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whiskeydaisy

Can shower floor and bathroom floor tile be the same?

2 years ago

I'm in the planning stages and have a contractor. The way my situation is working, I have to buy almost everything. (It's fine, I'm figuring it out as I go.) I have 12"x24" gray porcelain tile for the shower and bathroom walls. I have 12.5 hexagonal porcelain tile for the floor of both the shower and the room. In theory, this should work great, but will it work in practice, specific to having the shower floor and the bathroom floor be the same tile? The shower base will be tile-redi with a curb (and bench). Do I need any special sort of tile for the curb or can my tiles be cut for that?

Comments (19)

  • 2 years ago

    I'm concerned from a different standpoint, that your hexagonal tile will not have enough traction for safety inside the shower. I'm sure someone wiser than I will address your other concerns.

  • 2 years ago

    Is that based on size? Or material?

  • 2 years ago

    I think they will be too big to conform to the slopes needed to properly drain the shower base area without cutting them to adapt to the slopes.

  • 2 years ago

    So I need something smaller for the shower floor?

  • 2 years ago

    I was referring to not enough grout lines to make a good grip. I'm all for the least grout lines to clean the better, but in this case they are desired. A recent poster referenced people's unhappiness with penny tile so educate yourself on that before selecting them. A small mosaic tile on sheets may be your best bet.

  • 2 years ago

    Yes, you can cut tile to do a curb, BUT the problem becomes the exposed edges and how you are going to deal with them. "Old fashioned" tile used to have different quarter round or trim/pencil liners to deal with this. You can still find some tile companies that offer trim pieces or bull nose tile. Better option is to use a solid piece of quartz/granite/marble/quartzite for the curb.

    Always think about how you will handle the edges when you have outside corners.

  • 2 years ago

    Still under construction, but we just used the same tile for the shower and bathroom floor. I love it. However, it is a much smaller hex. I’m no pro, but I think there can be issues if you use too large of a size on the shower floor with sloping? I also saw some examples where they did large hex for the bathroom floor and get a smaller version of the same hex for the shower.

    Whiskey Daisy thanked S H
  • PRO
    2 years ago

    It would only be suitable as a shower floor if the DCOF rating is .42 or greater, and you are doing an envelope cut or trench drain. All of which are highly doubtful with the poor quality design and poor quality contractor that exists in the vacuum of this job. Probably the cheap quote.

  • 2 years ago

    I realized you were also asking about the curb. The top of our curb will still be a solid surface, but you can see they did the sides of it with the tile from the shower walls.

  • 2 years ago

    we did a larger hex tile for bathroom floor, a small hex tile in same color for shower floor, to allow for slope to drain. Curb is same quartz as our countertops with outside surface of curb done in our shower tile. Also used the shower tile for our vanity backsplash. Here are a couple pics to help you visualize it (I know that can be the hard part :) )

    Whiskey Daisy thanked S M
  • 2 years ago

    here’s a better pic with shower door open

    Whiskey Daisy thanked S M
  • 2 years ago

    I think in general the recommendation is to not use anything larger than 2" on a shower floor, no matter what the shape. If you want a modern look, see SH's picture above, the shower floor is the same tile as the floor, but in a smaller size. They don't have to be the same, but this just makes it easier - then you don't have to worry about whether something will match.

  • PRO
    2 years ago

    Too many red flags already on this job. Do some after the fact screening before you set yourself up for failure.

  • 2 years ago

    S M your shower wall tile is gorgeous! Do you mind sharing what it is?

  • PRO
    2 years ago

    We have done larger tiles on shower floors. You MUST make sure the tile is meant for a shower floor - not just wet application. The you will have to have a trench drain. This way the floor of the shower can be pitched all in one direction to the drain.

    Something like this:


    Although the drain should be just about as wide ( or long ) as the shower is depending on the direction of the joists.

    Good luck!

    Whiskey Daisy thanked Debbi Washburn
  • 2 years ago

    debrak6, thank you. It’s Viva Metallica lux brick 2x9

  • last year

    @SM where is your vanity from??

  • last year

    I had it custom built, but I think West Elm may have something similar