Your bathroom is more than just a room. It’s a place where you can escape with a relaxing bubble bath, it’s a judgment-free zone for you to sing as loud as you’d like, and it’s one of the places you begin and end every day. So, while it may not have the prestige of a fancy dining room, it’s important to take proper care of this sanctuary.
The floor is perhaps the main factor influencing your bathroom’s character, greatly affecting how it looks and how it feels—so you don’t want to pick just any random bathroom tiles when redesigning. If that statement sounds daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Empire Today® is here to help you choose bathroom tile you’ll love for years to come.
There’s no one overall best tile for bathroom floors because every homeowner will have different needs. Before you begin shopping for bathroom floor tile, it can be very helpful to get a quick primer on the available options and what benefits they each can add to the room. While aesthetics are probably your primary focus, there are plenty of optional features to consider—features that can influence how comfortable your bathroom is, how safe it can be, how easy it is to keep clean, and more. Getting to know these options will help you best understand which product will be your ideal bathroom flooring.
Porcelain vs Ceramic Tile:
Porcelain and ceramic tiles are quite similar and usually impossible to tell apart with just a glance, but they do differ in durability and sustainability. Although both tiles are clay-based, the raw material used for porcelain tile is more refined and heated at a higher temperature. This makes porcelain bathroom tiles harder than ceramic, which in turn makes them a bit more durable and less porous than ceramic. Those features will make porcelain a better bathroom tile if you expect your floors to encounter high levels of moisture, lots of traffic, or things being dropped on the floor often—all common occurrences in, say, a kids’ bathroom.
While ceramic is technically a less robust material, it’s no slouch itself. Ceramic tile is still highly resistant to water, scratches, and stains. And it’s usually a bit more affordable than porcelain tiles in a comparable size and style. That makes ceramic a good choice if you’re on a budget but you still want bathroom tiles that can stand up to typical traffic.
Whether you choose ceramic or porcelain bathroom floor tiles, both materials offer some available options that can make your bathroom floors safer and easier to keep clean. Non-slip bathroom tiles are worth considering for any home, and especially those with young children or elderly residents. Both ceramic and porcelain tiles from Empire® are available with a non-slip finish.
Persistent moisture and condensation buildup doesn’t just turn floors into a slip hazard—it also creates the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew. Despite most homeowners’ best efforts, moisture will collect in a bathroom. But having mold and mildew-resistant bathroom flooring installed will go a long way towards keeping nasty growth at bay, making for a healthier, cleaner room.
Vinyl Tile
Vinyl bathroom tile is an option that has rapidly grown in popularity since first hitting the market. Because it’s usually a more budget-friendly product than porcelain or ceramic tiles, vinyl has become a common choice for homeowners shopping for affordable bathroom flooring. One of vinyl tile’s greatest advantages is being able to offer the aesthetics of a material with certain features that the same product usually does not offer. For instance, a stone-look vinyl tile can give you the look of fine marble, without the worries of needing to reseal the floor every few years.
Many of the vast variety of vinyl floor tiles from Empire also offer the same practical benefits of porcelain or ceramic tile. You’ll find products with high resistance to scratches, scuffs, and wear; slip-resistant textured surfaces; and even enhanced mold and mildew resistance. One of the ways that vinyl tile can be a better choice for bathrooms than ceramic or porcelain tile is that a great many vinyl products are completely waterproof instead of being just water-resistant. The ability to endure heavy saturation or standing water for extended periods of time can be a great benefit in many bathrooms.
One additional benefit of choosing vinyl tile for a bathroom floor is how the material feels underfoot compared to a tile floor. Vinyl flooring will be a bit softer and usually feels warmer to bare skin, making for a more comfortable floor when you’re barefoot. That’s something worth considering especially for those who have experienced the bite of a bare tile floor during a late-night bathroom visit in the middle of the winter.
Here’s the fun part: choosing the look! This is when you can stop thinking about what practical functions the room needs and focus strictly on style. And because bathrooms are typically closed off from the rest of the room and don’t need to perfectly mesh with the rest of your interiors, they’re a great place to get creative with your style and maybe even do some experimenting with your bathroom floors.
Want your bathroom to feel like a tropical island retreat tucked away in an otherwise neutrally styled home? Choose a waterproof wood-look vinyl floor and go crazy with the bamboo plants. Want to make it feel like a literal throne room? Consider some stone-look tile for a palatial look.
Now that you’ve been introduced to some of the best flooring choices for a bathroom, it’s time for the potentially difficult process of choosing just one. Since no household’s needs are exactly the same, the decision ultimately boils down to personal preference. What features will benefit you the most? Are you getting new flooring for the bathroom in your master bedroom that only you and your spouse share or is it for a bathroom that your kids will also use? If it’s for an adults-only bathroom, the difference in durability between porcelain and ceramic may not play a big factor in your decision. Similarly, if you live in a warm, dry climate, mold and mildew resistance might not be a high priority for your bathroom floor.
When it comes down to it, your best bet is to start with the must-have features and work backward from there, finding a material and style that fits your budget and design goals. No matter the style, Empire Today offers bathroom floor tiles that can elevate your home’s décor while taking your lifestyle into consideration. A flooring professional from Empire can help you make that journey.
Schedule a FREE In-Home Estimate to see all of your potential bathroom flooring options, without ever leaving your home.
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