Fully tiled bathroom, pros and cons

[SuddenlyOld]

We have a very small bathroom which we want to completely refurbish.

It has a shower over the bath which we are changing to a walk-in shower.

Currently the walls are fully tiled. I'd like to have panels instead of tiles in the shower area and paint the rest.

What are the pros and cons to a fully tiled bathroom? I'm thinking it's a trend and there's no real advantages.

Unless the ventilation is good in small bathrooms, the walls can get quite wet. The last bathroom I had which was partially tiled had associated problems with black mould on the coldest outside wall and the paint peeled a bit - though I didn’t prime and paint the wall myself, so can’t say whether that may have been a factor.

If you’re thinking of panels over tiles then do a lot of looking to get quality ones. I’ve also had a bathroom with those previously and it looked a bit like a cheap leisure centre shower area.

Do you have a window in your bathroom? I was always told if no window then go for fully tiled.

I do have a window, and a good extractor.

Good point about the external wall, tiles probably provide some insulation too

I love my fully tiled bathroom. It's my favourite room in the house. Looks smart, easy to clean (wiped down once in a while), no worries about paint peeling/looking tired.

We bought our house with the bathroom already tiled. It looked nice to start but there's just sooo much grout to try to keep clean 😆It looks grubby all the time now but can't afford to replace it.

I hate our fully tiled bathroom, it came with the house. It’s so cold looking, even with a warm ish coloured tile.
Our windows are always open when we shower but they are always covered in condensation. I suppose that means a wall would be full of mould, but we didn’t have these issues in our last house that wasn’t fully tiled and had a smaller bathroom. I hate to think how much mould might be behind these times if there’s a small gap somewhere for warm air to get through.

We have a fully tiled bathroom with extractor fan but no window. It's the easiest to clean. Flash with bleach on the grout every couple of months is a key ingredient for white grout

I have three walls and a floor tiled. I like how it looks and feels. The disadvantages are:

• cold under foot. (I like this but not everyone does)
• beauty products in glass jars don't bounce. (Not an insurmountable problem)
• if you have a small leak under the floor, you end up having to refurb the entire bathroom. (Just done this. Floor tiles had to come up, obviously, but also shower cubicle so that meant two walls' tiles as well).

We have a small bathroom that is fully tiled.

It's easy to keep clean and does not get mould. I also rather like the cold clincal look for bathrooms though - we have a thirties flat and we did the bathroom out in white metro tiles, a cobalt blue dado tile and pencil tile border and chequer boatd floor times with chrome fittings and white sanitary ware

We softened it with lots of house plants and a dark cobalt blue window blind with a white pattern of whales.

We have a shower over the bath and our plumber tried to sell us on shower panels around the bath (he was clearly thinking of all those metro tiles he had to fit 😆) but I think they look a bit cheap and institutional.

You can get panels that look like white brick. I quite fancy it. Might see if I can see them in the flesh at a showroom

If you are having the bath professionally done definitely have it tiled. Panels are easier for diy but to tell the truth look so cheap! Sorry.

Fully tiled every time with underfloor electric heating.

A friend and I both had our bathrooms done at the same time, she went panels and paint and I went fully tiled. Honestly we both thought mine looked way better at rhe end and she wished she’d done tikes,,mine also looks much more expensive, but the price wasn’t hugely different,as she went for good panels, and but end look was due to the tiles I bought, it was these copper ones, in real life they look amazing, and we did the shower area with silver metro one, and with the white loo/basin and bath it does look way really striking,

so for me it’s all about personal style and the panel v the tile you’re going for.

https://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/products/highline-copper

The tiles we have aren't that old but I don't like them at all. My choices are panel the shower area only or tile the whole lot. This is the style I like: