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Flooring Design Dilemma Bathrooms

tile flooring for walk-in shower.

3 years ago

These are photos of our walk-in shower remodel in 2005. We are building a new home and I would like a curbless shower entry. I have seen houzz photos both ways. What determines curb or no curb. The tiles used in our remodel were from Home Depot and I thought they were ceramic tiles but not sure. I have never liked the floor tile because they are difficult to keep clean. They always look dirty. Many have suggested that we use porcelain tiles throughout the house (heated) but I have no clue if that could be used for the walk-in shower floor. Any suggestions for floor tile and curbless entry? Thanks

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Comments (5)

PRO
Skippack Tile & Stone
3 years ago
A good tile showroom can help you with all your appropriate selections. you'll need a good contractor that's versed in zero entry showers. Your old shower floor mosaics were unglazed and they hold everything and never look good.
wyosue58 thanked Skippack Tile & Stone
wyosue58
Original Author
3 years ago
Skippack Tile & Stone, thanks for the information. I live in a remote area so it is difficult to get to a "Tile Showroom".
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Thanks both of you for your replies. Therenee: I had not thought of a very long skinny tile as an alternative, will look into that. I like some of the ones that look sort of "influenced" by wood instead of mimics of wood. Lornas: That sounds JUST like what we are talking about. Our house is not even built, I just don't feel like devoting a lot of space to the bathroom, but I want it to feel bigger than it is. I haven't decided if we'll need a glass panel plus a door or try to make do with just a panel, since the whole floor will be tile. Have you been using yours for a while? How much water gets out? Do you have pictures posted anywhere that I can have a look at?
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Comments (6)
Brew, the house comes with a hand-tiled walls, so I would probably opt to just go for paint, to save $$$. Would also do a vinyl floor, and then come in and tile the bathroom floor/shower walls, ceiling, and floor, so it all matches. Not installing a tub would also save $$$. Just doing these few things should save me a few bucks. I'll probably be using an 18"x18" tile, so won't need as much, and there's always a sale on tile at flooring stores. It's the bump out that I *won't* be able to save money on. Oruboris, If the shower/tub are 3' deep. i'll only have to bump out 2' to have my depth of 5', and the length will be whatever size the length of shower and tub add up to. I could probably have my son do the digging. Of course there's the extra cost of tile, but if you read above, there are ways of saving from the get go. So yes, it will be the extra cost of laying the floor 2'x4's and drywall, plus the extra materials for the exterior. I actually want two steps~one step down wouldn't have the same impact. As for the 10' ceilings, i'll drop the one in the shower down to 8' and have an open area above, if that's a possibility. I guess you could compare it to a kitchen cabinet without a soffit, but an open area. Is there less work involved in that, so consequently less money? As for it looking odd, not at all. It makes for a very dramatic 'spa' shower. They'll be 2 other tubs in the house, one of them in a bedroom next to the master. I thank you both for understanding my question, and giving me your opinions/advice. If you could also answer the other couple of questions in this post, I would really appreciate it. I didn't get any responses on the plumbing forum, and only 1 on the building a home forum. I looked online for such a shower, but couldn't come up with anything.
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Comments (10)
Beautiful shower. Perhaps they are flawed tiles that fall within the range of acceptable to the manufacturer. (I'm suggesting this based on an ad I heard from a local bath company that says they sort through the tiles and remove the ones that are acceptable to the manufacturer but not to them.) Personally, I could live with those imperfections. But if this is going to bother you endlessly, you could have the two tiles replaced. I'm not sure the grout will then be as picture perfect as it is now, though.
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Comments (7)
What does the tile sales person at your local tiling store (not a Big Box store) recommend? If you are the designer/technical director of this project, you will need to learn the ENTIRE tile industry as well as building code to get this job done. You will need to know slip ratings and slope for the shower, etc. You might be better off bringing in a Kitchen/Bath designer to deal with the aesthetics. And a well versed General Contractor who has excellent tile setters on speed dial who can do all the water proofing/etc for you. Doing it properly ONCE is much cheaper than doing it badly twice. The surface stuff, aka tile choice, is the last step of a very long technical journey. Start with the technical stuff and end with the pretty stuff. It might be the boring way to do it, but it is certainly the most important way to do it.
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PRO
Skippack Tile & Stone
3 years ago
Ask your installer where to direct you; and be sure to use someone who has done these types of showers before, if not simply having a curb or not that makes it barrier free.
wyosue58 thanked Skippack Tile & Stone
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
I agree you need to find a pro who knows what is in involved in doing a barrier free shower . Is there a person who is in a wheel chair? These vreate issues with how to keep the water contained in the shower so often the whole room needs to be a wet room. As for the floor of the shower that depends on the tile you choose. I like porcealin for bathrooms and often do the bathroom floors and the shower walls with 12 x24 tile and then the same color but a smaller tile for a regular shower.I think if you are in a plae so remote you can’t look at tile then I would hesitate to do a no barrier shower becuase I can bet you do not have a skilled pro to do the job.
wyosue58
Original Author
3 years ago
Patricia Colwell Consulting, You are so right about everything. I do not have an installer yet--not easy to find in my area. No one is in a wheelchair but just looking to the future since this will be the last house we build. I was curious why some of the houzz photos were different. I guess I thought it was just an updated shower look. I saw some flat stone looking tile for the shower floor but I cannot find the photo now. Is something like something that would be good to use? Skippack mentioned that my old mosiac tiles were unglazed--how do I know if I have the right kind of tiles? There used to be a great tile person in the next town over but he has retired. I am still going to try to call him to see if he would recommend anyone. Thanks for your information. What is your thought of doing Porcelain tile throughout the entire house?

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