Plenty of homeowners steer clear from diagonal tile layouts for many reasons. One is that they fear it might look out of place in a bathroom floor and secondly, the DIY enthusiasts worry that cutting small diagonal tiles might prove difficult to execute. But the truth is that a diagonal tile layout works great for bathroom floors and anyone with enough experience can cut the tiles cleanly and accurately.
If you’re wondering whether or not a diagonal tile layout is good for your bathroom, then this article is for you. Here are a couple of benefits to using a diagonal tile layout that makes it an ideal choice for bathrooms and other small areas in your home.
Why use a diagonal tile layout
A diagonal bathroom tiling layout gives a unique look to your bathroom floor. Compared to a square tile layout, this style of tile pattern can actually make your bathroom appear roomier thanks to the orientation of the tiles. While it’s true that a diagonal tile layout requires a bit more effort to install, it does make the extra labour feel that much more rewarding. Some of the advantages of using a diagonal tile layout include:
- It opens up a small room – Squares and parallel shapes feel limited and constricting. Just think about a prison cell where the tiles are laid out in a straight pattern. The last thing you want is to make an already small room feel even tighter, which can affect your bathroom’s comfortability factor. This is where diagonal tiles come in. Because of their V-shape, diagonal tiles create an opening effect, much like how a harlequin-style tile pattern makes a room feel more spacious.
- It conceals out-of-square walls – With a straight tile layout, an out-of-square room will look even more prominent due to the appearance of the trimmed tiles along with the ways. But this isn’t the case with a diagonal tile layout. They make room imperfections less noticeable to the naked eye, thus enhancing the aesthetics of your bathroom or any other small room.
Layout and installation
One knock against diagonal tile layouts is the need to cut tiles for all four corners. In reality, many square patterns also need tile trimming to fit on all four corners of the wall, so the tile cutting process isn’t actually that much different from one another. While it’s true that most wet saws and manual tile cutters are more suited for parallel cuts, you can use a variety of tile templates that will add diagonal cutting marks along with the tiles. From there, you simply follow along the marked lines when cutting and you should have no problems with making clean cuts.
Another concern with diagonal tile patterns is that they’re much more difficult to layout than square patterns. But this couldn’t be further from the truth as you can pretty much install a diagonal tile layout by simply snapping diagonal lines across the bathroom floor.
Lastly, there’s a common misconception that it’s somehow harder to outline a diagonal pattern on the floor than it is to lay out a square pattern. In reality, however, a diagonal design starts by simply breaking diagonal design lines across the flooring from each pair of opposite edges. At the crossway of the lines in the facility of the space, you’ll begin by installing full-size tiles, using the lines as an overview. As you progress towards the wall surfaces, you’ll be mounting full-size ceramic tiles until you reach the surface and from there, you can start trimming floor tiles along the diagonal to fit against the wall surfaces. Besides the cutting, a diagonal pattern is not much harder to implement than a square pattern.
Using a wet saw is a good idea
Although you can cut ceramic tiles diagonally with a score-and-snap tile cutting, it will be much easier when you use a motorised wet saw. This works well if you’re setting up natural rock tiles, or porcelain tiles, which are harder than a typical ceramic floor tile. When working with hard surfaces, a wet saw is ideally the only option you should go for to achieve a clean cut. You can find plenty of wet saws available for around $100 and they make an excellent financial investment if you do periodic tile work. You can also choose to lease wet saws rental electrical outlets as well as big-box residence enhancement facilities if you don’t want to purchase one.
As soon as you learn the strategy for laying out diagonal ceramic tile and cutting, you may also want to apply the technique for other projects such as wall installations, showers, or cooking area backsplashes. At the end of the day, a diagonal tile will give your bathroom a distinct look and enhance the visual space of it altogether. Give it a try and you’ll be surprised as to how easy diagonal tile installation can be.
