Update and Improve Your Bathroom to Fit Your Needs! Installing a tub surround is a quick and efficient way of giving your bathroom the updated look it needs. At the same time, you can enhance the functionality of your tub area and more fully protect your existing walls. By doing this simple task yourself, you can update your bathroom and improve your home at the same time!
Follow these easy steps to plan and complete your tub surround for a beautiful and versatile result:
1. When you choose the surround kit for installation, you will find that the tub surround kits are available in 3- and 5-piece versions. Kits with 5 pieces are simpler to use, as the presence of 5 pieces rather than 3 pieces lets the installation be achieved using 5 segments of materials. That is important because being able to work with 5 pieces lets you compensate for any size discrepancies involving the affected walls—like whether they are properly plumbed or exactly level. Fitting a 5-piece surround kit within uneven walls lets the installer have a little more play in the dimensions to ensure proper coverage. The 3-piece kits are less work to install, but 5-piece kits tend to fit the space better.
2. Apply the kit components according to the package instructions. Be sure to remove fixture handles if instructed to do so. Measure what you are doing before applying any adhesive to make the kit pieces stick.
3. The corner pieces are usually attached first; be sure to do that if so instructed by the packaging. Attaching the corners and then covering the main walls after the corners are completed provides for a tighter covering as the pieces will fit more securely if installed in that sequence.
4. Be certain to use adhesive and grout exactly as the instructions advise; the adhesive and grout, when properly applied, provide for the correct seal protecting the walls that you desire.
5. Follow carefully all instructions concerning covering around existing plumbing fixtures, again to ensure a proper seal to the walls.
6. Carefully fasten any extra attachments as directed by the manufacturer; that advice applies especially to soap dishes and towel bars.
