Tile Rating Schemes to Consider When Choosing Bathroom Floor Tiles

Construction & Contractors Blog

Porcelain and ceramic bathroom tiles come in a vast array of colours and designs. But you also need to think about practical considerations, such as how much wear a tile can withstand and how slippery it is if you're laying it across the floor. Another aspect of multitoned tiles is how uniform in appearance they are, from tile to tile. To help you pick the best option for your bathroom, tiles are rated according to their various attributes. Here is a rundown.

Wear Rating

The tile wear rating, which is helpful when selecting floor rather than wall tiles, is about how much wear tiles can withstand. Tiles can be rated from one to five on this scale. Rating-1 tiles can take the least amount of wear, and rating-5 ones are the toughest. A residential bathroom floor can use tiles with a rating of one or two. These areas don't need super tough tiles as they typically only have a few people using the space, often in bare feet rather than hard shoes. At the other end of the scale, rating-5 tiles can survive being installed in public spaces such as shopping centres. Tiles rated in the middle may be appropriate for high-traffic household areas such as kitchens and hallways.

Slip Rating

In a bathroom, the slipperiness of floor tiles is crucial to how safe they are to walk on. Different tests are conducted to determine this, such as a pendulum test that measures the friction between tiles and a rubber slider. The test results then give tiles a rating from P0 to 05, depending on how slippery they are. A rating of P5 has the lowest risk of slipping.

A second test is the ramp test, whereby tiles on an incline are covered with either oil or water. Testers then walk up the ramp in bare feet to gauge how slippery it is. This test rates tiles from R9 to R13, whereby R13 has the lowest slip risk. In a bathroom, it's crucial to choose tiles with a low slip risk to keep everyone safe.

Colour Variation

Tiles come in a variety of colours and designs. Some tiles are meant to be consistent in appearance so that the effect will be constant from tile to tile even if they exhibit a pattern. Other tiles are designed to vary between each other to mimic the variations in natural substances like stone. This is termed unique variation.

To help you create your preferred flooring, tiles are rated according to their variation across tiles. For example, V1 tiles exhibit slight variations, while V4 tiles display obvious variations. Say you're laying porcelain floor tiles with grey and tan swirls that mimic slate. If each tile in the set is exactly the same, they'll be rated V1. On the other hand, some tiles in a collection may be predominantly charcoal, while others are mainly pale and mid-toned grey. Such tiles will be assigned a V3 or V4 rating. They'll allow you to create a natural look across the floor by mingling lighter and darker tiles across the surface.

To get more help choosing bathroom tiles, contact a local contractor or design service.

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30 July 2021

How I Constructed My New Home

Hello and welcome to my construction blog. My name is David and I would like to tell you about the process of designing and building a new home from the ground up. I had always dreamed of building my own home and last year, that dream became a reality. I had been saving money for many years so I could afford to buy the materials and employ the contractors needed to construct my home. I learnt so much during the process, I decided to start this blog. It was a wonderful day when the final piece of my home was put into place and I am now very happy.