When the surface of your bathroom is made up of high-quality paving tiles, it becomes a functional and vital element of your home space. When tiles are planted harmoniously in line with the geometric space, bathroom aesthetic and colour scheme, the overall design composition of the bathroom will be emphasised, and it will feel a lot more spacious. However, for the surface to make a pleasant impression and serve flawlessly for many years, it is necessary to choose high quality materials and rigorously observe the principles of installation and maintenance of tiles.

For this reason, our team at Bag a Builder have compiled 5 effective ways of maintaining the quality, look and functionality of your bathroom tiles.

Call up a specialist

When laying down tiles you must ensure that you are following a strict adherence to technology and installation standards – as this has become the basis for their long-term use. In most cases, mistakes made at the installation stage are, of course, am enable for correction, but this is always associated with stress for the owners, as well as significant financial and time costs. Therefore, the installation of tiles should be entrusted to a professional team that have the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience. Their professionalism is the best guarantee of a quality service.

Three pallets, one batch principle

Compliance with the three-pallet one batch principle will avoid visible colour differences when laying the surface with tiles, and to obtain an even distribution of colour melange over the entire floor surface. This principle is based on random sampling of tiles simultaneously from three pallets, in such a way that they represent a different range of colours – while sampling paving slabs vertically, and not in layers. We also recommend using materials produced by the same manufacturer and from the same batch to avoid colour variation and size issues. To produce high quality tiles, mineral raw materials are used, such as sand, cement, and various fillers – the shades of which may slightly differ from each other.

 Joint tiles

A key step in the implementation of the work in terms of durability and aesthetics of the laid surface is the jointing of the paving slabs. A joint is an element that, among other things, ensures stability and a high load-bearing capacity. When laying, it is necessary to leave an equal distance (seams) between the individual tiles:

• when laying sidewalks, alleys, terraces, the seams should be 2-3 mm;
• driveways and entrances, road surfaces – 3-5 mm;
• between terrace slabs – 7-15 mm.

Waiting for the blind spots to dry

Lime deposits in the form of white spots (efflorescence) on the surface of concrete paving slabs are a natural phenomenon. As a rule, this is the result of physical and chemical processes taking place in concrete during shrinkage and hardening in variable weather conditions.

Efflorescence is only a temporary flaw in concrete tiles; they do not damage the surface and do not affect the operation of paving slabs. Such spots appear soon after paving slabs are laid, and self-destruction occurs after several months (depending on the intensity of use and water-soil conditions, this process can take from several weeks to several months after laying). You can also try to remove stains mechanically – by sanding and / or sanding the surface of the paving slabs, or chemically – by leaching with solutions containing a low percentage of inorganic or organic acids (for example, 1-2% hydrochloric, acetic, or formic acid). In this case, it is necessary to remember to diligently monitor the state of the surface of the paving slabs during the entire process.

Clean everyday

Maintenance of the terrace, walkways or driveways is based on regular sweeping, rinsing, as well as removing plants growing between the paving slabs and replenishing the sand in the tile joints. It is strongly recommended to use chemicals and solutions intended for cleaning the surface of paving slabs, with extreme caution, since it is impossible to predict the degree of exposure to substances contained in preparations.