Subway tile (rectangular)

Very popular nowadays, this early 20th century style has made a big comeback. It was originally used in subways as an easy to keep clean and almost indestructibe wall surface, and it can serve the same purpose in kitchens and baths today. With rectangular tiles, often 3″ x 6″, laid in a running bond brick pattern, the style is slightly more linear than you can get with square tiles, but doesn’t have the excessive number of grout lines that the long thin glass or stone tiles do.

Variations:

many colors as well as white (pale green is especially popular)
grout colors to blend in or stand out
sizes from 1″ x 2″ to larger than standard, including liner tiles as borders or horizontal stripes
set vertically instead of horizontally.
If you want a truly stunning but labor-intensive effect, use small rectangular tiles horizontally or vertically to form “flame” patterns as used in bargello or florentine style needlepoint (picture).

The rectangular shape can also be used in other traditional brick patterns as well as running bond – any brick pattern will work such as herringbone or flemish bond, although you’ll need to do some cutting to get half tiles.

Square tiles

These are a standard shape but they can be found in many sizes from less than 1″ across to over 12″, smooth or textured, glossy to matt, all colors including metallic, or transparent or translucent glass.

Setting patterns include, as well as the normal square-by-square: running brick pattern, diagonal (“on point”), large and small tiles combined, square and liner (long and thin) tiles combined.

Round tiles

These are usually mosaic-size (2″ or smaller), otherwise the pattern would include a lot of grout. Gives a pebbly effect and can look great in glass tile, particularly.

Mosaic Tiles

Small tiles, usually bought already set onto a 12″ square backing sheet for easy setting. They can be square, rectangular, round, oval, or hexagonal. Get them in all one color, stripes, random patterns, even design your own random color blends on a website and get the tiles shipped to you. The small tile size means lots of grout lines, which is good for grip (especially on a bathroom floor or shower pan) but can mean lots of cleaning.

Glass tiles

Very fashionable at the moment, glass tiles are beautiful but more finicky to set than regular ceramic tiles. They are often transparent or translucent, which means you can see the setting mortar behind them, along with any gaps or discoloration in it! White mortar is normally required, so as not to change the glass color.

Stone tiles

Stone tiles come in many finishes, from polished through honed (matte) to tubmled, with rough edges and surfaces. The colors are often variable, and the edges may be uneven, requiring wider grout lines; stone tiles may also require sealing, like countertops, if tey will be exposed to food splatters etc. Tumbled stone tiles may collect dirt in their crevices if used on a backsplash behind a range, for example, so be cautious about where you use them.

Tiling ideas can be used in many areas of your home, but the bathroom and kitchen are the most popular.

Choosing a new bathroom floor has two main aspects: practicality and looks.

The floor will get splashed, at least, and perhaps soaked, so it needs to be able to resist water and not get slippery when it’s wet. It needs to be easy to clean, especially if it’s to be installed in a heavily-used family bathroom. It must be able to be installed on the floor substrate that you have available – for example, a ceramic tile surface needs a substrate that does not flex, otherwise it will crack.

Bathroom flooring materials fall into two main categories: hard or resilient/soft.

Hard Bathroom Flooring Materials

These include:

• marble tiles or slabs
• stone tiles or slabs (eg limestone, slate or granite)
• terra-cotta tiles
• ceramic or porcelain tiles
• wood (solid wood or engineered)
• laminates (wood, stone or ceramic-look)

It’s very important that whatever hard material you choose has a non-slip surface, for safety in the bathroom, as well as being water-resistant.

Wood and laminate materials have to be carefully sealed and engineered in order to be water resistant, and may not be suitable for bathrooms where the floor is likely to get soaked, rather than just dripped on.

Most stones must be sealed, and re-sealed at regular intervals in order to resist water and stains.

Tiles of any kind require grouting, and grout requires sealing to prevent grout stains which are especially likely on a floor. Consider using a grout color which won’t show dirt, as well as sealing and resealing whenever necessary.

