Smaller tile works best for shower floors because they are easier to work with for proper fall toward drain. Just choose something you like.

When I think small mosaics, and all our hard water, I worry about the ....,the.....what do they call "grout" these days? I remeber my mother scrubbing her mosaics with a toothbrush dipped in Clorox LOL

It is grout. I have hard water, too. I put penny tile on my shower floor a year ago. I just spray it weekly with a bleach/water solution and wash it down the drain. No problems, really. I don't scrub anything with a toothbrush.

You can choose any color grout you like. They have all the colors these days!

Adding one of our decorative drains, might just be the latest fad ;)

Mosaic tile for a shower floor is great for maintaining traction when wet. I wouldn't call it a fad, my previous house built in the 70s also had mosaic. I would caution you to choose actual tile instead of stone or natural material. Cleaning grout is no problem; cleaning natural slate mosaic tile is a nightmare.

bleach has no business around grout. It actually 'pits' the grout and invites more staining. and of course natural stone can't take bleach either. Once you start cleaning with bleach, you're doomed. The newer epoxy stain proof grouts are difficult to apply, but are a better choice for shower floors. just make sure the installer knows how to apply and clean up after the install. I made the mistake of using the bleach based cleaners on my grouted pebble tile. what a mess after a few years. It got to the point where no amount of bleaching or cleaning with any products would work. and the stones were damaged as well.

Beth H.

What do you suggest for mildew in the shower? For some reason we get a lot of it. Must have something to do with our well and the fact that it's constantly in use doesn't help. Our grout is supposed to be sealed. But I don't think that's working out well, either.

So to go back to my topic of a new floor for my shower.....I spent EVERYDAY this week going to shops.....my choices run the gammut from a non slip boring beige ceramic, to a beautiful white on white coral ceramic design, to a large (2'x2') "painted" (not really painted but somehow they managed to incorporate even the look of brush strokes!), to another 2'x2' that is a ceramic with a pale design but is irridescent, to considering some fascinating mosaic designs. For some reason my photo's never upload here, but I will get my husband to help me.

Ok so here is what my shower floor looks like when it was laid down. (You can see the tile by googling (Onice Perla). I have this tile on all the walls and throughout the floor. I need to change because a mistake was made when the floor was laid down and it cracked. Scenario 1 is to change only the shower floor. If my tile guy can get the tile, glue, and top layer of cement up without breaking the waterproof band, I am good to go. If the band breaks, I will have to rip out my new shower, and possibly my entire new bathroom (the tile is custom so there is no way I can get the same color and design to match what I have now.) The intention with this floor was to spray "Stop Slip" on it. However, now I am told that this product can change the color of the tile, becomes "gummy", and is very difficult to clean with hard water. Next photos will be of what I saw this week, so I hope people will weigh in. I will also post some photos of things I cannot use and why.

Here's what the shower floor and bench area look like now Here is the other side of the shower floor, and the other very large sheet where my bathtub sits. Very sad situation..........Ok, next photos are of what I am considering if I can keep the wall tiles (BY THE WAY PHOTOS OF MY BATHROOM CAN BE SEEN IN MY IDEA BOOK CALLED "My Bathroom"

This looks really good with the existing walls and floor. The base color is an off white. The transparent "coral" design is clear, raised, with little quartz type things sprinkled throughout, and is somewhat rough to make it non slip. I could have this made up in 2'x2'. It's very neutral and totally in keeping with the look I wanted.

In the top photo you can see the brush strokes which were done with the ceramic. The ceramic that I have on the walls is very neutral consisting of white, gray, and brown. While this shower floor would be darker, I feel it does make a statement. However, I don't want this piece of tile to take away from the beauty of the rest of the bathroom.

This is from Versace (I just realized I didn't list the names of the others companies in case somebody was interested, so I will do that now. The white coral design above is from a company called La Fabbrica. The painted-look one is from a company called 14 Ora Italiana. The Versace is gorgeous but the gold is not good with the hard water, so I am not considering this one any longer. Just wanted to post it because of the classical look and the beauty.

This is a gorgeous product - soft, works really well with my walls and flooring, adds something, and not as dark as the painted-look one above. It is very pale, with a slight iridescent to it. I like this one a lot. This 2'x2'.

This looks much better than it photographs. It is the shiniest mosaic I have seen with jewel tones in the middle - Really high polished mirror look. I don't know who makes it. I can imagine my bathroom with this as a shower floor.

With these colors I could also do a mosaic design for the floor. This is made by SICIS.

These do have a slight "water" tone to them, but I think these could work as well.

I like this as well also made by SICIS, but I don't find any designs for this on the Internet, and I don't want "just" a box mosaic. I want a pretty design.

PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE FROM THE ABOVE PHOTOS :)

I think they are for floors. The tile store also gave me the book to take home, and SICIS shows them on floors - but I will double check. You make a good point! And your picks are the ones I am leaning the most toward :)

I don't care for any of them, personally. I think the reason your tile cracked is you used large format tiles on your floor, so I wouldn't make that mistake again. Let me look at your Ideabook real quick.

