I grew up in a house like this. You don't have to clean it because the only thing that gets on it is steam. The tricky part is layout. Our ceiling tile was laid diagonal.

I've tiled a lot of ceilings. The shower in my master bath too. Mine has never been cleaned in 15 years.

Check your ventilation. Not just the fan, but the duct. Too long, too many turns, corrugated flex duct, or kinks in the duct and you kill the effective CFM of the fan.

I am surprised, I was expecting to get a very negative response to the idea. I thought there probably had to be a lot of good reasons against doing it. I especially would not want to be trying to clean tile on the ceiling.

Jewel, I'm trying to figure out why those particular situations would be good to do the ceiling in tile, and not others?

Palimpsest - I like the idea of diagonal. It would be the best way to do it.

Mongoct - We did check the fan, and the duct, which is very short, rigid and straight out the exterior wall.

If you have tiled a lot of ceilings, was it in your work or your personal residences? I wonder what your reasons were for doing them?

Tiled ceilings over the shower in the guest bathroom, and tiled ceilings over the tub/shower combos in the hall bathroom and MB. We figured it was our best bet for avoiding any future mold/mildew issues on the ceiling.

Normally, the only time I'll say it's necessary is if you have a header going around the ceiling of a shower, where it can trap steam, or obviously if you have a steam shower. Other than that, normally it's a matter of preference. however, if you're getting mold problems, first, I'd be sure to remove that sheetrock, and make sure it's just surface mold. If it is, then slap up a piece of cement board, and tile it. It'll be much easier to keep clean and mold free. Now, if you really want to defeat the problem, install a vent fan with a high enough CFM rating to dry the shower out within about 5=10 minutes after using the shower.

We would never have thought of it until our tile guy suggested it. We took his recommendation and are really pleased. I don't worry about mold on the ceiling, and I have to admit that it looks really classy. We have two 4" LED lights in the shower and those are the only penetrations of the tile; the fan is right next to the shower, mounted into the sheetrock. I was originally going to have the fan in the shower ceiling, but it looks better centered in this small bathroom, and the fan is powerful enough that all the steam gets sucked out right away.

We do have tile on our main bathroom ceiling. Our contractor suggested it 30 years ago. So glad becasue when my kids were teenagers they took really long hot showers, so much so that we have mildew on the ceiling inside the linen closet in that bath. We also did ceiling tile in our vacation home master bath when we put in a tiled shower a while back, I love the way it looks with the tile going all the way up too. Very classy. Do it.

CatMom- glad the tiled ceiling is working out for you.

BillV- We do plan on gutting the whole bathroom and it’s an old bath that I suspect has a mud job. Cement board sounds right. What would you say is a high enough CFM rating for the fan?

Kudzu - Good to know your tile guy suggested it. I like the look of it too.

NJunkie - A contractor suggested it, great. We had the same issue with our bathroom. One particular teenager who would take really long hot showers and we ended up with mildew on the ceiling.

I would assume that you have to find a very qualified tile person. It has to be more difficult to apply tile to the ceiling, right?

We just constructed a basement bathroom (which is now the nicest bath in the house!), and we didn't think twice about tiling the ceiling. We also have a great exhaust fan down there. When we do the other bathrooms, I will plan on tiling those ceilings as well. I've attached a picture where you can see inside the shower - ceiling is tiled with a shower-safe light inside. The bright light in the foreground of the picture is the exhaust fan/light.

Our shower ceiling is tiled. It was included in the job quote like it was a normal thing. I have cleaned it just by spraying it with bleach tile cleaner and then rinsing it with the handheld shower but I didn't notice if it really needed it or not.

If you get mildew on the ceiling now, you'll get it on the tile (unless of course you change other things like your ventilation). But now you'll have grout, too. :)

(Not saying don't do it--just saying from personal experience that a poorly ventilated tiled ceiling is no fun to clean!)

Debbi - What a great looking bathroom! Nice and roomy too. I like your diagonal pattern, the smaller tiles on top of the larger tiles and the border. It came out great. Thanks for posting.

