Unglazed terracota floor in bathroom and WC?

[Garald]

Flooring adventures in my ongoing renovation project!

 

There's a Spanish company (todobarro.com) that makes tiles I rather like - it's pretty clear that they cater to mathematicians and adjacent creatures. They are not cheap, but they are not extremely expensive either. The architect didn't know them and grew to like them quite a bit. Yes, she's seen samples.

 

I don't think I'll use them in the kitchen, as they conflict with the ultra-modern style of the existing cabinets too much. So, let's talk about the shower room and the WC.

 

We've already decided that we will do an aperiodic triangle-and-square pattern in the WC walls with (relatively expensive) glazed tiles from todobarro; we'll cover the WC walls with some inexpensive zellige-like white tiles. That leaves the floors.

 

Unglazed tiles are preferable in so far as they are (a) cheaper, (b) much less likely to lead to slipping. 

 

The architect was upset when I suggested that unglazed tiles when I suggested unglazed tiles might not be the most hygienic flooring in a WC. (I let it be implicit that many men have poor aim, at least on occasion; I imagine this is a universally known fact.) Then she was even more cross when the manufacturer recommended against using unglazed tiles in the bathroom, as verdín (green mold) and salitre (saline deposites) can form unless they are very carefully treated.

 

Is there a standard treatment that (a) prevents all these issues, (b) my architect likely knows, and is upset that we do not realise that she knows?

 

(I know you cannot read her mind, but neither can I, and of course I don't actually know the first thing about bathroom flooring.)

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Garald

[Adsibob]

We have unglazed encaustic cement tiles on the floor of our family bathroom. We also have unglazed zellige on a feature wall in our lounge.

 The bathroom ones are sealed with two coats of a sealant made by Fila. No real issues with mould that I can see, although we’ve only had them in for about 6 months. As for salt deposits, I think the same logic would apply.

i think you just need to invest in a high quality sealer and take your time with making sure it is sealed properly. You would be surprised how much money you can spend on sealants.

 They might need resealing every few years.

 

Btw, just because something is unglazed doesn’t necessarily mean it is non slip. 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Adsibob