Small tiles in shower.

[marmaladeandpeanutbutter]

Has anyone installed these new tiles , which are small-7cmx20 or 30? These seem to be the main tiles available everywhere at the moment, and whilst they are lovely, it seems lot of grout to keep clean! Are they difficult to maintain, especially in a family bathroom?

I’ve looked at shower boards but I don’t like them.

I'd be getting the largest available tiles if I was re tiling a shower. Such a chore cleaning the grout, I'm in a hard water area and the shower is my least favourite job.

There isn’t much choice, as they aren’t fashionable, I’m finding. I’m looking for gloss turquoise type shades.

I had tiny tiles in my shower once. I worked so hard to try and keep them clean but the grout always looked horrible, I was embarrassed when people stayed. If your scheme allows for grey or black grout then go for it, otherwise I'd say no.

I have the small tiles and they're fine but I live in a soft water area and I have silver-grey grout. If you don't like the shower boards/wet wall it might be worth looking at more samples of different brands, because they vary a lot, from cheap and plasticky looking, to actually quite nice (which is no cheaper than tiling, though).

Can't get link to work but I did see a few plausible bigger tile options by using the filters for size and colour at Tile Mountain.

They are awful. We inherited these in our current house and definitely it's more difficult to keep them clean. We also have small floor tiles and they are a nightmare to clean and never look smart or clean despite best efforts.

Have you seen the turquoise onyx tiles on that site? 😍 gorgeous
If only there was a way of using those on a shower wall without having to use grout in between.

Just going to look

Hmm. I’m not crazy about the onyx ones. The rust won’t work in my scheme (white, beige, turquoise). Thank you, though.

I’m realising these small tiles aren’t going to work. Such a pity, as there are lots of lovely versions. Back to the drawing board.

I have looked at a ton of the shower wall, but it all looks tacky!

ps. The grout will be light grey.

I’ve got that sort of size in the shower room. Glossy green with grey grout. I sealed the tiles with sealant for crackle-glazed tiles that you wipe on with a microfibre cloth and buff off. The water just beads away. I do it a couple of times a year and my tiles still look like new.

My other bathroom has old white square tiles (not very large) and white grout and I take absolutely no special care of it beyond spray bathroom cleaner when I can be arsed and the grout is fine! Never looked discoloured. We live in a hard water area too.

I think modern grouts contain treatments to stop them going mouldy or discoloured.

Dont use gloss tiles with water unless you lovvvve cleaning and drying them

We used this company and they are great - look v nice and v hardwearing
https://www.multipanel.co.uk/

https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/perth-gloss-blue-zellige-effect-wall-tiles-300-x-600mm

How about this kind of thing?

I think re the wet wall, it's because you prefer a gloss finish - the ones that look and feel better quality are the matt ones. I nearly got the multipanel recommended by a PP, but in the end it was just as expensive as getting tiles and paying the tiler.

We went for shower boards in our new shower room. I would never use tiles again. Easy to clean as it's just one smoothed polished surface.

Not what you asked but something to think about.

We have glossy tiles about that size in the shower, with darkish neutral grout (Bal Micromax in Cedar). I love them. Will try to attach a photo.

As you can probably see from the chrome fittings, we live in a hard water area (shower hasn't been cleaned for a week!). But the tiles still look fine imo.

I wouldn't do it with a very pale grout, though. Life's too short.

Sorry, still trying to attach photo

You can get the shower boards printed in pretty much any design these days. We had ours fitted when the choice was plain or dodgy marble effect. We have plain! I used to hate cleaning the shower even though we had big tiles (Porcelanosa) because the grout always looked manky thanks to the hard water. Even with the water softener the grout never looked good. The panels still look great many years later and I'll get them fitted when we re-do the main bathroom.

Thank you everyone. I’ve ordered samples of things people have recommended, both tiles and shower wall. I agree about gloss in shower wall-I wouldn’t use a gloss finish in that product.