tile guy just told me not to use porcelain 'slate' in shower...

15 years ago

I just posted this in the decorating forum, and I thought I'd try it here, too.....

Thanks.

The tile guy just came to measure the bathroom. I have selected Lea Ceramiche

Rain Forest in White. I wanted to put the 12"squares on the shower/tub walls. The floor will be 12" and 6" squares in a pinwheel design. He pooh poohed me wanting to put it on the walls in the shower. Said it would be horrible to keep clean. (it IS an uneven surface, just like real slate would be...) I thought it would be ok. What do you all think?????

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Comments (9)

bill_vincent
15 years ago
The slate texture will give you no problems, thanks to the fact that there's no absorbsion to porcelain, so stains have no chance to set into the tile. I'd be curious what he suggested instead.
kevin1727
15 years ago
Because the water will tend to cling in the crevices you will probably get a buildup of deposits there as the water evaporates. Since scale deposits are typically white, it may not show. Real slate gets the same deposits, but that is what makes it interesting.
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mongoct: I really like your idea of creating a miniature version of our shower on paper. Will do that and see how it looks. I have an 11 year old 'artist' that would love to help out (and she doesn't like the taste of paste). Since posting, I spoke with two salespeople/designers at tile stores. Neither of them liked the idea of 36" of slate on the bottom with porcelain on top. Both independently said that the texture of the slate is too different from the texture of the porcelain and it would look odd. And, I agree with your assessment that larger tiles on top of smaller tiles won't look good. (Had not thought about that aspect) Both salespeople also said that if I wanted to incorporate the slate with porcelain, I could use the slate as an accent and it would be okay since the texture would not be as noticeable. One suggested a 12" tall band of slate all the way around starting at 36" from the base. The other suggested the same, but a 24" tall band. What is your opinion on the horizontal band idea? Is 36" a good place to start it and how tall should it be? Personally, I wanted to try something different than a horizontal band to give the shower a more unique look. Would a couple of 24-48" VERTICAL bands of slate work, provided I ensure the floor is also slate? Maybe one on the center of the 66" wall, and one in the south section of the 37" wall where the niche is? The last idea I had was to keep all three walls as porcelain, but break it up in a more subtle way using 1" metal profiles as shown below. I think three rows of profile may work, perhaps evenly spaced at 2', 4', and 6' above the floor. Opinions? I will definitely lay these out on a miniature paper models as you suggested, but would also like to get your opinions on these ideas. As always, thanks for sharing your wisdom and insights.
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I have a textured ceramic "slate" tile on the floor or my shower. It requires no extra cleaning at all. But yes, you can use your regular cleaning product on textured tile. I'm a simple soap and shampoo guy, my wife has lotions and potions, so the shower sees all sorts of product on the tile and grout. Still, it drains fine and everything disappears down the drain with no dried residue on the tile. The tile is a dark charcoal/black color (DAL Continental Tile Asian Black "slate"), so it would show any sort of dried haze were there one. A handheld head on a hose that can be detached from the wall can be used to rinse down the floor at the end of the shower. That goes a long way towards keeping the floor clean. Non-residue bar soaps like Zest help, too. A properly pitched floor helps. Proper ventilation to prevent long-term high humidity levels help as well. In a properly built and ventilated shower, cleaning should be pretty minimal. Mongo
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I had originally posted a response back in March, but I now see it only went to the person sending the email, not the group. So, here it is: Wow, hard to believe that my post from over two years ago is re-circulated! And sorry to hear that someone else is going through what we did:( I agree with previous reponse that you do not need to replace it. Asbestos is a scary word, but the form it takes in a roof is not dangerous, as even if it does shread off, the particles are too large to be inhaled, like dust. We were told that the roof was leaking (although we saw no evidence of it yet) so we had to replace. Yup, EPA was notified (scarier sounding than it actually was...roofing co. did all of it) and specail dumpsters were ordered (more money than regualr ones). Since it was wood shake underneath, that had to be removed (sooooo messy) and then plywood had to be installed. Whole thing cost $25,000 which we will never be able to recoop in the sale of the house. I don't think it effected the price of our house by that much, but I'm sure that a slate roof was factored into the over-all desirability of the house. For us, it was more a matter of being told it was slate, confirmend by our inspector and being told it was in great condition. We never, ever, ever would have paid what we did if we knew it was 1) Asbestos and 2) needed to be completely replaced tothe tune of $25,000. We (as you) did everything right and our "professionals" lead us astray. There will probably be no recourse with the real estate co. as they just put down what they are told. your only other options are to find out that the previous owners KNEW it was not slate (old records? Call roofing Companies? Check permits to see when they had roof repair done??) and possibly the inspector. That can be tricky as inspectors may not be insured and often they have a clause stating that they do not inspect roofs. Mine however, wrote out 2 pages about our slate roof and how to care for it. And he was less than 6 inches away from it when he said what great condition it was in. Grrr! That being said, I don't know how much it will effect the listing value of your home. Sure, slate roofs are $100,000 to put on, but you can never assume that your house would be listed for that much more. Call a realtor and talk about it. Good luck!
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I have the textured porcelain look on my shower walls for the last 8 months. I am faithful to drying out that shower every time it is used and running the fan. I have not had a problem what so ever and it is a breeze to clean...Just my two cents...
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bill_vincent
15 years ago
With porcelain, though, those "deposits" will not stick. They can't, because they can't get past the surface of the tile.
Molly Brown
Original Author
15 years ago
The tile guy said most people use shiny tiles. That's the extent of his info.
kgwlisa
15 years ago
Sounds like yet another "tile guy" with limited experience and unwilling to go beyond what he's seen done. Grrr.
oruboris
15 years ago
Sounds to me like tile guy's wife is an orthopedic surgeon, and he's trying to drum up business-- shiney tile is usually too slick to be safe on the floor of a shower.

My sister has a glossy 6 inch tile on the floor of her guest bath [though not in the shower, thank heavens] and you have to be very, very careful in there: any water at all makes it slick enough to skate on.

That would be my concern with 12 and 6 inch pinwheel on the floor-- too little grip. I'd either saw it down, smash it with a hammer and do a random mosaic, or get a different tile.
oruboris
15 years ago
Meant to ask: how do you like the Lea ceramiche in terms of multiple tiles with the same texture or color patterns?

Did you buy online or from a local source?
Molly Brown
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm sorry, I guess I didn't explain it well enough...
oruboris: We are putting the tile on the bathroom floor, and on the WALLS of the shower/tub area. We have a cast iron, apron tub.
I have a photo of the large sample piece we brought home and I'll try to figure out how to post it. I seem to like it a lot. We are buying it from a local tile store that deals with only tile and carpeting.
oruboris
15 years ago
But your tile guy's reccomendation for shiney tile on the bathroom floor [even if it isn't in the shower] is just a bad idea. That's where my sister has it, and its seriously dangerous.

I'll have to ask some of my tile stores if they carry Lea ceramiche. Haven't noticed it, and their website isn't much use.

I'm on the verge of panic re: tile for my kitchen. I want a textured, unpolished porcelain without too much repeat, and the Rainforest looks good online [don't they all!].

tile guy just told me not to use porcelain 'slate' in shower...

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tile guy just told me not to use porcelain 'slate' in shower...

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