Any tilers out there?

davethetaller

I wish to buy some floor tiles for my kitchen, and have discovered
an outlet,where they have bought a "job lot", of wall and floor tiles.

As the outlet is not well versed in the sale of tiles, is there a way that I can recognise, the difference between, wall and floor ones?

All tiles nowadays, seem to be made overseas, so the wording on the boxes, is of little help to me.

Thanks in anticipation.

ormus

as a rough guide,
wall tiles are thinner. in the range of 5/7mm ish.
floor tiles are usually in the range of 10/15mm.

muckles

Dave, Not a tiler but have done a bit at home. I started buying cheap tiles but found what I recall was something like the registration was way off in them.The effect was that after I had laid a few I found it impossible to get them to line up as the sizes were all slightly different. Even though the tiles come out of the same package I found that the cheap ones had some with odd sizes probably seconds or thirds.
The other mistake I made was not buying the correct adhesive, I trusted the tile shop to sell me adhesive for floor tiles (having just bought floor tiles) but they gave me the stuff for wall tiles .Upshot was that a section of the floor had to be lifted and re-laid.
Hope this helps.

The_Blue_Hatter

I dont think I would buy anything from anyone if they didnt have a clue what they were selling especially if you are not sure either. "Cheap" bargains make for expensive mistakes.

Oldsoak

Do yourself a favour and avoid buying cheap tiles as it will usually end in problems and headaches. As a tiler I have actually refused jobs involving cheap tiles after having trouble with grout lines and tiles splitting when trying to cut them.
It is a false economy to buy cheap tiles, as they will either take you ages to fit them, or cost you a fortune as the tiler will take longer to do the job.
Also, as a rough guide if using ceramics, you need to use bagged adhesive if the tiles exceed 250x200mm in size. Although it is not always true it is a guide that diyers should probably stick to.
As for other materials you need to talk to smeone who knows what to sell you or provide when fitting your tiles.

bungle4by4

You can buy Johnsons tiles, made in the Uk, and they have an outlet shop in stoke

blackshirtuk

Does it matter? you can put floor tiles on walls, but not wall tiles on floors! putting the same tile on both gives a nice look when done properly

plumb1_2

bungle4by4 wrote: »

You can buy Johnsons tiles, made in the Uk, and they have an outlet shop in stoke

Yep and its frezzing, so take your coat.:D

davethetaller

Oldsoak wrote: »

Do yourself a favour and avoid buying cheap tiles as it will usually end in problems and headaches. As a tiler I have actually refused jobs involving cheap tiles after having trouble with grout lines and tiles splitting when trying to cut them.
It is a false economy to buy cheap tiles, as they will either take you ages to fit them, or cost you a fortune as the tiler will take longer to do the job.
Also, as a rough guide if using ceramics, you need to use bagged adhesive if the tiles exceed 250x200mm in size. Although it is not always true it is a guide that diyers should probably stick to.
As for other materials you need to talk to smeone who knows what to sell you or provide when fitting your tiles.

Many thanks to all for your replies.

The thing that I did not make clear, is that the tiles are not cheap, (as in poor quality), but low priced.

They came out of the Pilkington factory, which closed down a couple of months ago.

I have seen thin floor tiles in recognised tile shops, so am confused slightly by that posting.

Must remember to buy [bagged}adhesive.

Thanks...Dave.

Oldsoak

As another general rule, I recommend that for ceramic floor tiles a minimum thickness of 8mm but 10mmare preferable. It would take too long to explain why different tile such as porcelain or travetine require different adhesives and even why the require different adhesives if fitting to plasterboard or plaster walls, or concrete and wooden floors etc. It can be a minefield as can the correct prep for any surface that is why pros (the genuine ones) cost money to employ.
Off my soap box now. Johnsons were a good make, I for one liked using them. Just try to buy all the same batch number and seeing as they are going cheap, make sure you extra tiles. (if small - 10%, if big - 20%).