What Are The Pros And Cons Of Pebble Shower Floors?

The shower is probably the number one place where we can relax and reset after a full day of obligations. Your shower should be luxurious and welcoming. If you’re looking to add an earthy aesthetic to your bathroom and shower scene, pebble shower floors will take you there.

Adding pebble flooring is a great and easy way to elevate your space without breaking the bank. Reminiscent of a babbling brook or a rushing river, pebble shower floors set your bathroom apart as a space in which to relax and rejuvenate.

Pebble showers floors give a spa-like aesthetic to your bathroom. Despite what many think, they are comfortable and slip-resistant in addition to their affordability.

However, because of their uneven surface, pebble shower floors retain water, causing mold and mildew growth. They are also high maintenance, requiring a lot of grout and consistent resealing. Without proper maintenance, pebble shower floors won’t last very long.

One of the great aspects of pebble flooring is its affordability. There are very few instances where cheap is a good thing. When it comes to home renovations, a cheap installation process is definitely a pro.

To keep down the cost of your pebble stone flooring, you can collect pebbles from beaches, rivers, and lakes. Not only will this lend a little sentimentality to your shower floors, but collected pebbles are free! Of course, you can always purchase pebbled tiles if you have neither the time nor inclination to collect your own pebbles.

Pebble tiles installation costs anywhere from $4 to $8 per square foot. Compare that to natural stone flooring which costs $5 to $10 dollars to install.

As far as the materials, pebble flooring prices vary depending on where you purchase them. Lowe’s sells pebble tiles ranging from $9 to $12 per sq ft. Compare this to Home Depot which sells pebble tiles ranging from $10 to $35 per sq ft.

With these wide price ranges, the potential for an expensive project is there. The final cost ultimately comes down to the size of your shower base and the price of the pebble tile. This can be done inexpensively.

There’s no denying the inherent beauty in a pebbled shower floor. Especially if you’ve opted for a collection of pebbles or pebble tiles that use different colored stones. With its sleek, modern, and decidedly rustic feel, your bathroom will look and feel luxurious.

Pebble tiles come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, enabling them to go with just about any aesthetic. You can mix and match as you please to go with the rest of your bathroom or home decor.

The way in which you install the pebble floor makes it customizable. You can create different patterns or spacing for a unique-looking bathroom floor.

Standing on a floor of pebbles might sound like torture. But a key factor in a pebble floor is to use pebbles, not stones. Pebbles differ from stone in that they are rounded from constant contact with running water. The common misconception that pebbles are sharp is the main reason why people question the comfort of a pebble floor.

The roundness of pebbles actually make for a comfortable flooring surface. The more natural the pebble the more comfort it will give. The uneven surface and varying sizes of pebbles gives the shower floor great massaging properties. Imagine, every time you step into the shower, your get a mini foot massage. Who doesn’t want that?

Using pebble tile flooring gives the most professional look. More often than not, pebble tiles are laid out in a mosaic pattern and attached to a flexible backing for ease of handling. However, this makes for an uneasy installation.

Pebble tiles are not an exact square, so lining them up is tricky and time-consuming. The installer has to remove pebbles and fit them by hand to line up the tiles properly. In addition, special tools are required to cut the pebbles in order to fit around the edges of the shower base.

If the pebble shower flooring isn’t installed perfectly, it has the potential to leak.

On average, installing pebble tile flooring takes 2.5 times more grout than a similarly sized mosaic floor. Regular tiles and most mosaic tiles have a smooth surface once they’re installed. The gaps filled in by grout are all symmetrical, so you can roughly calculate how much grout is needed.

The sought-after unevenness of pebble flooring is a disadvantage when it comes to grout. Pebble floors require more grout to get an even coverage and fill in all the nooks and crannies. In addition, the grout is more exposed on pebble floors than with traditional tiles because of the different sizes and shapes of the pebbles.

Pebble flooring retains water in a way plain bathroom tiles do not. Because of the naturally uneven surface of pebble flooring, water sits between the pebbles, unable to make its way down the drain. Wherever water sits for an extended period of time, you have to worry about mold and mildew.

Many tile manufacturers will opt instead to slice pebbles in half. This creates a flatter, more even surface that allows water to drain. But the flat surface takes away from the natural aesthetic of pebble shower floors.

In order to avoid mold growth, it’s important to keep the pebble floor as dry as possible between uses. And this annoying task brings us to our next con.

Because of the exposed grout, cleaning pebble tile flooring is tricky. You can’t clean your pebble flooring the same way you’d clean a tiled shower floor. Harsh chemicals can damage your pebbles. Cleaning should only be done on dry floors.

Additionally, if you live in an area known for hard water, you will want to monitor your cleaning and maintenance routines in order to preserve the pristine look of your pebble flooring. Exposure to hard water can slowly chip away at your flooring, leaving you with exposed pebbles that will need to be replaced often.

They may create a beautiful aesthetic, but it sure takes a lot to keep a pebble floor looking that way. Compared to tiles, you’re looking at replacing or repairing your pebble floor with some frequency.

Because of the intense amount of sealer and grout used on this type of flooring, you’re going to be repairing and replacing a lot over the long run. This might make the shower floor more expensive over time than you’d originally intended.

Typically, sealant lasts between 6 and 12 months. So, at the very least, you need to reseal your pebble flooring at least once a year. It’s also recommended that you seal before AND after you grout when first installing and with each time you regrout.