Kudzu - It’s amazing to me how much you have to understand about your renovation just to make sure it’s going to go well, even when you have a contractor. Thanks for explaining how that works. Since we are gutting everything down to the studs, I imagine they will be able to get everything square. Hopefully.

Jdez - Did you have to wear goggles to spray a cleaner on the ceiling?

Fori - So you had mildew on the ceiling due to not enough ventilation? Did you think you had enough? One thing I was thinking though, even if you have to clean tile and grout [hopefully not with changes to other factors] at least the mildew won’t get in the walls and behind the walls and require you ripping anything out, right?

prairiemoon - Don't call the safety police but I do not wear goggles and I stand on the wet and slippery shower bench to do it. I just spray it and let it sit. I don't reach and scrub it. Yes I know I will probably kill myself someday but at least when they find my body the shower will be fresh and clean around me.

Thanks prairie! What Kudzu was talking about - if you tile either the wall (as we did) or the ceiling on a diagona, you don't have to line up the grout lines from top and 3 side walls.

Also, since the room is brand new, I don't know if we will have any mold problems, although I'm not expecting them. I did buy some Tilex daily shower spray that I was spraying after each shower. Ceiling included. While you're in the shower still, just spray each time to clean the tiles and prevent mold.

As Debbi B mentions, diagonals may be easier to deal with if you tile the ceiling, but I can see some circumstances (too hard to try to explain in words) where that may also be complicated. The bottom line for me is that tiling the ceiling is a good idea, and you should just talk to your tile person to make sure you are on the same page concerning how the tiles align at all wall-ceiling intersections. The size of your tiles, the shape, and the size of the grout lines all factor in to how best to do this.

A few comments. First, to answer your question about CFM, That's something you might want to talk to an hvac guy about. They'd be able to give you a much more educated answer than I ever could. Secondly, concerning tiling a ceiling, there are now thinsets available called "non sag" thinsets where there's no worry in tiling the ceiling. Spread the ceiling with a notched trowel, burn the thinset into the back of the tile, and then as Billy Mayes used to say, set it and forget it! Also, the size of the tile doesn't matter. an 18x18 tile will have the same amount of gripping area as 9 6x6's that would cover the same area, meaning, there wouldn't be any more stress on the bond of an 18x18 than there would be with the 6x6's. Next, kudzu mentioned that a diagonal pattern would be easier to deal with on the ceiling. let me elaborate on that a bit-- it would be easier to use a different pattern on the ceiling than what you have on the walls. If the walls are diagonal, then the ceiling should be straight laid. The reason is if you use the same pattern, then you better be prepared for it all to line up. Now, I HAVE DONE that before. But it was done with the knowledge right from the beginning that it was all going to have to line up, and it meant taking a little more time with lay out, and then greater pains to make sure everything was exact when putting it up, which translates to the owner as more cost. Under normal circumstances, turn the ceiling from whatever the walls are, and you're good to go. Adds a nice design element, too.

Bill-
Thanks for amplifying on my vague comments about use of diagonal patterns with your usual clarity. :-)

We redid both baths a couple years ago and tiled above the wet areas in both. Both look great and I'm really glad we did it. We do have good vent fans in both baths.

If you have larger format tile, you might consider cutting the tiles down to smaller sizes for the ceiling only. Our one bath had larger format tiles on the walls - 8x20 - which are pretty heavy. And, there were only horizontal ridges in the back, so we worried about the thinset loosing grip on such a big, heavy tile one day and ending up with a head injury. So, we cut those tiles down into 4x8s for the ceiling only. I like the look very much.

Jdez - I understand, very important to have a clean shower when they find you. [g]

DebB - If we did the ceiling, we would definitely do diagonal. I really like the look of it and it appears to prevent some problems. I would not be able to use Tilex, it’s so strong. Or any product with any kind of anti mildew ingredients. So the ceiling is on it’s own, either it’s going to get it or it isn’t. I would think my best bet is to find a way to remove the moisture after use as fast as possible.

Thanks Bill and Kidzu - Glad to hear about the ‘non sag’ thin sets. I don’t think we would be using large tiles either. Diagonal would be what I am leaning toward.

TracieE- That makes sense when you’re using such a large tile. A lot less grout to clean with those large tiles too, I would think.

