Yes! , While most people tile their shower walls at least 4” above the showerhead which has the recommended standard height of 80” from the base of the floor, other ideas are feasible as long as your walls are protected from damage instigated by water and moisture.
No stringent guidelines govern the tiling of bathrooms, and in this article, we discuss the advantages of tiles and how high they should go on bathroom walls.
Why Use Tiles On Bathroom?
Over the years culminating into the contemporary age, tiles have been and is used as a bathroom accessory for a different reason;
- Water resistance
- Easy maintenance
- Aesthetics
- Highly durable
- Availability
- Affordability
Water Resistance
People take showers every day, if not twice a day. Because of this, bathrooms are mostly wet and generally humid, and full of moisture.
Because bathrooms are not well ventilated, they take longer to drain away water. For this reason, tiles help prevent the walls from soaking in water and moisture that would otherwise result in damage.
Easy Maintenance
Most of the time, dirt slides off the surface of the tiles as they are slippery. It means that soap and other residue are easily washed off.
Still, dirt can quickly accumulate if clean water is not splashed on the walls immediately after taking a shower.
During the Victorian Era, tiles became popular because they could easily be wiped off or cleaned using a mild detergent and a rag gave that tiles do not take long to clean.
Today, most people spray vinegar directly onto the bathroom walls to clean soap stains, buffing them dry to avoid unwanted streaks on the walls.
Aesthetic Purposes
Tiles come in a variety of unique styles, colors, and prints.
No two bathrooms can be similar unless on purpose; for this reason, therefore, tiles become a much-loved finishing alternative for bathroom décor.
You could have several bathrooms under one roof, each exuding a different style and character.
High Durability
Tiles have high durability; they pass through high temperatures that make them resistant to normal wear and tear.
They do not get damaged by water if kept well maintained, and the primary way tiles damage is if something hard falls on them where they crack or shutter.
The way to keep tiles shining and in good condition is to prevent staining by cleaning them regularly.
Availability
There are thousands of tile manufacturers all over the world. Wherever you go anywhere in the globe today, you are assured of finding tiles in hardware stores.
Naturally, a widely used and manufactured product is quickly sold because homeowners and contractors are assured that they will find the same color and print should they need the exact future when doing repairs.
Affordability
Because they are readily available and produced in great numbers, tiles are cheaper than other finishing materials such as terrazzo.
Acquiring a finishing product of your choice in the colors you are comfortable in and at an affordable price makes tiles feel at home in bathrooms globally.
How High Should Tile Go In Bathroom?
The core point of tiling the bathroom is to prevent water and moisture from accessing the wall membrane and potentially causing it to mold and break off.
And because not every part of the bathroom wall is occasionally covered by water apart from the washing area, the bath, and the shower, the bathroom walls need not be fully covered.
This is a style where the lower part of the bathroom wall is tiled while the upper part is not.
This style is called wainscoting.
The rule here is that the tiles that begin from the floor’s base should have a height of between 34-54 inches. Mostly 36” is adopted, which is simpler because it is precisely 3 feet.
One tile is a one-foot square which is also 12”. To avoid bisecting tiles to meet the extra inches, most people prefer to use 3 whole tiles to meet the height of 36”.
Along the top edge of the tiles, you could either give it a classic look by finishing it off using a decorative edge or trim, which is synonymous with the olden times, or leave it as is, which is how it is done in modern times homes.
How Far Above The Shower Head Should The Tile Go?
As mentioned in the beginning, there are no rules to the tig of washrooms and shower spaces.
Possibilities are endless depending on personal style and preference. To start, how high is your bathroom?
There are mainly three possibilities to this;
- Tiling the shower wall slightly above the showerhead.
- Tiling up to the edge of the ceiling
- Covering every inch of the shower walls and ceiling with tiles.
Tiling The Shower Walls Slightly Above The Showerhead
Tiles should cover ¾ of the bathroom walls depending on the bathroom wall height and 4-6” above the showerhead.
But again, showerheads are placed differently in different households so long as the tallest person in the family is considered.
But mostly, the rule of thumb for showerhead placing should be 80” from the base of the bathroom floor. This will account for about 6.6feet, which is the average human height.
Their showerheads stand at 96” while the least height recorded is 76” tall for taller people.
If you add extra 4-6 inches in all of the above showerhead heights, you will get the following.
- 72” + (4-6)=76-78”
- 80” + (4-6)= 84-86”
- 96” + (4-6)= 100-102”
Tiling Up To The Edge Of The Ceiling
Rules are always meant to be broken, and in most cases, you will find that bathroom walls are tiled up to the edge of the ceiling as people look for uniformity in their walls.
This is also easier when you do not want to brainstorm further for ideas and designs.
Covering Every Inch Of The Shower Walls And Ceiling With Tiles
Those whose love for tiles supersedes anything are most likely to do floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiling in intricate colors and patterns.
The cost of buying and installing will be more, but it is worth the effort as every inch of the bath or shower is fully protected from water damage.
That aside, this method of fully tiling walls and ceiling is ideal for showers with steam.
It will protect the ceiling from too much moisture, but the tiles will help trap steam; hence one can use their shower longer.
Should You Tile Floor To Ceiling In A Small Bathroom?
The idea of tiling the floor, walls, and ceiling of a small-sized bathroom is a good one.
- For one, tiling the floor and one wall of a small bathroom with tiles that of the same pattern and color will elongate while making it seem bigger than it is.
- The second is that the probability of the walls of a smaller bathroom getting dirty is higher. For this reason, tiling the entire bathroom will make cleaning easier as it limits the extent of stains and dirt stuck to walls.
- Third, smaller bathrooms do not present one with the advantage of playing with different styles, colors, and designs. It makes it easy to tile smaller bathrooms fully, albeit restricting one to a few choices.
Final Thoughts
Tiles are part of modern-day finishing, which, when applied well and in intriguing shapes, colors and patterns, will bring out immense sexiness and coziness to your personal space.
In bathrooms, they serve a greater purpose as dampness in remote areas of the house could cause mold to grow, detrimental to its longevity.
Aside from tiles being easy to clean and maintaining the bathroom, not a dreaded affair. In all this, there will always be sand and other debris that require vacuuming for a cleaner, healthier home.
