The best materials for your new bathroom

The process of designing or renovating a bathroom involves careful consideration of various materials to ensure that it not only looks beautiful but will also last you for many years to come. Each component needs to be selected to create a bathroom that is both visually stunning and practical, especially to ensure it is resistant to the challenges presented by moisture and daily use. 

After 20 years of renovating, designing and installing beautiful bathrooms, we know a thing or two about the best materials to use. Offering our expert advice, this guide will help you create the bathroom you’ve always dreamt of.

Grout

Unless you were to completely forego tiles in your bathroom, a good quality mould and water resistant grout is absolutely essential.  We recommend Grout 3000 which is suitable for grouting joints between 1mm and 20mm. It is easy to mix, apply and cleans off easily! A fantastic option to ensure your tiles stay mould-free in the future.

Silicon

Alongside the Grout 3000, we recommend the Silicon 3000 which can be colour-matched to your grout to ensure a seamless and beautiful finish. It helps to seal the grout and is a match made in heaven!

Tiles

When it comes to tiles, there are a wide variety of options and designs. For a bathroom, we would always recommend a porcelain tile for your flooring due to its durability and water absorption. Ceramic tiles will crack over time so a porcelain floor will keep your bathroom in perfect condition for years to come. 

For the walls, both porcelain and ceramic tiles work well. Ceramic tiles are lighter and thus easier to cut, which should be more cost effective when installing. However, whilst being more difficult to cut and install, porcelain tiles are more durable and hard wearing.   

In terms of size, we’d always suggest you opt for a larger tile, especially if you wanted to achieve a more contemporary aesthetic. This minimises the grout lines which not only looks more sleek and modern but also makes them easier to keep clean, and who doesn’t love a low-maintenance design?

In the theme of making your bathroom easy to clean, shower boards for your bath or shower area can also be a fantastic option. The MDF boards come in 900 or 1200mm pieces and require no grout, thus requiring minimal maintenance. There is also a vast selection of colours and finishes available, so you are bound to find the right aesthetic for your room.

Flooring

Whilst porcelain tiles offer a lovely flooring option for your new bathroom, a low maintenance and durable alternative is Klick Vinyl.  The vinyl’s Klick lock mechanism allows for ease of install (you can even DIY) and the absence of grout makes it easy to clean. It’s also soft and warmer underfoot than a tile and has no risk of cracking due to it’s flexibility.   From tiled to strip wood effects, there are many different finishes to choose from, so you are bound to find the perfect aesthetic for your space. 

Ceilings

When deciding on the best ceiling materials for your bathroom, there are two main options. You can choose to install PVC cladding, which comes in 250m wide strips. This option makes it difficult for mould or moisture to build up and therefore is easy to keep clean.

Alternatively, you can skim your ceiling and apply an emulsion paint.

Worktops

For your surfaces and any fitted furniture within the bathroom, we use a laminate or solid surface of 20mm or 22mm thickness. These materials not only offer durability but they are aesthetically pleasing and will compliment your bathroom.

Shower trays

For your shower tray, a stone resin is best for stability and a solid feel underfoot. We offer a variety of high-quality stone resin trays in a range of finishes from the more traditional gloss to the matt or slate finishes . Flush to Floor fitting trays are also an amazing alternative to wet rooms. You can achieve the look and the accessibility of a wet room, without the hassle that a wet room can potentially bring, in the form of leaks and cleaning difficulties.

Heated towel rails

A heated towel rail is a must in any new bathroom, there’s nothing better than a warm towel waiting for you when you step out of the shower! For this we recommend stainless steel or coloured options, which are best to handle a sufficient heat output. Be sure to avoid chrome, this is likely to rust in a steamy/wet environment.

We know that there are a lot of options, so we hope that this quick guide proves useful when selecting the materials for your new dream bathroom. We want to make sure that all of our customers have not only a beautiful bathroom, but one that stands the test of time and they can enjoy for years to come. 

Interested in visiting our showroom and seeing some of these materials for yourself? Book an appointment.