What not to use in your bathroom

Terrazzo can be beautiful, but it can be porous, so best not to have it in your shower!

I’m all for advances in technology for improving things, don’t get me wrong! I am delighted that in our interiors, we now have dimmable LED lights and matt finish washable paint. This said, there are some things that are just better left well alone!

I have some clients who have fallen in love with terrazzo, and absolutely want to have it in their bathroom. Terrazzo is a mixture of a cement base with flecks of color of either marble or limestone. It gives a very unique look to a space, and can be very beautiful. It is also quite functional (I knew that was your next question!), robust and scratch resistant.

But terrazzo can be porous and not watertight. So it could absorb water. Which isn’t a great attribute in a bathroom… You can treat it to seal it, so it is possible to use it as a floor for a bathroom for example. And my clients have said that they’d like the bathroom floor and also the shower tray to be in terrazzo, so that there is a visual continuity. Which is a great idea. The visual continuity, I mean, I’m all for it!

I’ve asked the terrazzo supplier and they have categorically said that they don’t recommend certain terrazzos, of which the one selected by my clients, for a shower tray. And the terrazzos that are suitable for a shower tray need to be waterproofed after installation, and treated frequently to ensure that they remain impermeable.

I’ve also asked Hocine (my favorite contractor) if he would install the terrazzo on the shower tray. When he does this with tiles, they are stuck to a solid, waterproof substance called ‘Wedi’ in France (Wedi is the brand name - it’s like ‘Hoover’ or ‘Kleenex’ becoming generic names). He said that if the Wedi and the surrounding area are sealed properly, any water that does seep through the terrazzo would not leak through the floor to the neighbor’s ceiling. But how can you be entirely, absolutely certain that the seal is completely watertight? And for how long? 

Also, even if the Wedi and surrounding area are all watertight, the water has to go somewhere! Water is like sound, it just flows. So eventually it will come out and cause damage. Hocine said that in this case, the water would (at first) drain across the Wedi down into the shower drainage. But that the terrazzo could eventually become unstuck and could be unstable. Again, not great in a shower.

Needless to say, I’m strongly encouraging my clients to consider tiles that look like terrazzo. This way you get the look of the terrazzo and the waterproof quality of the tiles. Fingers crossed!

Another technological advancement in the bathroom is the production of baths and basins made out of ‘pourable’ (not porous!) substances, notably acrylic. These products are much lighter (in weight rather than color) than the traditional porcelain or enameled steel. And for a long time, these substances were the only option for more original shapes for baths and basins. So the production of baths with integrated ledges or basins with corners and slopes became possible and all the rage.

The problem with acrylic in the bathroom is that it scratches very easily. So if you accidentally drop a drip of nail polish on the basin, then scratch it off, you’ll be left with a mark from the nail polish and also the scratches from excavating it! And if someone has to scrub the bath to remove the tidal measure after a long soak, again, it may well remain in the texture of the damaged surface. Especially if you use the ‘éponge vert’, the scratchy cleaning sponges (often green in France), better adapted to scouring pots and pans in the kitchen.

Thankfully, the technology to shape enameled steel is also advancing. So companies like Bette, for example, are now able to make baths and basins in more interesting shapes and sizes with this traditional, very resistant material. And as Hocine tells me, the enameled steel also keeps the water hot for longer, which elongates soaking time, bonus!

I think it’s really important to know this kind of stuff, but then I’m a geek! The more I know, the better I can advise my clients. And, knowing how busy life gets, and how I myself can procrastinate on accomplishing home maintenance tasks, I prefer my clients to keep these to a minimum. So no porous surfaces in a kitchen or bathroom please!

The quote for my clients’ 6 meter square (about 65 square feet) bathroom, which has a shower and no bath, is coming in at around 13K€, not including the terrazzo / tiles nor accessories (lights, mirrors etc). So it really is an investment. And it should last a good long time, without too much maintenance. Sometimes, life is just too short to favor aesthetics over practicality to that extent.

I’ll go now and find some more terrazzo effect tiles and hope my clients like them!

If you’d like help with your home in Paris, do let me know!