Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Help! How to finish bathtub surround without mudcap?

I've been reading this forum for all kinds of little tips and help ever since I bought my first house a couple of years ago, and hope you guys can help with my current question. I know this issue has been addressed on numerous forums, including this one, and I've reviewed those threads but haven't found a clear answer (or at least one I like, anyway :).

I am about to start a bathroom remodel, and, like lots of people, I have a bathtub surround that is currently tiled with the old-timey 4x4 sold color glazed tiles and edged with mudcap to disguise the gap between the top layer of tile and the untiled wall adjacent to the surround.

I know many of you can already fill in the punch line here: none of the tiles I want to use in the remodel (mostly stone-look porcelains) comes with mudcap trim. In fact, most of the tiles I like don't have quarter round or chair rail either, and many of them don't even have bullnose, though I know I can pay a few bucks per tile to get bullnoses if I want.

So, here it is: Without mudcap trim, how can I disguise that gap professionally, cleanly, and soundly?

I'm aware of the Schluter solution to this problem, but consider it a last resort as I'm not crazy about the look.

I'm also aware of the non-tile options, including trimming with a piece of wood molding. Again, not the aesthetic I'm going for.

I consider just caulking the space unacceptable because the edge is the first thing you see when you walk in the bathroom door and I don't want this to look shoddy.

Any ideas? How have you DIYers (or contractors) handled this in your projects? Are there any additional options I'm overlooking?

Thanks so much in advance!

--Mike

Welcome to the forums Mike!

I think you are looking at it wrong. Once you tear out the tile, the substrate behind it will likely come off too. It's possible you have greenboard behind the tile and while it was acceptable years ago - today's cement board is a lot better. After you tear everything out I suspect you will find it to be a non issue ;)

Thanks for the quick response, Mark!

My bathtub fits into an alcove space that's about 3" longer than the actual tub, and my understanding from talking with a few contractors and other DIYers (and researching this issue on forums, including this one!) is that the typical way to address this extra space, which is apparently fairly common, is to put sheetrock on the studs, then the tub, then an additional piece of hardibacker over the tub flange, then tile on top of the hardibacker. So, it's the double thickness that causes the gap, which is, I guess, why they invented mudcap in the first place.

I hope it'll be a non-issue when I get to the demo, but I'm a little concerned that it won't...

Can't you reframe the alcove to the right dimension?