Shelf along long edge of bath?

[Tzimi]

Hello, I'm just about to start refurbishing my bathroom, and the new bath tub is going to go at the far end. The room is exactly 1.7m wide, so a standard bath will fit flush in the gap. As there is no space at the end for a shelf (for shower gel, bottles of shampoo, sponges etc), I was thinking of having a tiled shelf about 10cm wide along the long side of the bath, between the bath deck & the wall. This could be angled slightly so that water will drain back into the bath. My question is, is this asking for trouble, and will it eventually start to leak? Obviously, I'd make it very strong, and seal it to within an inch of its life... But being bombarded with water from the shower every day, will it stay waterproof forever?

I had this done and it was fine. I think the 'shelf' was created from water resistant wood and they used waterproof tile adhesive and grout. I suspect at some point in the future it may suffer (I've moved now!) but if you don't do it you'll find there's no where to put your champagne glass!

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles Thanks for your reply. I think it's going to be a while before we break out the champagne ! This is the first time I've had a bath tub which has fitted flush in the space, there's always been a tiled shelf behind the tub, always at the far end well away from the shower. I think a long shelf along the edge of the bath should work well for storage- how wide was your shelf? Did it have a slope? I'm thinking that maybe tanking the shelf with some sort of paintable sealant (possibly polyester resin?) or at least sealing the edges before tiling would help with the waterproofing, as well as making it stronger & less prone to movement...

The wooden bit of the 'shelf' had a very shallow slope, virtually imperceptible to the eye, and was the same height as the bath rim, then the tiles overlapped the bath by about a centimetre, so the only 'edge' was the tile itself. The 'shelf' was really a oblong frame that sat on the floor and was then fixed to the wall. A bit like a section of stud partitioning.
The shelf was about 10 cm wide, any narrower and my the champagne bottle might have fallen in the bath!

A recessed shelf/alcove would look much nicer than one that juts out. We have one in our shower, it's fully tiled and sealed.

I wouldn't propose a shelf that juts out either, I had the bath positioned about 10 centimetres away from the wall to create the space for the 'shelf'.

You can put shelves and/or a towel rail over the short end of the bath furthest from the shower, you are unlikely to bump into it.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles My new bathtub arrived this morning, but it's not the one I ordered! I wanted the one with 2 rounded ends, but this has one flattish end at the tap/drain/overflow end. But it's ok, it looks nice enough.. Now I'm just waiting for the bath filler, waste, & overflow, then I won't have any excuse not to get started. I've decided to be brave & go for the shelf option- I'll seal everything with CT1 (a very strong rubbery adhesive/sealant), as I won't be tiling for a couple of days & it will need to be waterproof. I was also going to make it 10cm wide, which together with the bath deck will give me a shelf about 15cm wide, which should be fine for my bottle of Prosecco! The bath edge has an inward slant of about 10°, so if I continue this angle with the tiles, it should be fine. Well, that's about it for now, next step will be ripping out the old manky shower tray & sorting out the new pipework & false wall...

@PigletJohn A great idea in principle, except there's a window over the far end of the bath! There would be space for some corner shelves though.

My bath dips slightly on the side and every single thing I sit on the edge falls off so don’t have a shelf that slants!

@adropnotabit I wasn't thinking of a jutting-out shelf, more a continuation of the bath edge deck to give me enough space to put my shower gel, shampoo etc- oh, and the champagne & crystal glasses, of course! I was lucky in my last place, I had a window ledge above the middle of the bath which was perfect for these items.

@Welshcorriefan Oh no! Depending on how solidly it's fixed, you may be able to jack up one of the legs a bit...