If you’re planning the design and installation of a new bathroom in your home, you should also consider bathroom tiles as the perfect basis for your bathroom scheme.
Tiles can set the whole tone of your bathroom design, determining its look and feel. They may seem less important than the big-ticket items such as your bath and shower, but they can make or break a bathroom design.
Which Tiles Should You Choose?
Different types of bathroom tiles offer different benefits, and bring various qualities to an overall bathroom design.
Ceramic Tiles
Ceramic tiles are especially well-suited to bathrooms.
They are water-resistant, which makes them perfect for the typically humid and wet conditions you’ll find in a bathroom. This is also a handy quality for when it comes to cleaning your bathroom walls or floor.
Ceramic tiles are also very hard-wearing. The bathroom is a well-used room in any home, so you don’t want your bathroom tiles to crack in the course of everyday wear and tear. If you have properly installed ceramic bathroom tiles, and you maintain them well, they can last from 10 to 20 years.
If a tile does become damaged, it is easy to replace.
And talking of maintenance, ceramic tiles are easy to clean, allowing you to simply mop up any spills, and wipe clean any stains.
Finally, ceramic tiles are also a cost-effective design option.
Porcelain
An alternative tile material is porcelain. These are a more expensive tiling option, which are made using a very specific type of clay.
They absorb less water than ceramic tiles, making them hard-wearing, but they are also more brittle than ceramic tiles.
They are suitable for bathroom applications such as wet-rooms, but are generally less versatile than ceramic tiles, and are available in less variations.
Terracotta
Terracotta tiles represent a more specialised option for your bathroom. These are red clay-fired tiles and will give a more natural look to your bathroom.
You will need to check, however, whether your choices of terracotta tile requires a sealing agent to provide a necessary layer of protection when installing them in a bathroom.
Glass
Glass tiles tend to be more decorative, coming in small, mosaic sizes. However, because they come in a wide selection colours, they broaden your design options considerably.
Glass tiles are great for giving your bathroom instant visual appeal, and they are a good, low-maintenance design feature.
What you should look out for is glass having a naturally slippery finish, so if you want to use glass tiles on your bathroom floor, it’s best to increase their slip-resistance with a non-slip sealant.
What Are Your Design Options?
If you choose tiles, your design options for the look of your bathroom are broad.
Bathroom tiles come in a wide variety of styles, and you’re not just limited to plain colours, with a variety of patterns and looks available.
When it comes to establishing your design theme and bathroom colour scheme, tiles provide a diverse selection of potential solutions.
Tiles are available in different sizes, and you take the size of your bathroom into considerations when deciding your size of tile.
If you’ve a smaller bathroom, then larger tiles may not be as suitable, as they can make the room appear smaller. But, with a wide choice of tile sizes, there’s plenty of scope for coming up with a design that maximises your bathroom space.
When selecting tiles, always get more than you need, so that, if there are any mishaps or accidents later on, you’ve got replacement tiles to hand that match your original design.
How to Select the Perfect Tiles for Your Bathroom
As specialists in bathroom design and installation in Manchester and across the North West we can source tiles direct from suppliers. All you need to do is make your choice. Visit our showroom to see our range of bathroom tiles.
Call us on 0161 794 0771, email info@alfredfraser.co.uk, or complete our contact form.