Tiling a bathroom wall, and installing a mirror and light fixture

Eileen Crosby
by Eileen Crosby
I plan to tile my sink area from vanity to ceiling with tiles. If I am installing towel bar, keeping switch plates and want to update light fixture and mirror should these be done prior to tiling and just tile around these fixtures?

  4 answers
  • Do all the tiling first then install your fixtures.

  • William William on Oct 23, 2017

    Yep, tile first. Use a carbide drill bit to drill into the tile and install anchors. Start drilling slow to score the tile enamel surface.

  • 17335038 17335038 on Oct 24, 2017

    Your electrical outlets and lightswitchs may need to be remounted and re-supported as, depending on how far back into the wall the boxes are, they may be too recessed to function well after the tiling is installed. Make sure you work around this and do dry-fits first, before the tiles go on permanently.

  • 17335038 17335038 on Oct 25, 2017

    You're welcome.

    It is a lot easier to "fix" potential problem areas before they happen, rather than after. As part of the dry-fitting process with the electrical outlets, try actually plugging in the cord, and pulling it out again several time, to make sure that the box is adequately anchored to withstand even normal use.