How are you going to clean it if it gets moldy.

Antibacterial soap (like dish soap) and a small brush. Kills it on contact.

Emma, I'd use non toxic cleaners and a lot of elbow grease I guess.

Bill, Antibactieral soap? I haven't heard that before. Thanks.

Kudzu - You have a point and I think as much as I would not look forward to cleaning a tile ceiling, the alternative is taking a chance of leaving a plastered ceiling up there and if that became mildew, it would require treating it and cleaning it and painting over it with anti mildew paint, which I would also like to avoid.

I did a job about 3 years ago, where we were asked by a remodeling company to do two bathrooms, one with a tub and the other with a shower. They had their guy demo the tub, and we started demoing the shower. As soon as we opened up the walls in both places, we saw it at the same time-- solid black mold. I mean like something out of a horror movie. We immediately sealed off both bathrooms with polyethylene, and had the homeowner call Servpro. When they came out, I got to talking with the guy and he said the number one wives tale is that bleach will get rid of mold. It only cleans what's on the surface. But if you want to KILL it, you use an antibacterial cleaner. It'll go a lot further. As for that job, apparently, their roof had been leaking slightly for years and they never noticed it. What started out as a 9,000.00 renovation, ended up costing over $80K. Sheetrock in several rooms, kitchen cabinets, outer sheathing and siding, both bathrooms completely gutted-- thank God the insurance company covered it.

This was helpful to read, thanks! Mine is tiled, but still gets mildew in the corners, despite using the obviously not good enough fan. I'm going to try the antibacterial soap tomorrow! Bleach/Tilex hasn't helped much.

Trying to reach the ceiling to clean it is dangerous- I slipped off the side of the tub I was standing on, and fell right onto that edge, on my hip, a few months ago. Be careful :-)

Our house was built in 1977. It was supposed to be a model home but was bought before it was finished. Upgrades like having all 3 bathrooms with tiled ceilings in the showers and in the bathtub area. I don't have any problems with mold except in our master shower and it only gets in one or two spots on occasion. I use the long handled scrub brush thingy I use to clean the rest of the shower and it comes off with the cleaner I use. We did install a fan in the shower the last time we remodeled and it has helped alot. We are getting to remodel again as my husband is raising the dropped ceiling and so we are going with larger tile and we will still tile the ceiling. At least that is the plan at this moment.

What I was referring to is on the ceiling, on a ladder, scrubbing and having stuff fall in your face. It would be a very bad place to be on a ladder with all the hard surfaces around you.

Bill - A homeowner’s worst nightmare, Black Mold! Good thing the insurance covered it, is right! $80,000. later and not even a bright shiny kitchen or bath to show for it? Wow.

Very surprising that bleach won’t kill mold.

JLC - I don’t know, maybe I should be thinking of adding TWO high octane fans. lol I HATE mildew and scrubbing it off the ceiling does not sound like fun.

Great reminder about being careful doing the ceiling. I have a thought, we bought an inexpensive step stool at Lowe’s and I don’t know what I did before we bought that. It makes it so easy to reach where I need to now. Would probably fit right inside the tub to reach the ceiling.

Step Stool at Lowe's

Ours looks very much like this one and it is light and operates very easily and feels sturdy when you are on it. This is a 3 step but they do have a 4 step too.

NanaMary - A long handed scrub brush is another good idea, thanks. Good to know you like the tiled ceiling enough to do it again.

Emma - I am going to try my steps tool in my bath tub today and see how easy or not it is to try to clean the ceiling there.

"Very surprising that bleach won’t kill mold."

In somewhat simplistic terms, bleach will kill the surface mold, but the "bleach" component of bleach doesn't penetrate most porous substances. But the water that carries the sodium hypochlorite does.

When you bleach a porous substrate like grout, the bleach will stay on the surface and kill the surface mold/mildew, but the water will penetrate into the grout and actually feeds the mold "roots".

Bleach can eradicate "new" mold formations. But if it's somewhat established, it'll come back time after time.

