a little better grade thickness in the plastic. Then it lasts forever, and completely easy to keep clean. Now I have tile, and it never has been caulked right (although it's been done several times), it's a real pain to keep clean.

I like tile, and I've seen it done with a dark caulk. It was almost black and NOTHING showed up on it. But I like tile mostly because of the look.

So I dragged the kids around London today to see what ideas about it and the prices I might be looking at. A couple of the places seemed really put out that I had the kids with me which I found odd. So those two places were off my list before we even got talking. I've got a couple of companies coming in on Monday to take a look and give me quotes. I also swung by Canadian Tire and picked up a book on tiling. I wouldn't tackle the bathroom as my first project -- it's too easy to screw up with all that moisture -- but I'm thinking about a backsplash in the kitchen. I figure if I can learn to cut glass I should be able to cut tile after a little practise!

I did my backsplash in my kitchen, I tiled it with creamic tile, and sealed the grout with regular old silicone caulk.....see the "new adition thread. I could talk you thru tiles.

We replaced tile in an old bath in our first house. The big thing was installing cement board in the wet areas. I loved how it turned out.

If you do decide on tiles, the bigger ones are easier to clean.

edbson wrote:I did my backsplash in my kitchen, I tiled it with creamic tile, and sealed the grout with regular old silicone caulk.....see the "new adition thread. I could talk you thru tiles.

Thanks! I've been flipping through the book I bought today and it seems a lot like the stained glass patio stones I've made. I think I can figure it out, but things like windows make me nervous!