Bathroom - tiles or wooden cladding? Advice please.

cahjubb

Hi, I want to freshen up our bathroom (no pun intended ), but am not sure on the most appropriate wall coverings. My wife's shown me a bathroom picture with wooden cladding/tongue & groove which looks really nice. However, a friend has said that tiling will be better, and won't be affected by damp. I'm not keen on the tiles as I think it will be too clinical.

The bathroom's about 10' by 10' with a WC, bath and sink, although I eventually want to get a shower fitted over the bath (I'll tile around the bath/shower area). We've no problems with condensation at the moment - we even have wallpaper in there still on the wall with no probs.

If anyone can advise me or point out any pitfalls, I'd be really grateful.

Incidentally, do I have to attach any cladding to batons, or can I fix it to the plasterboard walls directly?

Please help! Thanks, Harvey.

mrbilbs

We had ours fully tiled. We did from the floor to halfway up the wall in one colour, then a dividing swanneck piece then up to the ceiling in another colour. It doesnt look clinical and your friend is right regarding the damp. Ours is a victorian house so our ceilings are quite hight.

cahjubb

Thanks for the comment - something to consider. At least my friend can help me tile, as we did ( /practiced on!) his bathroom.

Debt_Free_Chick

cahjubb wrote: »

I'm not keen on the tiles as I think it will be too clinical.

I think the trick here is to avoid what I call "public loo tiles"! :rotfl:

Don't go for the small, white square tiles - look for the larger, rectangular tiles, perhaps with a marble effect? And then use a border? Something like this or this?

I would also avoid mosaics & limestone/travertine - which have been very fashionable in recent years, but I fear they will be considered dated in 3-5 years time. Go for something classic that will never be in fashion - and therefore never out of fashion! Unless, of course, you have the energy & inclination to redecorate ever time the fashion changes :rotfl:

cahjubb

Good point about avoid the public convenience look, and yes I do want to avoid repeated decorating which is the main driver about tiling/cladding! :rolleyes:

Thanks!

greyteam1959

If I was you and i was going to the trouble ( and expence) of re doing your bathroom I would fit an electric fan with a timer to keep the room nice and fresh.
Have the fan wired into the light.
This would be well worth doing particularly if you are fitting a shower in the room as well.
Its better to put a fan in now rather than when you have tiled or cladded the room.
Cost of decent fan kit only about £50

derekjim_2

I recently did 2 walls and a window surround in the new type plastic cladding. It is very simple to put on and not that much more expensive than good tiles.

ben500

I'd say if you want to think ahead and are considering tiling, that, you should consider using a more common and readily available tile for the immediate area around the suite be it bath or shower, this will be a boon if you suffer a leak in the future and need to remove any appliance by minimising the cost and works required to put it right, the last thing you want to be doing twelve months down the line is having to completely re-tile the entire bathroom because the sink has leaked and the tiles surrounding it damaged during replacement only to find they are obsolete.

I'd stay well away from cladding as it is very effective at concealing problems denying you the opportunity of small restorative work, you are more likely to find out you have a crisis on your hands than a problem as by the time the cladding is showing symptoms the wall behind is usually reduced to mush.

coolagarry

I swear by tiles... including the floor. There are some fantastic tiles around (some at fantastic prices !!) but it is always possible to get a nice design for not too much money and I agree with the earlier 'public convenience' comments.
If it's done properly it will last - and look good - for many years

never_enough

I have both tiling & wooden cladding in my bathroom. The tiles are around the bath, toilet & sink while the cladding is on the rest of the walls. I'll be having the bathroom redone soon (although I've been saying that for several years now! :rolleyes: ) & plan to use both again. The wood is painted with satinwood & I love the look of it, & it suits the age (1920's) of my house. It's not been affected by moisture despite the looooooong baths my oh loves & it's not a large space.
Something my dad always does is put a box (or half box) of spare tiles under the bath before the bath panel goes back on. Of course he's never needed to use them, but at least they're safe just incase.
Btw, I wouldn't have a fan attached to the light if you like a quiet soak in the bath.

milkydrink

-I got a fitted bathroom (white units & beechblock tops).
I have very large white retangular (slightly hammered/battered effect) EVERYWHERE tiled in a brick style. You know a row all around & the next row you start in-between two below, laid wide ways. In the middle I have a border (I don't like most floral border tiles), so I got those packs of mosiacs on the net backing & cut them off two rows at a time (they are in a selection of natural stone & brown shades), & they form a border all around the middle, 2 tiles up from the bath rim.
Beechblock vinyl on the floor.
I didn't want tiles on the floor. One, because they can be slippery, especially when stepping out of the shower & two, because I think the walls & floor could have been too much all tiled unless they matched & I only like in that in the cream lime/sand stone tiles & I wanted white.