Choosing non-slip tiles

Since we have been given the opportunity to redo the toilets from scratch, we decided to install non-slip tiles in consideration for the safety of children, rather than placing another layer of anti-slip floor mats over the toilet floors, which we used to do. This will also improve hygiene since it allows aunty to wash the toilet floors more thoroughly.

So Joe has already brought in the main bulk of the tiles that we will be using. However, the non-slip tile samples that he has chosen for the toilet floors are not sufficiently rough. Perhaps people who are not in our line of work tend to underestimate the propensity of young children to slip and fall under the most innocuous of circumstances.

The eclectic mix of tiles that have been brought on site.

So we headed nearby to where Joe claimed was the showroom with one of the widest range of tiles in the country.

Narrowing down our selection to the roughest few pieces in the entire showroom.

This one looks even rougher than the surface of the moon (okay maybe that's overstating it by a bit).

The showroom provided a sample of each tile for us to bring back and consider. Just from the photo you can almost feel the texture of the tiles.

But the real test comes when the tiles are wet. Even under a shower of water, they should provide a decent level of grip.

And so we have a winner! Full Bodied Porcelain with Shade Variation. The cost is slightly higher than what we originally budgetted for, and it goes terribly with our white glazed wall tiles, but hey, function over form!

At the showroom, Joe said that the best way to decide was to test the tiles barefoot. He is right. Conventional wisdom suggests that the finger should be more sensitive to the textures of the tiles, but surprisngly it was actually the toe that detected the difference in grip between the two samples. If anything, this experience has led to a newfound respect for toe neurons.