Bathroom tiles: how to choose and calculate the quantity for renovation

Finishing the bathroom – a difficult and costly process, and the correct selection of finishing materials – one of the keys to good quality and longevity of the finish. A separate conversation deserves a tile in the bathroom. It should be beautiful, reliable, durable and easy to maintain.

Why tiles

Finishing the bathroom with tiles is the most popular option. It is explained by good operational and aesthetic properties of this material:

• Durability. Quality tile on the walls and floor, for years does not change its appearance.
• Not afraid of moisture. Bathroom – a room with high humidity. After taking a shower or bath, there may be a large amount of steam in the air. In some areas: shower, bathtub, washbasin, protects the walls from further penetration of moisture into the thickness of the walls or floor.

  

  Mosaic in the bathroom is one of the popular options

  

  Photoprinting on ceramic tiles – faithful transfer of images makes the interior of the bathroom unusual

  

  There are collections for every taste

  

  You can combine colors, shapes, sizes

• Convenience in operation. Any ceramic tile is well cleaned and can withstand repeated care with the use of brushes.
• A large selection, both in terms of shape and size, and in terms of colors. In addition to the usual square and rectangular shapes, there are polygonal: five, six and octagonal.
• Variability in laying. The same tile can be laid in different ways. You can combine not only different colors, but also shapes and ways of laying. This gives a lot of options for finishing.

These are the reasons for the high popularity of finishing with tiles in the bathroom. The disadvantages of this method of finishing also have:

• Complex laying process. You can tile the floor or walls with your own hands, but in this case it takes a lot of time and preliminary study of technology.
• High cost. The ceramic tile itself is of good quality costs a lot, in addition, under it you need to level the walls or floor, and still pay for laying.

Most often the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Nuances of choice

The choice of color, size and shape is very wide, but not all can suit you. When choosing, consider technical parameters and quality parameters:

• In the bathroom, temperature and humidity fluctuations are commonplace, so choose a moisture-resistant tile. The characteristics describe mainly water absorption. This is the amount of moisture that can absorb tile. The parameter is specified in percent. For floor tiles, this indicator can not be higher than 3%, for wall tiles can be higher, but the lower, the better. Moisture-resistant tiles are characterized by a dense, low-porous base. In addition, this material has a reduced conductivity, which is not superfluous in a room where there is water and electrical appliances.
• Since the walls and floor will have to periodically wash with detergents, and they are chemically active, it makes sense to buy a material resistant to chemistry. Especially often this procedure is carried out in joint bathrooms. In this case, choose the most resistant to the effects of chemistry finishing material. This characteristic is usually displayed on the label with a pictogram in the form of a flask and standing next to the Latin letters. For a bathroom you can take B or A, and for a combined bathroom – AA, that is, the highest level of resistance.

  

• The front surface of the tile has a different resistance to abrasion. This parameter is indicated by the letters PE and a number. The larger the number, the more durable the surface. Tiles in the bathroom on the walls are subjected to small loads, so the strength of abrasion can be small, but on the floor should be taken with PE 2 or 3.

  

• Ceramic tiles can have a glossy or matte surface. Water marks are more visible on the glossy surface. So if the water is hard, it makes sense to choose matte.
• When choosing bathroom tiles for the floor, you should pay attention to how slippery it will be in a wet state. This characteristic is also displayed on the label in the form of a pictogram and a number. The numbers are the coefficient of friction when wet. The larger the figure, the less slippery the floor will be. According to this feature, it is customary to divide it into four categories:

Properly selected ceramics in the bathroom will serve for years. When choosing ceramics, pay attention to its technical characteristics . Usually they are displayed with pictograms on the box. Knowing the decoding of icons, the choice will not be difficult. Actual pictograms for the selection of tiles are shown in the table.

What color, shape and size

Let’s give a few recommendations that will make the choice easier. First of all, it is worth deciding on the size. Whether it will be rectangular or square – choose you, but it makes sense to calculate the dimensions.

Choosing the size

It is easier to determine the size based on the dimensions of the bathroom. This is especially true in small rooms. There are two rules:

1. in small rooms to use very large tiles should not be used, the room will seem even smaller;
2. rectangular tiles laid vertically visually “raises” the ceiling.

The same effect, by the way, give and columns of a different color. But the specific dimensions are selected according to the dimensions of the room itself.

When choosing the width of the tiles for a benchmark take the wall opposite the entrance, it catches the eye immediately. Measure it precisely, and the tiles are selected so that it is laid without trimming or trimming was minimal. Do not forget about the width of the seam, it must also be taken into account.

When choosing the height of the tile can be guided by the height of the bathtub, shower tray or washbasin. Washbasin, if desired, can be slightly raised or lowered, but with a bathtub so will not work. Try to lay a whole number of tiles.

Since there are so many sizes of tiles, the chance of finding the perfect fit is great. But not everyone is so scrupulous in the details, so you can omit this stage, and oriented only on preferences.

What color to choose

As for the color of ceramic tiles, rely on your own preferences. But when choosing shades there are certain recommendations:

Tiles can be the color and combination that you like. But the most winning are considered a combination of brighter and saturated color with neutral. Neutrals are white and its shades, gray, beige. For example, there is often a combination of dark red or burgundy and beige, brown (chocolate) is also combined with it. No worse looks tile in a combination of green and beige, pink and gray.

It is most difficult to pick up a companion color to yellow and orange. The most win-win option is white, but not snow white, but creamy or with a very light pinkish tint. You can try to find a shade of gray, but you need to pick up a specific color. In any case, try to choose from “warm” shades.

How to determine the quality

In addition to technical parameters and color,you need to check the quality. In order not to have problems during installation, the ceramics must be of high quality. This can even be determined visually:

All these operations should be carried out not with one tile, but with several, preferably from several boxes. If after inspection you are satisfied with everything, then you need to decide on the quantity.

Calculating the quantity

There are several ways of laying tiles: straight, offset and diagonal. Depending on the method of laying depends on the number of tiles needed for the work. So, with a straight laying it is necessary to add 5% to the calculated amount, laying tiles with an offset, you need to add 10%, and deciding to apply diagonal, add 15%.

Measure exactly the room and calculate the area of work or use a calculator. It will help you calculate the number of tiles for bathroom walls, taking into account its size and seam thickness.

If there is a window in the bathroom, it must also be subtracted from the area of repair. Calculator will help to calculate the area of the window opening.