FLOORING & SURFACES
ROB WHITAKER, CREATIVE AND PRODUCT DIRECTOR OF CLAYBROOK STUDIO, REVEALS THE LATEST TRENDS
Hotels have been a major influence on recent bathroom design, leading to the popularity of marble. Porcelain tiles are ideal for using with this look, as they are now available in just about every colour and pattern.
For flooring, porcelain tiles are super-practical, washable and waterproof, and made from a material of consistent quality. Now porcelain can replicate marble, stone, timber and terrazzo so cleverly that you can’t tell the difference from the real thing. Most porcelain tiles for indoor use are 10mm thick. Some manufacturers make tiles as thin as 4mm, but personally I would choose 8mm to 12mm for most indoor floors to ensure it is strong enough.
Porcelain tiles are ideal for use with both wet (water) and dry (electric) underfloor heating systems and are good conductors of warmth. The type of underfloor heating recommended can vary depending on the size and shape of the room and its subfloor, but it is important to use a flexible adhesive and grout during installation to allow for thermal movement. The adhesive must be fully dry, which generally takes about seven to 10 days, before underfloor heating can be used.
Many people are opting for porcelain floor tiles with glazed tiles or glass mosaics on walls, or metro tiles fixed in vertical, rather than horizontal brick-bond, patterns. While tiles might run all the way up to the ceiling in the wet zones, in other areas of the bathroom, half-height wall tiling offset with a lovely paint colour above ensures plenty of character.