How to Choose Bathroom Tile for Floors and Showers
A plain guide to bathroom tile, from porcelain versus ceramic to big tile, slip ratings, grout and what needs to go behind a shower wall.
Pick by location first
A shower wall gets soaked daily, but nobody walks on it. The floor takes bare feet and standing water, and a shower floor does both, sloping to the drain.
Looks come second: plenty of good tile is wall-only, and you don't want to learn that once it's down.
Porcelain, ceramic or stone
- Porcelain absorbs 0.5% or less of its weight in water, so it holds up on floors and shower floors. Harder to cut.
- Ceramic is softer, cuts easier, and often costs less. Fine on walls with real waterproofing behind it.
- Stone (marble, travertine, slate) is porous and needs sealing. Marble and travertine also etch from acids, including vinegar and many cleaners.
Like stone's look but not its upkeep? Marble-look porcelain gets you close.
Big tile and layout
Large-format tile means 15 inches or longer per side, with 12 by 24 a common size. Fewer grout lines mean less to scrub.
Big tile also needs a flat wall behind it, or the high spot shows as lippage: one edge sitting above the next.
Long rectangles have a slight factory bow, so most makers offset them by a third of their length, not a half.
Start layout from the center of the most visible wall so cuts land even on both sides. Niche edges look best on a grout line: see niches and benches.
Shower floors usually skip big tile; the slope runs several ways.
Slippery floors
A dry showroom sample won't tell you how wet tile feels underfoot. Floor tiles list a wet slip number, DCOF: 0.42 is the common minimum for floors that get wet.
Polished tile is slicker than matte. Smaller tiles grip better than big ones in the same finish, since every grout line adds traction.
Grout
Cement grout is what most bathrooms have: easy to work with and patch, but porous. It stains and needs sealing now and then.
Epoxy grout barely stains, never needs sealing, and sets fast, though put in badly, it leaves a haze that's hard to remove.
Neither is waterproof. Inside corners, where the wall meets the tub or shower floor, need flexible sealant instead of grout: those joints move, and rigid grout cracks.
What goes behind it
Water gets through to whatever's behind the tile, and that layer decides whether the shower lasts.
Green board is drywall for humid rooms and doesn't belong behind shower tile. Cement board won't rot, but water passes through it and needs a membrane on top. Foam systems combine the two.
We work with HydroBlok and Schluter Kerdi. The waterproofing guide has the details.
Found a tile you like?
Send Chino a photo when you reach out.
