Hi. Our master bathroom is seperated by a door opening. In one part is the tub,the stool( hehe) and the shower. On the other end is the sink and closet an etc etc. I am going to remodel and I need advice. (1)Black tile for the shower walls. What brand name of black tile ? and what color of border and floor ? (2)What color & brand name of tile for the walls will go with Santa Cecelia granite (our 7' vanity top) ??
NOW ! My wife wants to leave the carpet in the section with the sink,and closet ect. ect. And tile the part that has the tub , stool and shower.. Is the carpet thing OK ?? The door opening will be made larger that seperates part A and part B..
PLEASE help me ,, I have looked at tile till I'm cross-eyed.. I order samples that on the computer look black and end up being gray...
OH THANKS FOR ANY HELP !!!!
Jul 14, 2011, 04:37 PM
spectrum
hi, the choice is yours, but i'd reconsider black for shower walls. the reason being is that every water spot shows up, plus its really hard to keep clean from minerals in the water and soap residue. also a small area would seem dark. lots of houses have carpeted vainity areas. tile would be better, carpet is easier on the feet but can stain from wet feet. as far as color choices....theres just too many out there to make recomendations, some companies even change the tiles name from their suppliers. many tile stores have on site designers to help
Jul 15, 2011, 12:04 AM
mosternaz
I totally agree. If you want black, use it in small quantities as trim in the shower. Do a black vanity or other black accents, but not the shower.
Jul 15, 2011, 09:55 AM
Gunsmoke
Thanks guys,, Black might look cool but be a pain in the %$#*^. Think I'll go with a light tan or a cream color with purple glass border.. How does that sound ?
Jul 15, 2011, 02:46 PM
Alen B.
emm...Yes, Cream or any sort of light color is always perfect for bathroom. And it also creates a nice background.It'll also hide the water spots on wall.Forbathroom remodeling this kind of color combinations always play a vital part which will determine the success of the remodeling.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alen B.,
I'd also forget about carpet in any bathroom. a mold and moisture night mare.
joecaption
Oct 27, 2011, 12:53 PM
Nestor
May I suggest a few things:
0. When the studs in your bathroom shower enclosure are exposed, install 3/4 inch thick plywood flush with the fronts of the studs where the shower rod ends will be. I've seen so many nicely done showers where the shower rods are attached only to plastic anchors in the tiling. Once that plastic anchor comes loose, the shower rod comes loose and becomes a problem. In all 21 of the bathrooms in my building I have plywood behind the shower rod supports, and none of my 21 shower rods are loose after 25 years. Also, if you can get together with 4 friends, then you can buy 1 inch OD stainless steel tubing in 20 foot lengths from a company called Ryerson, which can be cut into 4 standard 5 foot long shower rods. I have 21 stainless steel shower rods in my building.
1. Probably the most important decision when choosing a wall tile is to get a THICK one with a strong biscuit. The biscuit is the clay slab body of the tile. Typically, these will come in red clay and white clay, and even though some DIY books claim the white clay is stronger, it's been my experience that the red clay biscuit tiles are actually stronger. Get tile with THICK red or white clay biscuits because some wall tiles are so thin, they break as easily as potato chips.
2. Avoid a solid colour tile, because like everyone else has already mentioned, soap scum and water residue will stand out on the tile, and your cool looking wall will only look cool when it's clean, which won't be often unless you take up cleaning bathrooms walls as a hobby. Many ceramic wall tiles have a "marblized" look to them, whereby there's some light "blotchiness" in the tile colour as manufactured. That camoflages soap scum so that the tile looks good even when the tiling is dirty.
3. If you want a "cool" looking bathroom ceramic tile, then consider buying non-square tiles and installing them in the landscape orientation rather than the portrait orientation. You almost never see 6X8 inch tiles installed in the landscape orientation even though there's no reason NOT to do that, and so by simply installing your tiles differently, you can get a custom look using plain jane tiles.
