Cheaper Limestone Tiles

jimbugalee

Hi all,

My boyfriend and I will be moving our bathroom into the 3rd bedroom when we move house and as usual I have a picture in my head of what I would like it to look like.

We don't have a really tight budget but would like to save as much as possible. I found so many baths/showers much cheaper on eBay which is a bonus!

Where can I find limestone tiles? (The big cream ones that aren't shiny). I think there are other materials which have the same effect, maybe cheaper? Went to Topps tiles first to suss it out but I am wondering if you get direct from quarry type thing or somewhere else may be cheaper?

Also are they quick thick? Can you put these on the wall or just on the floor? I wanted to do the bathroom all the same times, maybe mosaic around the shower cubicle.

Thanks in advance.

andyhop

limestone can be fitted to walls and floor but you must take into account the weight issue

Most will be 10/12/18mm thick

If you have solid walls that have been plastered you can only securely fix 20kg per sqm
Plasterboard will take 32kg per sqm

Even if you have plasterboard stud walls you are going to be close to the limit by the time you have added adhesive and grout

Final option is to use hardibacker board or wedi board and frame out the room, these boards can take approx 50kg per sqm

jimbugalee

Thanks Andy - I had better show my boyfriend this post re the weight.

What do most people do then? Use alternatives?

Gemma

andyhop

I do alot of large format porcelain but again weights come into it

Try you local CTD (https://www.ctdtiles.co.uk) plenty of choice and fair prices for quality products

jimbugalee

Brilliant - thanks Andy

Alan_M_2

The price of tiles has increased tremendously in the last 12 months (30% to 40%) simply due to the Pounds weakness against the Euro.

A very large proportion of tiles sourced int he UK are either Spanish, Italian or Portugeuse. Most decent limestone is Portugeuse.

I'm what you would consider a "Quarry" type place, in so much as I import from the producers and wholesale on a commercial basis, but the tile business is so tough at the moment there was simply no point continuing in it with stock, we now concentrate on Granite countertops until Sterling recovers to a sensibe level and we can again buy in stock at a sensible level.

12 months ago a commercial grade limestone from us was £20.00 + vat per sq/m and first quality around £35 + vat per sq/m.

Now the same tiles would be Commercial £30.00 + vat sq/m and £50 + vat sq/m.

As a result many suppliers dropped first quality altogether and now only sell commercial...some persevered.

Don't expect any bargains and thoroughly research what you are buying, feel free to asl specific questions if you wish.

If you're looking for an off white non shiney tile, you want a honed finish and you can't go far wrong with Moleanos Limestone which is an off white Portugeuse tile.

As per advise above you're looking for a 10mm thick tile. Don't believe the rubbish Topps Tile salesmen tell you about 12mm thick travertine being suitable, it isn't, it's a floor tile.

jimbugalee

That is some really useful advice - thanks Alan.

I might do some more hunting around the net next week now I know what I am looking for. I also had better work out the cost before I hit my boyfriend with it!!!

May come back to you for more specific q's .... thanks again.

Gemma

brownbake

Band Q are doing all natural stone tiles for £4.74 this weekend only!!

HTH

jimbugalee

oooooh thanks!

jimbugalee

OMG we're finally moving into our house this weekend so straight to work on the bathroom.

I've tried looking for limestone tiles and apart from on the net there's none for me to get the jist of them in the local area.

There's these Travertine ones everywhere - what's the difference and how much should I expect to pay for this stuff if it's suitable? (Someone mentioned it was a floor tile - and yes the Topps Tiles guy did suggest it! lol)

Also I found out we have solid brick walls - no plaster. Is it better to plaster them to hold more weight?

We're also going to build a wet room now ... but that's a whole 'nother story!

Thanks all

Gemma

Alan_M_2

A skim plastered surface or dot and dab dry lining will hold 20kg per sq/m (absolute maximum 10mm thick tile but preferably no more than 8mm)

Plasterboard stud on 400mm centre framework will hold 32kg/sq/m (10mm comfortable).

Aquapanel or tile backer board can hold up to 50 kg per sq/m depending how and to what they are secured. (upto 20mm thick marble)

Limestone is 100% natural stone, it's quarried from the ground, cut and finished and that's it.....once it's fitted and treated it's pretty stable and will take a lot of wear for a long period of time.

Travertine is also a form of limestone but it's formed in a way that leaves it aerated, much like an aero bar.
It's quarried from the ground, cut, then all the holes in the tile are filled with either a resin or cement based filler that's as close to the tile colour as possible, it's then finished.

The filler is not as dense as the travertine, the cheaper the tile the less decent quality the filler tends to be.....over a period of time the filler will degrade quicker than the stone, this is far more obvious in floor tiles as the filler starts to develop small pin hoiles athat trap dirt....these then gradually grow to holes and the surface breaks down. This is what's known as "honed & filled". In my opinion it's far more suited to wall tiling than flooring. However most of it os produced in Turkey, Iran or Pakistan at 12mm thickness as a one size fits all suitable product for flooring and wall tiling.....this is in reality a floor tile, it's needs to be thinner to be a wall tile for the UK market as we generally don't deal with rendered walls which are far more suited to a higher weight.

There is an exception, high quality Travertine that comes for the area where the stone gained it's name, Tivoli in Italy is on a par with good quality marble but also priced accordingly, think upwards of £50 sq/m + vat wholesale.