Whether a homeowner wants a complete re-design of the bathroom or just a simple up-date, ceramic tiles are often suggested as the best means of achieving either goal. This is mainly due to the versatility of tiles. Within a bathroom, tiles perform well as flooring, tub surrounds, back-splashes and within the shower.
Another advantage of working with ceramic tiles is the amazing selection of colour choices, styles and designs. With style options to suit any taste, homeowners can easily choose tiles for updating a single aspect of their bathroom that will also match their existing décor.
These benefits of ceramic tiles all contribute to its popular usage within the bathroom.
With numerous types of ceramic tiles available to consumers, choosing one to fit with your design plan can be somewhat of an intimidating task, especially if you've never worked with them before. Two popular types of ceramic tiles are glazed and porcelain.
Glazed Ceramic Tile
Glazed ceramic tiles are perfect for backsplashes, countertops and vanity tables. When wet, this type of cermaic tile is extremely slippery, making it unsuitable for bathroom floors or within showers. Glazed ceramic tiles are made from fired or baked clay. This essentially means the clay has been exposed to extremely high temperatures in an oven-like device refered to as a kiln, making the clay hard and unmalleable. After this, the clay piece is coated in a coloured glaze, giving it a glossy finish.
Porcelain Ceramic Tile
Porecelain ceramic tiles consist of a mixture of fine-grain clays and other minerals. The result is a ceramic that is exceptionally resistant to moisture and staining, making porcelain ceramic tiles a long-lasting product that can withstand several years of use before showing any signs of wear and tear.
Ceramic Tiles in General
One of the great things about working with ceramic tiles is the flexibility one has when installing the pieces. Besides the various colours and patterns of the tiles, installation is completely customizable in terms of positioning and angles, alternating different tiles to achieve the desired effect. This allows homeowners to create a work of art on one's bathroom floors or walls. However, if this is not a do-it-yourself installation, one needs to keep in mind that the more intricate the installation, the higher the installation fee is likely to be.
It is also important for homeowners to be aware that the floor is the most time consuming area within the bathroom to tile. Typically, you should allot two to three days to tile a bathroom floor from start to finish with ceramic tiles. Granite, slate or sandstone are often recommened as the tile choice for bathroom floors as they are highly slip-resitant when wet, making them much safer for flooring than ceramic tiles.