Question about laying tiles - new build house- odd

fairy2

Does anyone know anything about laying tiles? My friend has just moved into a new build house. The tiles in his kitchen have I believe been laid rather oddly. Rather than having, for example, a full tile one end of the kitchen and say a short, cut tile the other end he has short cut tiles the whole way round the kitchen - so he has short cut tiles at the back door to the garden and directly opposite it at the kitchen door and at each side of the kitchen too so when you stand in front of his kitchen cupboards you can see a short cut tile also. I am not a tiler but I would expect maybe there would be full tiles somewhere and not cut tiles round the whole perimeter of the room?

Does anyone have more experienced or expert thoughts on this as the end result in his new kitchen is not great. Thanks very much.

sevenhills

fairy2 wrote: »

I am not a tiler but I would expect maybe there would be full tiles somewhere and not cut tiles round the whole perimeter of the room?

Does anyone have more experienced or expert thoughts on this as the end result in his new kitchen is not great. Thanks very much.

Not easy to understand, without a photo. I cannot see why someone would cut lots of extra tiles, unless required.

fairy2

Thanks. I cannot get a photo at the moment, sorry, If you can imagine say a 12 inch tile and a rectangular room. So on say the north side of the room, the floor is finished with a cut 3 inch tile and opposite it on the south side on the other end of the room finished with say a cut 8 inch tile. Then on the east side there is a 4 inch cut tile and opposite that there is another 8 inch cut tile. So cut tiles all the way around the edge and no full tiles on any edge. Hope that does not make it even more confusing.

Tom99

Probably done so it looks even all round. Its the standard way to tile a window sill for example, you start dead in the middle and end up with two equal width tiles at each side of the window.

dawyldthing

When tiling I was taught you start in the middle and work outwards. So if it's equal both sides they probably have

Furts

Sounds like it could be correct. Floor tiles require "setting out". This means considering, in effect, where the centre lines should be in each direction. For example, an aim could be to get equal margins at the edge of the room, or if base units, or an island are prominent then to work margins to suit these.

However, if this is the only concern with the new build house then your friend should be well pleased. There are a lot of folks on this Forum over the years who know how bad a new build can be!

Doozergirl

Our tiler always sets out to have good cuts at the edges. Rooms are rarely perfectly true, even on new builds, I am sure. It takes the eye away from any obvious discrepancies and ensures that the tiler does not have to contend with any really tiny, pathetic cuts that are more like slithers. You will never see a tiler start tiling from the bottom of a wall up, either.

fairy2

Thanks - sadly I disagree. The eye in this kitchen is immediately drawn to 3-4 inch off cut tiles at every edge of the room including at the doorway as you first come in when the tiles themselves are huge. He is VERY disappointed.

Lorian

If that is all there is in his new build to be disappointed about he is doing well.

Doozergirl

You can disagree if you like. My tiler is one of the best out there! I have not seen your job but I did say good cuts, although a 12 inch tile is a small tile to me and I would not use them on a floor for a luxury finish in a big room.

Your expectation of a full tile to every wall is unrealistic. You will see where the walls run out very quickly against the skirting boards. If the room is about the size of full tiles then you will get half tiles at the edge. Pick a bigger tile, you automatically get bigger and less cuts.

Pick the right colour of grout and the cuts are less visible. We have just done a little floor (with 300mm or 12 inch tiles) in a small ensuite and the grout is such a great match that it is barely visible. It looks like one until you look for the grout lines.

It is all in the detail and has much to do with design choices.

andyhop

If it’s 100mm bits right round on a large 600x600 tile then really it’s wrong . Should have been set so you had 400mm cuts all round