Wow, you're in Europe and your bathroom was beautiful! Ouch!

I'm not sure how to advise now. Of the ones you posted, I like the Versace the best. I think those mosaics will take away from the look of your beautiful bathroom. Is there no hexagon whitish color mosaic available?

The latest thing is quality construction and proper waterproofing. You don't have either. The construction of the shower is fundamentally flawed for those problems to appear. That is not a bandaid solution. That is rip it out and do it correctly. It's the structure. Not the cosmetics.

None of the tiles you have shown are suitable for the wet conditions of a shower floor. You need a knowledgable local designer to work with you or you will have a second very expensive total disaster on your hands.

Kris Mays - these tiles are made by an Italian firm called IRIS - they are made 10 feet by 4.5 feet wide. That is what is on my walls - we have no problem with the wall tiles whatsoever. We also have no problem with the other 4 large tiles on the other side of my bathroom. The problem is the mud job - we know from the specialists 40 page report that the heat protocol for this quick cement was not followed, we know that not enough water was used in the spot that cracked by the tub, we know that some iron rods/separate platform should have been put under the tub for support. We know that the bench should probably have had its own platform. Before buying this tile, both my husband and I scoured the Internet for any negative reviews - we found nothing negative about them. And unfortunately the shop who order the tiles for me recommended the guy who laid the tiles because I was concerned about getting the right guy to install the tile. He is the guy who does their 4 floors of vignettes, and they told me he was at the factory in Italy for a special course on how to handle them. The funny thing is when the first tile cracked, I was pretty sure it was the mud job beneath the tile. When we still lived in NY, we put a new entrance in one of our homes, we also installed radiant here here. After a week the cement there began to crack diagonally so bad that it was almost as if I had the San Andreas fault in my home - that cement had to be jackhammered out of my house. and it was all because the stone guy never put the thermometer into the cement deep enough.

Sophie Wheeler we are going to rip out the areas that have the problems. I thought I was clear about that. Why do you say those tiles are not suitable for a wet area? I did not pick these tiles myself. I went to 3 shops and worked with the people there. Explained my situation, to which they were sympathetic, and I felt guided me toward what I needed. Yesterday I spent 2 hours in a shop with a woman who has been in the stone business for 30 years. I had a very good feeling about her, so I am curious about what you see in those tiles that make them not fit for a wet area?

No glass in wet areas. No glossy tiles in wet areas. You need the COF rating to be .5 or greater. None of those shiny pretty things are functional. Which if you had an actual designer involved rather than a tile salesperson, you would know.

Kris, I would look into some better ventilation. If you are getting mildew, something isn't venting properly. Your tiles and grout should be able to dry out. The whole point is to not get the mildew in the first place. Perhaps mildew resistant caulking in some of the joints? As for cleaning it once if occurs, you have to find a cleaner that is meant for cement based grout. Stick a fan in there in the meantime to dry things out

We have 9 people using this shower. That's why it doesn't dry out. Ventilation isn't too bad. We have a good fan and a window we open. We just redid the bathroom a year ago. I think our tile guy made a few errors in the fall to the drain. It could have been better. I also suspect our grout may be defective. I'm actually afraid to find out. I will leave the shower door open during the day and see if that helps. Thanks.

Pay for epoxy grout at least on the floor and you won't have mildew or mold problems.

Kris, does it smell like mold? We have a place in the Caribbean. A pipe broke in the condo above us. They redid a wall in our place, but we had issues later on in our bathroom ceiling. Had to pull it apart. If it has that moldly smell you have to deal with it. It's so unhealthy.

Oh, no. It doesn't. It's just mildew.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/your-floor-how-to-shop-for-tile-stsetivw-vs~508253

Sophie Wheeler I am aware that there is a difference between wall tiles and floor tiles, and tiles that are suitable for wet areas. I appreciate that you posted the US COF rating so that others will see it. We have a different system here. We have an R rating (Rutsch which is "slip" in German - which one needs to have a 9 or 10 rating). I have 3 plans going on here for the disaster that has become my beautiful bathroom, and has just sat there without being used for the last 9 months - because this is an insurance job. Plan 1 is to redo only the shower and bathtub floor tile (changing the shower floor to something other than is what is shown in my photos). In the event the tiler cannot get out the material we need to, without breaking the waterproof band, then I will go to to Plan 2 which is to redo the entire shower, walls(which is why I posted the last mosaics I saw on Friday) and floor. Plan 3 is to rip out the entire bathroom. Above I posted an article re tiles. There is lots of info all over the Internet, and especially here on Houzz. The materials I used in this bathroom were extremely expensive (and living in Switzerland, most things here cost 2 to 3 times what they cost in the US), so ripping out and starting all over again is my last 'absolutely-necessary-to-do' option. We are also being guided by a "Gutachter" - this is a specialist that works for the tiler association here. He is called in on screwups like mine and makes recommendations. As I mentioned in my first post, I have a 40 page report with what went wrong in my bathroom. He is guiding us, and I feel he is the appropriate person given the situation I am dealing with. That said, I will not be purchasing anything without his approval. Having done lots of construction in the US on 5 homes we owned over the last 30 years, I have had my share of debacles and incidents. This is just the worst because I have to do it in another language, and I am just getting too old to deal with the nonsense that goes on with shoddy work. I will inquire about all those pretty floors I see all over the Bisazza and SICIS books and website as to their R rating. Thanks for your comments Houzzers are the best.

