Bathroom Floor Tiles: Design, Size, Grip and Price Guide

Bathroom floor tiles get less attention than the wall behind the basin, and they do far more work. The floor is wet every day, it takes the weight of a full bucket, it has to fall towards the drain, and it is the one surface in the house where a bad choice can put someone in hospital. A wall tile that disappoints is a design problem. A floor tile that disappoints is usually a safety problem.

This guide is about choosing the floor first and getting it right: which finish, which size, which body and which colour, using the bathroom floor range we carry at our BTM Layout showroom. Design comes into it, and we cover the five styles we stock, but every recommendation below starts with grip and drainage.

Short version, if you are in a hurry: a matt vitrified tile in 400x400 mm or 600x600 mm, in a mid tone rather than pure white, with epoxy grout. Everything else is a variation on that.

What a bathroom floor tile has to do

Before looking at patterns, it helps to be clear about the job. A bathroom floor in a Bengaluru flat has four things to manage.

• Grip when wet. Soap and water on a smooth glaze is the classic bathroom fall. The surface has to hold a wet foot, not just a dry one.
• Water. The tile body should absorb very little, so water stays on top and runs to the drain instead of soaking into the tile and the bed below it.
• Slope. The floor is laid with a fall towards the drain. The tile has to follow that fall without rocking or leaving lips at the joints.
• Hard water. Most Bengaluru homes get hard water, which leaves white marks. The floor should hide them between cleans, not show every dried splash.

Every choice in the rest of this guide comes back to one of those four. If a tile looks lovely but fails on grip or slope, it belongs on the wall.

Bathroom floor tiles design: the five styles we carry

Our bathroom floor tiles range is split into five styles on the website. Here is what each one offers and where it suits a bathroom floor.

Plain and texture

This is where we send most people. A plain or lightly textured matt tile, such as AL 1510 in 400x400 mm or AL 4023 in 600x600 mm, gives grip, hides water marks and never dates. The plain and texture bathroom floor tiles are also the ones we have on display most, so you can stand on them before you buy.

Marble and stone

If you want the bathroom to feel a step up without risking a slippery floor, a matt marble or stone print is the answer. AL 1015 and AL 6017 in 600x600 mm are good examples. Our marble and stone bathroom floor tiles also include a few glossy 600x1200 mm designs, such as CA Sheltar Baige. Those are lovely, and we would keep them out of the shower area. More on that below.

Geometrical

Small repeating shapes and terrazzo-style chips are very good at hiding dust, hair and hard water spots, which makes them practical as well as decorative. Morson's Venetian Terazzo range and the CA-9027 and CA-9058 patterns are in our geometric bathroom floor tiles.

Moroccan

A patterned floor with plain walls is one of the easiest ways to give a small bathroom character. Our Moroccan bathroom floor tiles run from Morson's Tashkent Gray and Seta Crema to Exotica's Chipza Black, mostly 600x600 mm and matt. Keep the walls quiet if the floor is busy: one pattern per room.

Wooden

Wood-look planks, such as Creanza's Mordic Wood Ash or Fossil Wood Teak in 100x1200 mm, bring warmth to a bathroom. They are matt, but a long plank has more joints and edges in a wet zone, so we suggest them for powder rooms and the dry side of a bathroom rather than the shower. Our wooden flooring tiles guide covers the plank formats in more detail.

Matt, glossy or textured

For a bathroom floor, matt. Almost our entire bathroom floor range is matt for that reason, with a super matt option such as KONARK 104_R1 for extra grip.

Glossy floor tiles reflect light and look beautiful in photographs, and a wet glossy floor is the most common slip we hear about. If you love a glossy marble look, use it on the dry side of a large bathroom or in a powder room with no shower, and use a matt tile in the wet zone. Our matt vs glossy tiles guide goes through the trade-off room by room.

Matt by itself is not a guarantee of grip, though. A smooth matt tile can still be slippery with soap on it. What you want is a tile tested for slip resistance when wet. The Tile Council of North America explains how wet slip resistance is measured, and our anti-skid bathroom tiles guide covers the ratings to ask for and a simple test you can do in the showroom.

Which size works on a bathroom floor

The most common size in our bathroom floor range is 600x600 mm, followed by 600x1200 mm and 400x400 mm. Each has a place.

• 400x400 mm. The easiest size for a bathroom floor. It follows the slope to the drain without rocking, needs fewer awkward cuts around the closet and floor trap, and the extra grout lines add a little grip. Best for small and standard bathrooms.
• 600x600 mm. The most popular choice. Fewer joints, a cleaner look, and still small enough to handle the fall in most bathrooms if the tiler is careful.
• 600x1200 mm. Looks premium with very few joints, but a large tile does not bend to a slope. It needs a skilled tiler, a carefully prepared bed and usually a linear drain. In a compact bathroom with a central floor trap, we would not use it in the shower area.
• 300x300 mm. Mostly patterned Moroccan designs. Easy on slopes, more grout to keep clean.

Our tile sizes guide converts each size into feet and explains how to calculate boxes for the room.

