Cement or ceramic floor tiles for bathroom?

[lettie9]

I ordered a bunch of sample ceramic tiles for the bathroom floor, including a couple of encaustic ones, from Walls and Floors this week and was really disappointed with what I received. The patterns looked lovely online, but in real life looked printed on in a crude way.

I then recalled a friend had lovely cement encaustic tiles. They needed a special sealant but were fine with water after that. Bert & May do cement tiles that look good to me.

However, I've also read that cement tiles are tricky and time-consuming to install, can be damaged by water more easily (because porous), and they're a lot heavier/thicker (which isn't a good or bad thing I suppose). They're more expensive too but that's not a huge consideration as the bathroom isn't very big.

Can anyone give some guidance on this? Anyone got cement tiles and think they're great? Thank you!

Any floor tiles made from cement, in my opinion, are best imported from India if you want longevity. In India they are used everywhere, including in wet rooms, and come in a wide range of finishes that are built to last. Have a chat to your local tile suppliers and see what they say - where I am quite a few shops have links to some of the best Indian tile manufacturers and for £30 per sqm + you can basically have a custom made design.

Thank you 😊

Anybody else have experience of cement?

Yep! We've got totally normal, low cost, non fancy cement bathroom floor tiles from B & Q. I LOVE them. Very stylish. Slightly textured/rough, which feel really nice on the feet, hard wearing, not too cold in the winter, not slippery (important if you have kids) and they look good - faded charcoal grey with a textured feel, so not overly "done" or slick, quite natural looking actually. Also no issues with waterproofing so far (over a year). Recommend!

@Marbles321 thanks for that! Was a sealant required? Was installation an extended process?

I'm not sure tbh- we went away for the weekend and left the bathroom guy to it! But I don't think so. Just regular grout in between tiles. Maybe a sealant was used but didn't appear to be a problem/tricky process. But we also have a v small bathroom, so small area to cover.
Like you I had originally wanted ceramic, but am glad we got concrete. I really like the look and feel of it, which surprised me enormously as I had originally felt it was too utilitarian.

@lettie9 I've just realised ours are concrete - which is a cement mix. Can you get just plain cement tiles? I thought cement was a component of concrete and needed to be mixed with other materials? In confused now!

Hmm Bert & May says cement

www.bertandmay.com/products/black-santona-tile

OK slightly different composition I think. Those are gorgeous though!

They are! I'm just worried because some blogs are saying cement tiles are a nightmare to install and prone to water damage!

We have porceline tiles which look like cement! They were installed like a normal tile and were and are fine. Beautiful. Huge

Bit like this www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/collections/concrete-effect/products/concrete-grey?variant=39435361583294

I should clarify I'm not after the LOOK of cement, but rather that the encaustic tiles I like come in cement or porcelain/ceramic, with the former looking a lot higher quality. So I'm trying to understand the pros and cons of cement tiles.

I massively regret my encaustic cement tiles. They looked beautiful the first day but scratch so easily.

Oh no @PersephoneJames is this despite having sealant (and other protection?) applied?

Sorry I misunderstood, I'll piss off. Ignore me

Yes Lettie. When I queried it I was told that’s due to the nature of the tile. I was so careful with the tiler and the sealants too making sure I was there to check they did all the steps!

@bestbefore no sorry I wasn't clear! Thank you for being helpful.

@PersephoneJames this is exactly what I'm afraid of. This is no good - I have two small children who are always dropping things and hammering things.

We have cement tiles in a bathroom. DON'T DO IT!! Ours were imported from Morocco,
£100p sq m. We sealed them. They have chipped, scratched, colour rubbed off in parts. The odd wee stain around the toilet, despite being sealed with the correct stuff.

We're about to redo them, after only 2 years, with encaustic effect tiles.

The wee stain is a big concern of mine, as after well over 30 years my husband is still incapable of using the toilet effectively