Resilient/Soft Flooring Materials

These materials are either soft, like carpet, or have a little “give” to them and can feel warmer and easier on the feet than the hard materials. Some examples are:

• rubber in sheets or tiles
• vinyl in sheets or tiles, cushioned or not
• linoleum
• cork
• carpet

Carpets in bathrooms go in and out of fashion, and are currently “out” – for good reason. A bathroom carpet will always get wet eventually, and moisture+carpet=mold. Carpet around a toilet will get nasty, sooner or later, unless the bathroom sees very little use. It’s much healthier to have a hard or resilient floor with removable rugs on top that can be easily removed, washed and dried, than to permanently install carpet.

Heated Floors

What could be better for bare feet than a warm floor in the bathroom! Floor heating systems are a great addition to your bathroom and because the space is usually fairly small, are not prohibitively expensive. Homes with hydronic (hot water) heating systems can run hot water tubes under the flooring, and others can install electric resistance heating wires. There are systems which will work with wood floors as well as hard stone or tile floors.

Small Bathrooms

Flooring choices for small bathroom designs have some unique limitations.

In a small bathroom, the floor space may not lend itself to custom borders or medallion designs, simply because you won’t see enough of the floor to make the design properly visible! On the other hand, because you don’t have to buy many square feet of the material, you may be able to splurge on something more expensive than if you had a larger area to cover.

Diagonal-set tiles make the small room look larger

To expand the floor space visually, there are some tricks you can use:

• Get as much as possible up off the floor, so as much floor can be seen as possible. That suggests a wall-hung toilet, pedestal sink, wall hung cabinets or cabinets on legs, and perhaps even a clawfoot tub.
• Make design lines extend as far as possible. In most bathrooms that would be diagonal lines, so consider planks set on the diagonal of you’re doing a wood-look floor, or diagonal tiles in a tile or tile-look floor.

The most important factor when searching for a new shower stall is the amount of space that you have for it to fit into.  If you are changing from a combo bathtub/shower to a bathtub and a standalone shower, you may not have a lot of space to work with.  If that’s so, your options may be somewhat limited. On the other hand, if you are completely gutting and remodeling the whole room, you may be able to adjust the space available to fit the shower stall you’ve set your heart on.

Once you’ve made the decision that you need to buy a new shower stall, as well as deciding on the appropriate size, you’ll need to start shopping for your shower. You might expect to find all the parts you need all in the same place, but that may be more difficult than you expect. Although there are plenty of retailers, especially large home improvement centers, that sell standalone shower kits, many do not, and you may not be looking for an all-in-one kit. The required parts may include, but aren’t necessarily limited to:

• materials for building niche for shower
• shower pan or floor
• drain fittings
• shower wall materials (panels, tiles, mortar etc)
• shower door or curtain and rod
• shower controls and head

Each of these items has many choices available and you’ll need to make decisions about each one, first the type of item needed, then the specific item you want to use.

Once extremely important practical point, especially where you’re replacing an existing shower stall, is the location of the drain piping in relation to the drain hole in the new shower pan. It’s essential that these match up!

Once the buying process starts, many homeowners go searching for the nicest looking standalone shower but may be disappointed that it doesn’t fall within their budget. Perhaps you may be looking for the best, but you might be remodeling your bathroom on a tight budget.  If so, you’ll be happy to learn that standalone showers and otehr shower components come in many different sizes, shapes, colors and styles.  Whether you’re considering an expensive trendy looking shower, a traditionally styled one, something with dozens of nozzles for water, steam and who knows what else, or simply the most affordable one that does what you need, there’s a strong chance that you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Most home improvement stores, online and offline, carry a selection of shower components and supplies, including some that are grouped into kits and which can be cheaper than buying all the parts separately.On the other hand, if you have the time and patience to watch for bargains, you can get great deals on separate components and match them together yourself.

Offline “real world” stores have the advantage that you can see the actual shower stall you’re planning to buy, step into it, and try it out for size and comfort. Large stores sometimes have quite extensive displays of stalls and pans, and even more plumbing fixtures so you can see all the choices of faucets, valves, controls and shower heads. Modern bathroom shower designs have changed a lot since our parents “two separate faucets on the wall, and a shower head”.

Many kit showers, or pans and wall panels made from acrylic or fiberglass, are simple for a moderately experienced DIY-er to install him or herself. The most important thing to remember is “measure twice, cut once”: especially for cutting holes for plumbing pipes, consider making a full-size template of the layout and transferring it to your wall panels.