Buying tiles online

gremlinmum

Hi trying to source silver travertine tiles and will probably have to buy online - can anyone recommend a tile company had loads of samples sent out so far but as it is a lot of money any advice would be appreciated:p

cddc

If there is one thing I would be loath to buy online from a small sample it would be stone.

How on earth can you have any idea how the finished product will look, or have any idea of quallity based on a photo on a website and a small sample chip I cannot comprehend.

With stone, and Travertine and Marble in particular, because both shade and quality can vary hugely, you really do need to see what you are buying.

rustyboy21

Why don't you give the area you live in and we can then possibly give you the names of some independant tile retailers, who give good service and price.

The issue you may have is the quality of the tiles, there is some Carp coming into the country at the moment and the easiest way of getting rid of it, is by the internet.

You also have to factor in the delivery aspect of your purchase. An internet dealer will only deliver to your door, so you could have a pallet stood on your doorstep whilst you kill your self carrying a tonne of tiles in yourself. At least a retailer will usually carry them into your house for you, mine did no issues and no breakages too

tpt

hmmm, not so sure about the internet statements here. Theres a lot of carp trav being sold in major high street retailers at the moment. One such tile has so much filler it amazed even me, and they are charging £29 m2 for it.
The hardest way to get rid of it is the internet - the distance selling regs and card protection actually mean a customer is more covered buying over the internet than in a shop where you have no right to return.

A retailer's driver *MAY* bring the tiles inside for you, but the chances of them bringing them upstairs or close to the area are very low. And no breakages? why? Any internet retailer worth dealing with will replace breakages straight away and there is no more or less chance of breakages buying over the internet.

The sample size does matter with natural stone, but an awful lot of shops only have one tile stuck to a board.

Philip624

Topps tiles do a nice travertine tile £1.58 for 20cm sq I think. If you geta sample from them you will get 10 per cent off if you decide to buy. The colour can vary hugely though but they will let you come in and pick throught the tiles so that you get a good enough match. I dont work for Topps but were getting some travertine too and they have been very helpful.

gremlinmum

Hi thank you for all your replies I have been to several retailers and as mentioned you only get to see a sample board of the tiles which they will order in. I do agree that the distance selling does cover you and that was why I considered that avenue. I am having a problem actually finding a retailer in Scotland who supplies the silver travertine and that was why I was thinking of ordering online!

gremlinmum

Hi tpt appreciate your message regarding buying online could you recommend anyone online? Thank you gremlinmum

Toxteth_OGrady

Some decent cash back offers with Topps at the moment:

http://www.quidco.com/topps-tiles/?ac

Also if you have Tesco Clubcard vouchers each £5 voucher from Tesco will get you a £15 Topps voucher (but you can only spend those in-store).

Moomum

When renovating our house we ordered from travertine direct, we got light honed and filled and they were great. About £20 ish per sq metre. Remember an extra 10 %.

cyclonebri1

Not read the whole thing but if they are small travertine tiles that are chosen, the standard recommendation of 10 for waste can be reduced if the person doing the job has reasonable ability.;);)

keystone

and the larger the tile the greater the waste. So for large format tiles allow 15%. I also always advise to buy a extra box on top of your measurement plus cuts/wastage figure. That allows you to make mistakes, it allows you to get the measurement wrong in the first place, it allows you to have some spares left over for the time when one or two get cracked or broken and require replacement. It means that they will all have the same batch number rather than buying more later when you need them and finding they are a different colour.

Cheers

PS Oh b...er here I go again. Giving more stuff away.