Vitrified or ceramic for the floor

Almost everything we sell for bathroom floors is vitrified, with only a few ceramic designs, mostly small Moroccan formats from Exotica. That is not an accident. Vitrification fires the tile until the body becomes dense and glass-like, so it absorbs very little water and stands up to foot traffic and dropped bottles.

Ceramic is perfectly good on bathroom walls, where nobody walks. On the floor, vitrified is the safer buy. If you are comparing the two, our vitrified versus ceramic guide explains the difference in water absorption and strength.

Choosing a colour that lives well

Colour on a bathroom floor is less about taste than about what it hides.

• Pure white shows hair, dust and grey grout lines within a week. It looks clean in the showroom and tired at home.
• Very dark colours, black and charcoal especially, show white hard water marks and soap residue.
• Mid tones such as greige, warm grey, beige and stone hide both. This is why so many good bathrooms end up with a mid-tone floor.
• Patterns hide more than plains. A geometric or terrazzo floor can go longer between cleans.

The floor should usually be a shade or two darker than the walls, which grounds the room. Our bathroom tiles combination guide shows how to pair the floor with a plain wall tile and a single feature tile.

Grout and laying matter as much as the tile

A good tile laid badly will still leak, crack or hold water. Three things to agree with your tiler before work starts.

1. Waterproofing under the tile. The floor and the lower part of the walls should be waterproofed before tiling. Tiles are not a waterproof layer by themselves.
2. The fall to the drain. Pour a bucket of water on the finished bed before the tiles go down. If water pools anywhere, fix the bed, not the tile.
3. Epoxy grout. Cement grout is porous, stains and grows mould in a wet room. Epoxy grout costs more and keeps the joints sealed and clean for years.

Bathroom floor tiles price

Where we publish a price, our bathroom floor tiles run from ₹65 to ₹87 per sq ft. Plain and texture designs sit at ₹65 to ₹67, marble and stone at ₹65 to ₹77, geometric patterns at ₹65 to ₹87, and the Moroccan designs with a listed price at ₹87. Wood-look planks and many Moroccan designs are quoted on request.

For a standard bathroom, the floor is the smaller part of the tile bill, because the walls usually take more tile. Our bathroom tiles price guide for Bangalore works through a full bathroom, floor and walls together, including wastage and labour.

Common mistakes we see

• Using the wall tile on the floor. Matching tiles look neat, but a glossy ceramic wall tile on the floor is slippery and can chip.
• Testing grip dry. Every tile feels fine under a dry shoe. Ask to wet the sample.
• Large format with a central floor trap. The tile cannot follow a four-way slope, so water collects at the edges.
• White everything. White walls, white floor and white grout look fresh for a month.
• Cement grout in the shower. It will darken and grow mould. Pay for epoxy.

Come to our BTM Layout showroom with the bathroom's length and width and a photo of where the floor trap sits. We will put a few matt bathroom floor tiles on the floor, wet them so you can feel the grip, and work out the box count with the wall tiles you choose.

Frequently asked questions

Which tile is best for a bathroom floor?

A matt vitrified tile with tested wet slip resistance is the best choice for most bathroom floors. It absorbs very little water, grips a wet foot and does not chip easily. In 400x400 mm or 600x600 mm it follows the slope to the drain well. Choose a mid tone such as greige, beige or warm grey, which hides hard water marks and dust better than white or black.

Can I use glossy tiles on a bathroom floor?

Not in the wet area. A glossy floor with soap and water on it is one of the most common causes of bathroom falls. If you want a glossy marble look, use it on the dry side of a large bathroom or in a powder room without a shower, and use a matt or textured tile wherever water reaches the floor.

What size tile is best for a small bathroom floor?

For a small bathroom, 400x400 mm or 600x600 mm works best. Both follow the fall towards the floor trap without rocking, and need fewer difficult cuts around the closet and drain. Large 600x1200 mm tiles look good but cannot bend to a four-way slope, so water tends to collect at the edges in a compact bathroom.

What is the price of bathroom floor tiles in Bangalore?

At our BTM Layout showroom, bathroom floor tiles with a listed price run from ₹65 to ₹87 per sq ft. Plain and textured designs start at ₹65, marble and stone designs go up to ₹77, and patterned geometric and Moroccan designs reach ₹87. Wood-look planks and many Moroccan designs are quoted on request, so ask for a current figure on those.

Are wooden tiles good for a bathroom floor?

They work in the right place. Wood-look vitrified planks are matt and do not rot like real wood, so they suit powder rooms and the dry side of a bathroom. In the shower area we prefer a smaller matt tile, because long planks have more edges to catch water and are harder to lay to a slope.

Which grout should I use for bathroom floor tiles?

Use epoxy grout in bathrooms, especially on the floor and in the shower. Cement grout is porous, so it absorbs water, stains and grows mould over time. Epoxy grout costs more but stays sealed, resists stains and is easier to keep clean. Pick a grout colour close to the tile so the joints do not show every mark.