The type of bathroom flooring and wall coverings you choose is entirely down to personal choice, although there are advantages and disadvantages to different floor types.

Choosing bathroom flooring

What material should your bathroom flooring be? Do you want 3" x 6" or 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" tiles? Do you want bevelled or straight edge tiles? What colour should your bathroom flooring be? Do you want a pattern? What bathroom tile type do you want - bold graphics or mosaics? It's a hard choice which can send you crazy and it took me months to choose our new bathroom tiles.

From an aesthetics point of view, choosing your bathroom flooring and wall coverings should be done together so you can ensure the right balance of colours and textures.

Bathroom tiles are perfect as floor and wall coverings since they are hard-wearing, scratch-resistant, waterproof and easy to clean. Not all bathroom tiles are suitable for both floor and wall, so check this before you buy, and remember that tiles can be very slippery when wet and are cold underfoot.

Types of bathroom flooring

For bathroom floor tiles, opt for non glazed, non slip varieties and consider installing under-floor heating to take away the chill.

While traditional bathroom flooring coverings such as vinyl, rubber, and linoleum are all relatively inexpensive to buy and fit, nothing endures as well as marble, slate and granite.

Laminate flooring is an option but be sure to use one that is recommended for use in a bathroom as some will not take the moisture. Alternatively you could go for vinyl sheeting which comes in thousands of designs and is a cheap and easy bathroom flooring option to install.

If you are installing heavy products such as a cast-iron bath then you must ensure that your bathroom floor is strong enough to bear the weight - you may need to re-enforce the joists.

N.B. A good tile design idea is to choose contrasting colours for the floor tiles and wall tiles.

What size bathroom tiles?

• Avoid using large tiles (e.g. 60x30cm) in a small bathroom, as they will dwarf the room significantly
• Small tiles (e.g. 10x10cm) can look good in smaller bathrooms however you will have many grout lines
• Take note of the spacing between your washbasin, toilet and windows
• Light coloured tiles (i.e. White or cream) can make small bathrooms look bigger as they reflect the light
• Using the same colour wall and floor tiles can give your bathroom a spacious effect

Calculating how many bathroom tiles

When ordering your bathroom tiles you will need to know the size of tile and the size of the area(s) you need to tile. You can then work out how many bathroom tiles you need in m2.

When doing the calculation remember to take into account the gaps between tiles (spacers) and consider more than half a tile as a full tile and less than a half tile as a half tile. One way of doing this is use a scale drawing of your bathroom and a scale cut-out of the tiles, then place these appropriately. This will also help you to experiment with different layouts.

Normally companies will advise you to order 10% extra tiles in case of breakages. Most of them will take back what you don't use as long as they are in one piece and this means you can finish the job in one go.

Bathroom tile types

There is an overwhelming variety of bathroom tiles in terms of design and material so when choosing what you want, a good place to start is to scrap-book ideas from magazines or the internet. This will help you narrow down your choices. Tile textures can also make a big impact and this is something you will need to try out in the shops - matt, silk or gloss tiles, bumpy, risen, un-filled travertine's, polished natural stone or porcelain and glass tiles all provide different effects and capture light in various ways.

Some pros and cons of the most popular bathroom tile types:

	Ceramic tiles [+] durable, versatile, low maintenance, easy installation, low cost [-] can vary in size and colour from lot to lot
	Porcelain tiles [+] tough, huge variety in designs [-] more expensive than ceramic
	Terracotta tiles [+] beauty, longevity when well-made [-] wide variations in quality
	Slate tiles [+] beauty, longevity [-] cons - softness, tendency to split
	Marble tiles [+] beauty [-] high maintenance; can crack, stain, and etch readily
	Granite tiles [+] durability, density, strength [-] limited trim option
	Glass tiles [+] beauty, variety [-] expense, difficulty of installation
	Concrete tiles [+] durability [-] difficulty of installation
	Terrazzo tiles [+] unique beauty, elegance, longevity [-] expense, can cause slips
	Limestone tiles [+] cream in colour with fossils, even in colour and pattern honed completely flat [-] natural stone requires treatment and maintenance, each tile is unique
	Travertine tiles [+] natural stone, filled or unfilled, polished to a smooth shiny finish, variety of colours [-] natural stone requires treatment and maintenance, each tile is unique
	Vinyl [+] cost effective, resilient, various sizes, virtually any pattern, quick to install [-] can mark

Choosing the right bathroom tile types is a big decision so visit lots of showrooms - some have more actual tile examples than others and if you are going for a natural stone, seeing a tiny sample is unlikely to be enough - you might not be happy when you get the tiles delivered.

Overall remember that planning the bathroom flooring, whether opting for bathroom tiles or something else, is one of the most important steps for ensuring a perfect finish!