I have laminate wood look flooring in my kitchen. In front of my kitchen sink, where the flooring meets the cabinets, we haven't had any trouble with the moisture. However, in front of the fridge is a different story. I think it's partly because the weight of the fridge, but the floor very slightly bubbles up in front of it. You can't really see the actual lifting, but it is really noisy to step on. I'm certain the constant dripping of water from the fridge water dispenser has exacerbated it. Based on that experience, I would go so far to say vinyl would be better than laminate. But the people living here previously installed it, so i don't really know how much of the result is the quality of the product. My husbands parents have a completely tiled, walk in shower with a seat in their 'guest suite.' They had trouble with the grout material cracking and crumbling on the seat, and it was new construction. Their contractor fixed it with a slightly more flexible grout material or mud. I don't remember what it was called, but I'm under the impression it's sort of a cross product, somewhere between grout and caulk. I wonder if using that kind of a material to lay tile there would be better than a traditional, less forgiving grout material?

Does he have the tile he is pushing "in stock" as opposed to ordering it? I ask this because we were recently shopping for ceramic subways for our shower and the tile salesman told us that "no one was doing that anymore". He steered us to a stone tile which was much more expensive and required more maintenance. (And as luck would have it, it was IN STOCK!) My husband got major a case of "second guessing" and was worried the bathroom would look dated if we went with subway ceramic. I had him look at some of the bathrooms on gw and some magazines to show him that many of the bathroom renos were indeed done in ceramic :) We ended up putting the project on hold, but when we are ready, we will get what we want. Having said all of that, it may be that the travertine, which is gorgeous by the way, may be a better fit for your backsplash. Post a picture and the many helpful gardenwebbers here will give you some great advice :)

"What kinds of questions do I need to ask about it?" Tile has a rating system. 1) GRADE, a rating of overall quality. You'll want a 1 or 2 for floors, 3 are suitable for wall use. Obviously, 1 is the best quality. 2) PEI (Porcelain Enamel Institute) wear rating, how well the tile will wear over time. 1 and 2 are suitable for walls. 3 is suitable for residential. 4 and 4+ are even more durable, with 4+ for heavy commercial. In general, look for 3 or higher. 3) 3) WATER ABSORPTION. In general, look for less than 7% for areas that are occasionally wet like a bathroom floor, and less than 3% for areas that are constantly wet like in a shower. The type of tile can also indicate how much water is may absorb: Nonvitreous: High absorption, >7%, not suitable for showers or bathrooms.. Semivitreous: Moderate absorption, 3% - 7%,not suitable for outdoor use or for wet rooms, such as bathrooms. Vitreous: Low absorption, 0.5% - 3%, suitable for wet rooms, bathrooms, etc. Impervious: Lowest absorption, <0.5%, suitable for all interior uses 4) COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION, CoF, slip resistance, look for greater than .6 for wet areas. 5) FROST, not an issue for your interior application 6) TONE, how the color may vary from one tile to another within the box of tiles. Grout line width? Depends on your tiles. In general, the manufacturer should have some grout width guidelines on their website. If there are none to be found, then go by the tiles themselves. With like-sizes tiles, say all 4" by 4", stand a bunch of tiles on edge like a deck of cards. Whatever the variation is in dimension, multiply that by 3. If the tiles vary by 1/16th" from one another, Multiply that by 3 and your minimum target would be a 3/16th" wide grout line. That assures that two oversized tiles next to one another will not touch. On the flip side, two smaller tiles next to one another will have a wider grout line. Since your tile has texture, it may hold soap residue in a shower. The residue can build up over time, holding skin cells, hair, etc, and gunk out. Just keep that in mind. Because of the texture, It may help to install a hand held shower head that can be used to wash down the walls and floors. Good luck with your installation.

Hi, Can you clarify for me, what colour is the wall paint? Blue? Grey? Can you give us the brand and colour code? Also, are you sticking with your current shower curtain or is that subject to change? I love those encaustic choices, but I wonder if the pattern might be too big for what looks like a small space. Some of those tiles, it takes 4 tiles square to get the pattern. If I assume that the size of the tile might be similar to the squares in your current linoleum, then you'll maybe only have one full pattern of the tile visible in a row and maybe 4 or 5 complete patterns in total on the floor. I don't know if they make smaller versions of the same tiles, so that you could benefit from more pattern in your space, or that might make it look very busy, depending on the tile. thanks