How To Make Sure You Choose The Right Tiles For Your Bathroom

Bathroom tiles are making a big come back, tiling is more popular than ever, you only have to drive into any town and look out for the number of tiling superstores that are opening up. The market is expected to grow by over 15 per cent by 2011 and it's not surprising when you look at the choices available to the consumer. The trend is certainly for bigger and bigger tiles, this is partly driven by fact that their manufacture is possible and that adhesives are available to adhere them onto the wall (the weight of such tiles can be a serious issue).

Increasingly large format tiles are being used in more contemporary bathrooms often with glass border tiles used as vertical rather than horizontal borders. There is also a trend for strong florals used to create accent panels and feature walls and metallic mosaics incredibly vibrant colours, many made from glass. Ceramic floor tiles masquerade as stone, slate or even wood. It is now possible to buy mosaic collections including lustre glass, striped glass and even real metal. Mosaics are increasingly popular in bathrooms, wet rooms, kitchens and modern open-space living areas. The demand for strong design statements is driven by the swing away from minimalism into glamour, luxury and pattern seen in fashion, textiles and wallpaper designs.

The growth in large-format tiles is continuing and the demand for even larger, un-conventional sizes is increasing steadily. It can be expected that tile retailers will need to rethink their tile bays and how tiles are displayed and stocked to accommodate larger tiles and packs. Trends in size, colour, texture and design within the tiling market are moving faster than ever with demand for new original ideas being highly coveted by all sectors from architectural design to consumer driven demand.

Recent reports into the bathroom equipment market says that the market is anticipated to increase year-on-year during the next five years with an overall growth over the timescale of 26 percent, the increase on square metre age over the next two years is expected to grow 3 per cent. Overall this means that although the tile market is still growing, the money spent on bathroom tiles far outstrips the additional meter age being put on walls. We are spending more money on tiles.

As well as this the floor tile market has grown fantastically in the past few years, in particular porcelain floor tiles. In part this increase has been due to more situations becoming suitable to tiles such as suspended wooden floors. Under tile heating has also helped the increase due to tiles now not being perceived as a cold surface. It is no longer just bathrooms kitchens and conservatories; tiles are being used in dining rooms, hallways and lounges.

The consensus is that it is certainly the bathroom that is the key market sector due to a larger quantity of tiles used, particularly in wet rooms and walk-in showers. The knock on effect to the growth in the tile market is all of the additional tile adhesives and grouts that have to be sold. You can now get grout in virtually every colour available to match or contrast with your colour scheme. All these things point to bathroom tiles being the latest design feature to have in your bathroom or wet room.