Bathroom - tiles or wooden cladding? Advice please.

cahjubb

First of all - thanks for the replies and good information! I know about the long-term benefits of tiles but I am thinking about going for cladding, and a big fan as we don't get condensation now but will get rid of damp air, and see how it goes. I must getting to a certain age, as I'm looking forward to it...
Again, MANY thanks for giving me ideas, Harvey.

shelly

We have moved recently and in my new bathroom I have a tiled floor. I don't like it at all. I'm used to having carpet underfoot and the tiles are just too hard, cold and dangerous when wet. I have seen some really nice funky cushionfloor that I'm going to have laid straight over the tiles. Hubby thinks I'm mad but its my bathroom, not his!

Oops, typed then realised you are talking about wall coverings, not floor. Personally on the walls I'd have tiles or just paint.

harryhound

Tiles on an outside wall, especially if it is solid (& north facing) may have trouble drying out. Black mould will grow between the tiles, unless you clean the wall with bleach at least once a week in the winter. Once you have got it you will have to rake out and re-grout.

Tiles can be stuck directly to modern soft plaster or plaster board BUT if you are going to get the wall wet, expect them to try and fall off.

I built a shower cubicle for my daughter; we lined the outside wall with battens made of plastic filled the gaps between the battens with polystyrene insulation, covered the insulation & battens with a vapour barrier (big thick sheet of polythene), then screwed glass reinforced concrete boards (like plaster board but twice as heavy and twice as expensive) bought from a big B&Q. Finally I tiled over the concrete boards using a mix it yourself tile adhesive intended for swimming pools. That was 4 years ago, we helped insulate the house and it is still looking as good as the weekend I did it.

Harry.

PS The tiles were second hand, rescued by a builder friend who had been called in to refit a bathroom created by studding in a Victorian flat conversion. - guess what, they were falling off the plaster board wall! I had to boil them in a huge saucepan and then scrape the fixative off the backs; that was a labour of love.

albalad

we have had timber cladding (cedar) fitted in our bathroom to dado height for the last eight years without any problems/damp/mildew. you can fit this directly to existing plasterboard.
I have just removed it all in the last week though as we are re-doing our bathroom and going for nice big tiles all round !