Those who know about tiles/tiling

theonenonly

So I'm planning on getting the bathroom refurbed and getting the whole bathroom tiled in porcelain. Walls/floor/shower room.
So from what I gather the tiles in B&Q/Wickes aren't generally the best quality tiles, as they are get the B Grade stuff from the actual tiles manufacturers. Fair enough, the selections in there were pretty naff.

Went into Topps Tiles, a couple of visits later me and the family have decided on a design. However, after doing a bit of Googling it seems like tile company's on eBay are selling the tiles for half price! Topps Tiles= £40 p/m2, which would set me back around £900, whereas the same tiles on ebay are going for £25 p/m2= £550! Even on other UK Online only retailers (tiles-direct.com) of which I've never heard of are selling it for much cheaper than Topps Tiles.

What's the catch? Are the tiles genuine, from the same "warehouse" that Topps Tiles get their stuff? Or are they the left over B Grade stuff?

Is the tiles industry essentially the same as the electronics industry where products in high street retail stores tend to be much higher for the same product than it is on Amazon?

casper_g

I'm not sure about price comparisons for the exact same tiles, but certainly when we were looking to do our bathroom earlier this year we found Topps very expensive even compared to other bricks-and-mortar retailers. Tile 'brands' mean nothing to me and the differences between a really good-looking tile and something naff are so subtle that I wanted to see the product in real life, so we didn't look online much.We ended up buying from Tile Giant (which is Travis Perkins, I think).

wallbash

So from what I gather the tiles in B&Q/Wickes aren't generally the best quality tiles, as they are get the B Grade stuff from the actual tiles manufacturers.

Any facts to back this statement up?

BJV

I shopped around, last year we had our bathroom titled floor to ceiling and this year the whole of downstairs floor tiled. Without doubt after looking around price wise, service etc https://www.tilemountain.co.uk/.


I looked at everything from local suppliers to big national names. Compared prices as well as quality. For example I requested a sample and it arrived the next day. They gave me a little discount as well for ordering in bulk. They arrived on perfect condition on the right day at the right time.


For me certainly they where good value for money.

~Beanie~

I also shopped around a few tile places last year whilst getting my kitchen done. The ones I settled on eventually I bought from a local tile place were double the price in Topps Tiles for exactly the same tiles, same manufacturer and everything.

27col

BJV wrote: »

I shopped around, last year we had our bathroom titled floor to ceiling and this year the whole of downstairs floor tiled. Without doubt after looking around price wise, service etc https://www.tilemountain.co.uk/.


I looked at everything from local suppliers to big national names. Compared prices as well as quality. For example I requested a sample and it arrived the next day. They gave me a little discount as well for ordering in bulk. They arrived on perfect condition on the right day at the right time.


For me certainly they where good value for money.

How exactly would an amateur be able to compare quality?
Exactly how, would a tile of bad quality perform as compared to one of "good" quality. Not something that you possibly tell by just looking at a sample.

theonenonly

wallbash wrote: »

Any facts to back this statement up?

Not at all. Something that I was just told by a few people.

theonenonly

casper_g wrote: »

I'm not sure about price comparisons for the exact same tiles, but certainly when we were looking to do our bathroom earlier this year we found Topps very expensive even compared to other bricks-and-mortar retailers. Tile 'brands' mean nothing to me and the differences between a really good-looking tile and something naff are so subtle that I wanted to see the product in real life, so we didn't look online much.We ended up buying from Tile Giant (which is Travis Perkins, I think).

BJV wrote: »

I shopped around, last year we had our bathroom titled floor to ceiling and this year the whole of downstairs floor tiled. Without doubt after looking around price wise, service etc https://www.tilemountain.co.uk/.


I looked at everything from local suppliers to big national names. Compared prices as well as quality. For example I requested a sample and it arrived the next day. They gave me a little discount as well for ordering in bulk. They arrived on perfect condition on the right day at the right time.


For me certainly they where good value for money.

~Beanie~ wrote: »

I also shopped around a few tile places last year whilst getting my kitchen done. The ones I settled on eventually I bought from a local tile place were double the price in Topps Tiles for exactly the same tiles, same manufacturer and everything.

The thing is the name of the tiles are exactly the same. I mean design is hard to tell from pictures but the name of the design of the tiles (Bengal Sierra) is the exact same. Had a look on Tiles Mountain and they don't seem to have it.

I emailed one of the eBay suppliers and they replied "They are the same maybe just different manufacture,". Perhaps then it may not be 100% to the Topps Tiles ones