Kris, so none of the 9 people using the shower are experiencing any symptoms from the mildew like coughing, sneezing, headaches, or itchy sore throat, or a burning nose. Also, LOL.....I have to ask - do you have such a big family that there are so many of you using that shower?

No, no mold symptoms. My husband has some training in mold inspection (we do pest, termite, wood rot inspections, etc.) so I think we would know. I am hypersensitive about water issues.

And yes, I have a big family and they all prefer the nice, new bathroom over the old one. We are building a third right now, and then re-doing the other one so that should take the pressure off this one soon.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this stuff, bernegger. Daily life is enough without taking so much time up dealing with someone elses mess up.

I like sliced pebble mosaic for the spa look.

Kris,,,9???!! lol. omg. Our master is under major reno at the moment and we are sharing the other bathroom w/our son. I'm having a fit because it's a small bathroom and my stuff is spread out between 3 rooms! And I'm sure you know how well men keep things clean! I can't even imagine your pain. lol

yes for sure I understand why yours never has a chance to dry. Keep the door open and maybe plug in a small fan to circulate the air in the shower for 30 mins or so. That should help a lot.

Yes, I feel that pain. We are living in about 2/3 of our existing home while doing an addition. Getting tired of living in the living room.

P.S. - funny that you posted the pebble look, that was my first choice back when we began the bathroom last October. I decided against them because our water is so hard, and I was worried about rust staining the white pebbles. In my son's bathroom, the shower floor is an unglazed marble called Pallisandro Classico, and over the years since this house was built by a previous owner in 1991, there are 2 spots where the rust has just seeped in. I hate marble in a bathroom because it is so pourous. I may have to have a 2nd look at the pebbles. I am going to another tile place today......I am relentless to find something I like.

http://www.homedepot.com/hdus/en_US/DTCCOMNEW/fetch/Global_Assets/PDFs/ceramic-tile-label-info.pdf

Alright, didn't read all the comments but the top 2 glass photos you have shown are wall tiles only, not rated for floor use. The last (and most colorful) glass you have selected is rated for floor use. Do not trust home depot or lowes sales people, they really do not know what is suitable for floor use. If you have questions ask a professional flooring store, it's what we specialize in.
Sanded grout needs to be used for the wet floor area. The sand within the grout will scratch and etch your shinny glass, which in turn will give you the idea that the installer did something wrong during install. If you choose a glass (unlike the last photo you shared) make sure the glass is matte finished...or has a frosted finish. This finish will hide any scratching to the surface of the floor from the grout.

Cleaning - If you used a standard porcelain tile or glass product use white vinegar and warm water solution to clean, 50/50 mix.
If you have natural stone, do not use vinegar. I recommend using Stone Tech products for cleaning. They carry a mold/mildew remover that is very simple to use. Just spray the product directly on the area and walk away.. Doesn't get any easier. They also carry a hard water stain remover. These products are safe to use on all natural stone, glass and porcelain/ceramic tile.

Cinar, thanks for the response, can you please tell me what you think about the the first white tile i posted (with coral design) which is porcelain which i learned today. I understand that porcelain will take the least amount of water absorption. The base surface and design are both rough. Thanks

Yes most porcelains absorb between 0.06 - 0.5 % moisture, making them ideal for shower and outside use. The product you selected will work for the area. What size tile are you looking at? Yes, larger tiles can be used for the wet floor but I do not recommend it. Personally I push more mesh mounted products for floor use, 3 x 3 or smaller tiles. The mesh mounted product require more grout but give best traction for the wet area. If this tile comes mesh mounted, then yes I would recommend it to you for use in the area you're needing it for.

Of course i was thinking of 60x60cm. I have huge pieces of tile on my floor. I despise grout lines....part of my reason for asking for help. Such a problem for me. I respect your opinion. I have to reach a middle ground i think.

Here are some ideas on shower floors- it is all preference check out our page under custom showers for more ideas

@imperial flooring, awesome pictures!

To keep a shower clean and mildew free try using a shower spray. My DIY one (off internet) is one half cup each rubbing alcohol and peroxide, one tsp of blue Dawn and one tablespoon of dishwasher rinse aid. Add water to fill a 32 oz. spray bottle. Squeegee.

@Anne Duke, that method will work fine for standard porcelain/ceramic tile. But not too good on natural stone. The rubbing alcohol and peroxide will eventually take off the sealers and allow staining to happen easier.