Bathroom review part 2 (potty and tile).

Last week I dished about the pros and cons of cement counters. This week I’m continuing on with our main bathroom review and doing some tile and potty talk.

This toilet gets an A+++ in design. It’s the Saile by Kohler and is a one piece toilet which means there’s no crack between the base and the tank for little boy urine to get trapped and hide. 

I also love that the base doesn’t have the weird curvy thing…instead it’s all just smooth and uniform all the way down. Easy for cleaning.

The other genius features of this toilet are the “Quiet-Close” seat and “Quick-Release” function. Kids can slam it down as hard as they want and it will take several seconds to fall shut. The “Quick-Release” mechanism allows the seat to be removed by flipping two latches and popping it right off.  Such a brilliant feature for easy cleaning.
Read my initial review here.

3 years later my only complaint is the flushing mechanism.

I’ve never been fond of the button flush which is located on top of the tank.  For one reason, I’ve always used the top of the tank for storage such as a bud vase or box of Kleenex.  The other reason is that there are two buttons for #1 and #2. 🙂  Guests don’t know don’t know which button is for which.  We have a certain extended family member who apparently doesn’t know how to operate the toilet or maybe pushes both buttons simultaneously because the toilet runs and runs and runs after they get done in there.  It’s a feature that hasn’t been perfectly engineered. Almost seems like the button gets caught if you push it at the wrong angle.  So now #2 button doesn’t work and I’m too lazy to call Kohler and figure out what I need to do to fix or replace the part.  As a result, there’s this permanent, ugly post-it telling guests which button to push.  So un-chic.

Enough about potties and buttons.  Let’s talk tile.  I’ve loved our white subway tile and charcoal grout.

After about a year we noticed that most of the grout that meets the tub and the first subway tile was cracking and falling out in chunks in to the tub.  The same problem was happening to the grout between the floor tile and tub.  I showed the problem to the amazing tiler who did our basement tile and he told me that tubs shift and move when used.  To remedy this you’re supposed to use silicone grout in a tube.  In fact, he told me you really should use the silicone stuff where ever there’s a 90 degree angle or where two surfaces meet.

So the Mr. spent a Saturday chiseling out all the grout around the tub then going back in a re-grouting with silicone grout.  Worked like a charm but still an annoying fix.

The niche’s were the best addition ever to the shower.  They are full of soaps, shampoos and rubber duckies today.

I’ve had a lot of questions about how the penny tiles have held up.  My answer to that is “surprisingly well”!  Penny tiles come in 12×12 sheets held together by a mesh.  You have to be so careful when installing them because if you’re just a few centimeters off you can see where the tile was pieced together.  If you look closely you can kind of see that situation in the above picture.  If you’re having penny tile installed by someone I recommend being a helicopter client and watch them install every single sheet and have them adjust on the spot if necessary.  The other thing that is really important is make sure the installer gets ever single centimeter covered with mud.  If one spot is missed a tile could cave and crack.  We have one cracked tile.  Our entry black penny tile was installed by same company, different installer and they are perfect.  Not one crack and he was meticulous to make sure the seems were even.  Live and learn.

What are your tile experiences or recommendations?

Read part one of our bathroom review here.