I wipe down the ceiling in our bathrooms with my mop before I mop the floor. It's one of those with a flat head that gets covered by a fitted microfiber type cloth. I can reach over the bathtub without climbing in or on anything. It wouldn't work for really scrubbing, but it works fine for routine wiping down.

Grew up with tiled ceilings and when we redid the bathrooms in our last house, we had the ceilings tiled. We had a rectangular tile and an accent strip that went around the edge. It all lined up nicely and looked fantastic. We also had a tiled niche put in.

So easy to clean once a week with a long-handled scrubby. I could neverunderstand why, if the walls are tiled, the ceiling isn't tiled, too.

CRL - The long handled mop sounds like a good idea. Safer than climbing up to scrub it.

Bpathome - I didn’t realize so many people have tiled shower ceilings. I’ve not seen one in houses I’ve been in or lived in. Good to know.

Kudzu - I know that is what is supposed to work, but 15 years ago, we did a partial update on our bath. We put in a new toilet, sink, medicine cabinet and new fan and in the ceiling heater. When the contractor recommended the size fan I needed for the bathroom, I asked him for one 3x larger than I needed. He thought it was unnecessary, I didn’t want to chance getting mildew. It did fine until my kids hit their teens and started taking long hot showers, despite the fan, we ended up with mildew on the ceiling.

So, I don’t know what I’m going to do this time, but I’m determined not to have mildew again. Maybe TWO fans!

prairiemoon-
Solution: no more teenagers showering!

LOL - exactly! :-)

prairiemoon-- they had all three. Needed all new upper cabinets, and of course the cabinets were about 15 years old, so they couldn't be matched so ALL the cabinets got replaced. Now that also means new countertops. and the bathrooms were being renovated to start with-- it's how we discovered the mold in the first place. :-)

Bill, than that worked out then, and insurance covered it. Not that I'd wish Black Mold on anyone.

Mongo, thank you for that explanation of how Bleach works. It's the 'coming back over and over again' that drives everyone crazy.

I don't understand the steam unless they are running it a lot before they get in it, maybe trying to warm the room. Mine never steams, nor do my mirrors. I turn it on as I stand there to get in. Because of my knee I am now taking hot soaking baths and I fill the tub full and nothing steams up.

Emma, not sure I've ever seen a bathroom that didn't steam when the shower was used. Do you have a large bathroom? Do you run the fan at the same time you are taking the shower? Do you not run your water really hot? Our water takes awhile to come up hot when you first turn the shower on, so we do have to wait to get in, but it's not steaming at that point because the water is cold.

Our shower ceiling is tiled and the ceiling is slightly dropped. The glass also goes all the way up. I think this keeps the air warmer.

Shellking, an attractive shower install. I do like the shower ceiling being lower. With an enclosed space like that, do you find mildew a problem?

Not at all, but I live in dry climate. We often leave the shower door open (it can open in or out) and that is a very powerful fan that we have in the shower too. We usually run it for 10 minutes after showering.

I would think the dry climate would make a difference. Is the fan in the shower, the white item that sort of looks like a smoke detector? Do you know the name of it?

Yes, that is the fan. I don't know the brand as that white thing is just the trim. The fan is actually in the attic space. It is also connected to the W/C. So both go on when we turn on the fan. It's very quiet since the actual fan isn't right in the ceiling. It vents out the side of our house, up high.

Shelking's shower looks like it is set up for a steam shower, except I've usually seen a transom window to vent the space. Also steam showers have sloped ceilings so the condensation doesn't drip on bodies while sitting and steaming. I don't know much else about steam showers though. With a shower totally inclosed like that the fan can not evacuate the moist air inside the shower. Fans need make up air, so there is a current. Otherwise you create a vacuum and the air can't move.

yep, enduring is correct, we need to leave the door open when we run the fan. But it does a great job keeping the warm air and steam in when you're taking a shower. From what I understand a true steam shower would require more waterproofing and a sloped ceiling in addition to the steam plumbing. We decided not to do all that.

One thing we didn't think about -- it's pretty sound proof in there. My husband and I used to carry on conversations while one of us showered prior to the remodel. Our ceiling was high and the glass didn't go all the way up. Now the person in the shower can't hear the other person.