Westminster Grey Skirting Tile 152x152mm

Yes. Artworks is rated for internal walls in both wet and dry areas, so a shower enclosure, a wet room wall or a splashback behind a basin all sit comfortably within its remit. The glaze is non-porous and needs no sealing.

The one limit to hold in mind is that this is a wall range only. It is not rated for floors, so a shower tray, a wet room floor or any surface underfoot will need a separate floor tile. Make sure the substrate is properly tanked before tiling begins in a fully wet area, and fix with a white flexible adhesive.

No. Artworks is a wall range and Westminster Grey is no exception. A gloss wall glaze carries no rating for foot traffic, so it should not go down on a floor, a stair tread or a threshold anywhere in the house.

Most projects want both, of course. Tell us what you are tiling and we will put forward a floor tile that sits properly with this glaze — ring 01344 620211, or bring your plans into the showroom at 67 High Street, Ascot and we will work through it with you.

Glazed ceramic is fired in batches, and the tone can move very slightly from one firing to the next. On a mid-grey the shift is small, but it is visible where two batches meet partway across a wall.

The remedy is straightforward: work out the whole job, including every moulding and trim, and order it in one go so it all arrives from a single batch. Make a note of the batch number when the delivery lands, and put a spare box away somewhere dry. If a tile is ever chipped, that box is what lets the repair disappear.

Fix with a white flexible tile adhesive. White matters on a light glaze — a darker adhesive bed can read through and deaden the finish.

Grout is the bigger decision. On a mid-grey it does not alter the colour of the tile at all; what it alters is whether the wall reads as a piece of tiling or as one continuous surface. A grout close in tone to the tile lets the whole thing settle into a single plane, which is usually the point of choosing this colour — the tiling stays calm and the paint above the dado carries the colour of the room. A brilliant white joint does the reverse: it draws every line and turns the wall into a visible grid, making the tiling itself the feature. That is a perfectly legitimate choice, but it is a different job, so make it deliberately rather than by default.

Whichever way you go, keep the grout a true grey. A warm beige or greige set against a neutral glaze tends to make the tile look dirty, and a grout with a blue cast pulls the wall towards a different colour altogether. Match the tone, or move one shade lighter or darker, but do not introduce a temperature the tile does not have.

Westminster Grey is usually held in stock right across the range, so most orders can be picked and despatched without waiting on a factory run. If a fitter is booked and you need a firm date, ring us and we will confirm quantities and timing before you commit to anything.

Delivery anywhere in the UK is free on orders over £1,000. You are equally welcome to collect in person from our showroom at 67 High Street, Ascot, where the range is on display and someone can talk the pieces through with you. Call 01344 620211 to arrange it.

Artworks runs to six greys and neutrals: Chancel Grey, Westminster Grey, London Stone, Charcoal Grey, Jet Black and Platinum. Westminster Grey is a true mid-grey with no cast in it, which is precisely why it takes any other colour beside it so easily. Original Style describe it as a muted alternative to white or cream, and place it a touch darker than Chancel Grey.

We would rather be honest than helpful-sounding here: a monitor or a phone renders these tones badly, and two of them that look identical on a screen can be plainly different once they are in your hand. So do not decide from a photograph. Order samples of the two or three you are weighing up and hold them against your paintwork in the room itself. Cut samples are free to collect from the Ascot showroom, or we can post them for the cost of postage.

We stock thirty-one pieces in this colour — the Field Tile, Half Tile, Large Brick and both bevelled metro formats; ten dado mouldings; the Skirting Tile and Plain Cornice; internal and external corner trims; the four wrapping pieces; both rounded edge tiles; and handed corner pieces for the Albert, the Victoria and the skirting.

Several of those are pieces Original Style list as made to order across the range generally — the rounded edges, the corner wrapping pieces, the internal corner and the handed corner mouldings. In Westminster Grey we carry them as stock, which means a dado with returns and a properly finished run of edges can be specified and delivered without a special order.

One piece to flag honestly: Original Style do make a Metro Bevelled Corner in this colour and we do not hold it. If your metro run turns an outside corner and you want that piece, ring 01344 620211 and we will look into sourcing it for you.

Yes. Cut samples are free to collect from our Ascot showroom, or we can post one to you for the cost of postage. Seeing the glaze in your own light is the surest way to judge how it will sit against your paint, stone and metalwork.

As a guide, add around 10% to your measured area for cuts and breakages, and nearer 15% for a herringbone, diagonal or brick-bond layout. It is also worth keeping a few spare tiles from the same batch in case a repair is ever needed.

Three pieces make up a skirting course. The Skirting Tile is the straight length at 152 x 152mm, supplied four to a box and covering 0.6 of a linear metre, which works out at 6.6 pieces to the metre. Where the course turns a corner you need a handed piece: the Skirting Left or the Skirting Right, each 167 x 152mm and each sold singly, with the moulded profile carried around the return.

Handing is judged facing the wall, standing in the room as you normally would. If the skirting turns away to your left at that point, the Left is the piece; if it turns away to your right, take the Right. Walk the room, count each corner and note which way it goes before ordering — and if you would rather we checked it against a plan, ring 01344 620211.