Tiling in Northolt

Tiling in Northolt: what is different here

Ealing's splashback sizes for shared houses

Ealing's April 2025 HMO standards set out exactly how much tiling a shared bathroom needs. There must be a 300mm waterproof splashback to the bath and the basin. A shower needs tiling to 150mm above the shower head and at least to the edge of a fixed screen, and where a curtain is used, the splashback should run 300mm beyond it.

Every joint has to be sealed and the walls and floor must be smooth, non-absorbent and easy to clean, and kitchen sinks and drainers need a waterproof splashback too. In a Northolt HMO we measure against these figures before quoting, because a shower tiled only to head height can be marked down at inspection.

Northolt's hard water and grout

In Affinity Water's 2025 sampling for the Greenford/Northolt zone, hardness came out at 305 mg/l as calcium carbonate, with 122 mg/l of calcium itself. In practice that means white scale on glass screens within weeks and a crust along the lower grout lines of a shower if it is not wiped down.

We tend to recommend larger-format tiles with fewer joints in showers, a grout with stain and water resistance, and silicone at every change of plane, and we leave the tenant a note on keeping the screen and grout clear. It also helps to fit a screen with a coating that sheds water.

Ex-council flats: tiling over someone else's ceiling

Ealing's handbook makes floor tiles, floorboards and the screed in a council leasehold flat the owner's responsibility, along with any leak from a plumbed appliance, while the joists and the structure are the council's. When the bathroom sits above another flat, a failed tray seal or untanked shower wall becomes a leak through a neighbour's ceiling, and that is your liability.

Tanking the shower area first is therefore part of every job we do. If you plan to change the floor finish in a flat, read your lease for any clause on floor coverings or noise, and remember that the council's consent is needed for any alteration that goes beyond like-for-like.

Small bathrooms in interwar and 1950s houses

Bathrooms in the 1920s and 1930s semis around Northolt Park are often compact, sometimes with the WC in a separate room, and many have been refitted more than once over old tiles or boarded walls. The houses of the early-1950s Racecourse Estate generally have plain plastered walls that tile well once any old adhesive is cleared. In both, we check that walls are sound and flat before tiling, and strip back to the substrate where previous tiles were laid over tiles.

Working in Northolt blocks and the canal-side developments

In Ealing council blocks, works are expected between 8am and 5pm and no rubble or old tiles may go in the bin stores or communal areas, so we bag and remove everything. Privately owned blocks usually set their own rules through a managing agent, so if your flat is near the Grand Union Village marina or at Engineer's Wharf, ask whether notice is needed before a contractor starts. Ask for the building rules before booking, and we will plan noisy work like tile removal for the times allowed.

Official sources

• Ealing Council: HMO Standards, April 2025 (fire doors, alarms, sockets, splashbacks, PAT, certificate table)
• Affinity Water: water quality report 2025, Greenford/Northolt zone (AF061)
• Ealing Council: Homeowners' handbook for council leaseholders, October 2025 (repair responsibilities, fire doors, alterations, letting)
• Wikipedia: Northolt (Racecourse Estate 1951 to 1955, Paddington Arm 1801, Northala Fields)
• ONS Census 2021 via Nomis: accommodation type, Northolt Mandeville and Northolt West End wards (TS044)

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.