Cheap Floor Tiles - OK or a false economy

abankerbutnotafatcat

Hi everyone,

We actually quite like basic, plain floor tiles like these for our kitchen:

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=524404

Are they just cheap because they are basic and plain or are they cheap for a reason??

Thanks for all help and advice.

Abbnafc:)

joee_91

We used these in our en suite.. they are very basic looking but looked fine in the en suite. They did the job just fine. Not sure if this is any help but just thought id let you know i tried them and they were fine.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Any other thoughts?

manda1205

We bought the black coloured ones of those from Homebase, we did our hallway and conservatory. I have chipped 2 in the conservatory from dropping something (can't remember what as it was ages ago), although because ours are dark you can't notice the chips. I love them and would definitly buy them again. They're much easier to clean than the crappy lino I have in my kitchen. My brother fitted them and said they were fine to fit. Ours have been down quite a few years now too and will end up going in the kitchen one day.

cddc

The sheds are good for cheap as chips basic floor tiles. There are way way nicer looking tiles on the market but for £6.99 sqm you cant go far wrong.

Nothing structurally or technically wrong with them for domestic use. From a technical point of view, pretty much all floor tiles sold today are now wear grade 3 or better which is pretty much fine anywhere in the home. There are still a few exceptions in dark colours but a stone effect like that one shuld be perfectly OK.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Thanks, guys. We've read the reviews on the sheds' sites (all three main ones have similar tiles for the same price) and the only negative seems to be that some can be tricky to fit as they are not uniformly sized but we're getting a professional to do our tiling so that shouldn't be a problem.

Leif

B&Q have some very similar tiles - same size - which are claimed to be porcelain, for £10 a square meter which seems very good to me. I plan to lay some in the porch, and I do wonder if they are in some way inferior to ones costing ~£30 per square meter.

I used some cheap(ish) tiles on my bathroom floor and they look very nice. I used cheapish ones on the walls, and they had some flaws round the edges. The tiler could have thrown the flawed ones away, as plenty were left over, but he didn't.

Oldsoak

Simple answer is that cheaper tiles are less likely to be perfectly square/rectangular, known as 'rectified' in the trade. This can mean that the grout lines can open and close as the size varies. They are also not as thick as the more expensive tiles and may have firing faults in them (not necessarily making then seconds, just not as well checked). On larger format tiles they are more likely to be bowed, which you can check by putting 2 tiles back to back.
Basic rule of thumb is if it looks like an identical £30 tile and is priced at £10m2 then it is of a lesser quality. Having said that I fitted some 900x300mm tiles recently from Porcelanosa and they were bowed (they cost a lot more than £30m2), so price is not a guarantee. If you like them and they suit your budget buy them. Just be aware that they might be cheap for a reason (I always advise customers to keep a spare box from the same batch number, under the kitchen units, behind the plinths).
Good luck.

jaks101

I used to be manager for 8 years in a very well known tiles store for several years, depending on the offers that were on and how popular the particular tile was would determine the costs obviously the more you pay in general the better quality of tile. Some of the tiles were a massive percentage margin and not that great and you sometimes had really good offers on quality cheap tiles.

Personally for longetivity I would go for porcelain or a ceramic of 8-10mm thick. I always found a good indication of quality was the weight of a box. I.e the density of the bisquit back.
Look in store and feel the weight of boxes obviously pay attention to the amount of tiles in a box.
Cheepo poor quality tiles sometimes have as many 18 in a box due to the light weight.

jaks101

Oh and make sure they are fitted correctly that is the main cause of tiles cracking and chipping