4. DON'T install your tiling so that you don't have vertical and horizontal grout joints. I've seen custom tile jobs where different sizes of tiles were installed so there were no continuous horizontal or vertical grout lines. That may look different, but when it comes to sealing your grout with grout sealer, it becomes a nightmare to keep track of what grout lines have been sealed and which haven't. And, of course, the grout sealer at the bottoms of sections of vertical lines end up dripping onto the tiles, and that makes a mess.
5. If you're willing to pay a bit more, have your tiling grouted with an EPOXY GROUT to eliminate the issue of mildew growth on the grout. Epoxy grouts are non-porous and so mildew cannot grow into the porous surface of epoxy grout the way it can grow into porous cement based grouts. Since mildew simply washes off of epoxy grout, then for one or two hundred dollars more, you can completely eliminate the issue of mildew growth in your bathroom by using an epoxy grout (instead of a cement based grout).
5 1/2. If you opt for a cement based grout, decide what kind of sealer you're going to use; a penetrating sealer or a film forming sealer. Theoretically, penetrating sealers are supposed to last much longer, but my experience with them has been patchy at best. In my view, a film forming sealer is more reliable because (if you use a flash light or bright light) you can SEE if there's a waterproof plastic film over your grout or not.
6. What I recommend is that people DON'T install soap dishes or shower corner shelves in the same plane as the tiling. In my view, it's better to tile the whole shower wall enclosure, and then glue any soap dishes or corner shelves to the existing tiling using a high quality silicone caulk. I've done this in most of my bathrooms and in 15 tiled bathrooms over 25 years, I've yet to have a soap dish or corner shelf come loose.
7. You should be aware of the issue of coloured floor tile grouts drying either blotchy or to the wrong colour. I've been answering questions on DIY Q&A forums for many years, and a frequent complaint people have is that the floor tile grout they installed (or had installed by a contractor) dried blotchy or to the wrong colour. You don't want to use white grout on a floor, but you need to discuss this problem with your contractor if you have one to determine what he's gonna do if your floor tile grout doesn't come out the way it's supposed to.
8. Tile up to your ceiling. And, paint your bathroom ceiling and the wall area that isn't tiled with a paint made specifically for bathrooms, like Zinsser's PermaWhite Bathroom Paint, available at Home Depot. Paints made for bathrooms will have a mildewcide in them which kills mildew spores that land on the paint before they have a chance to grow, and that keeps the bathroom paint looking clean and attractive. This mildewcide isn't a liquid or vapour, so there's no concern that you're going to be inhaling it. It's actually a powder that's so highly soluble in water that the presence of moisture or even high humidity in the air will cause the mildewcide in the paint to migrate to the surface of the paint where it kills any mildew or mildew spores.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,
Nov 02, 2011, 02:09 PM
swschrad
adding... you can buy a little bottle of mildewcide at the Depot or most any paint center, and dollop it according to instructions into any good semi-gloss or gloss paint. that will make the bathroom much more mold-resistant.
all mildewcide compounds are pretty strong and accumulative poisons, so never use that paint where you have rugrats licking the walls, preparing food, etc.
the best mildew/mold fighter is to keep the stray humidity down so it doesn't condense. we need easy access to controls that keep the fan going 15 minutes after you turn off the lights -- I could cob something up from surplus traffic control pullouts at the industrial surplus store, but the cob job would not be UL recognized as a component.
current best alternative on the shelf is the fan runs when the light is on... and after the shower, leave the door open, go get dressed and dump the robe, and don't turn off the bathroom light/fan until you've finished.
sig: if this is a new economy, how come they still want my old-fashioned money?
Nov 02, 2011, 10:25 PM
Jaybee
quote:
Originally posted by Nestor: May I suggest a few things:
Sorry Nestor, I can't help myself:
Three or four is a few, nine is a mini novel.
Jaybee
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Cut the carpet first in the dimensions of the bathroom leaving a couple of inches extra all the way around. Then start laying carpet, bump the wall opposite the toilet, and start slicing down in front of toilet, but not all the way to floor, just keep making slits as you go, eventually you will get it.