Clearance bathroom tiles
Floor and wall tiles suited to bathrooms and ensuites. A bathroom is the room where the slip rating and the grout choice matter most, and where the tile itself matters least: almost any porcelain will survive, but not every porcelain is safe underfoot when wet.
Buying bathroom tiles: what actually matters
Slip rating matters most on a shower floor
A bare wet foot on a soapy polished tile has almost no grip. For a shower base the accepted minimum is P3 and P4 is better, and it is the reason small format tiles and mosaics are so common on shower floors: more grout joints means more grip, quite apart from the fact that small tiles can follow the fall to the waste without needing to be cut into a curve. The rest of the bathroom floor can be a lower rating than the shower base.
Waterproofing goes under the tile and is the actual thing keeping water out
Tiles and grout are not waterproof. Grout is porous, water passes through it, and the membrane underneath is what stops that water reaching the structure. In Australia wet area waterproofing is regulated work and in most states it must be done by a licensed waterproofer with a certificate. Budget for it separately, and never let anyone talk you into tiling straight onto unwaterproofed sheeting because the tile is 'sealed'.
Buy the whole bathroom in one go, floor and walls together
Two reasons, and both are specific to clearance. Batches, because a wall tile bought six weeks later will not match the first lot. And availability, because a line that covers your floor today may be gone by the time the plumber has finished. Work out the total area for every surface, add the wastage, and order it as one purchase.
How much to over-order, and why 10% is usually the wrong number
Ten per cent is the figure everyone repeats and it is only right for a simple rectangular room laid square with a large format tile. Straight lay in a plain room runs closer to 7 to 10%. A diagonal or herringbone lay wastes far more on the perimeter cuts, so 15 to 20% is realistic. Small formats and mosaics waste more again as a proportion. Rooms with lots of edges, a hob, a niche, a stepped floor, push it up. Because this stock does not come back, round up to the next whole box and then add one more: a spare box costs less than the tile and stops a single cracked tile in year three becoming a whole new floor.
Why this stock is such good value
Clearance tiles are not seconds. Everything here is first grade. It is cheap because it is finite: a line an importer is clearing, a colourway a manufacturer has stopped making, or the tail of a container that nobody wants to keep warehousing. The catch is not quality, it is that you cannot get more. On a normal tile you can go back in six weeks for another two boxes. Here you cannot, so the quantity you order is the quantity you will ever have.