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At the bigbox I noticed these tiles that look like wood flooring, sort of. They are maybe four inches wide and 24 inches long. Are they of poor quality? Is a long thin tile harder to set than say an 8x8?
Fake wood tiles
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Quality is in the eye of the beholder. The cheaper the tile, the quality and type of materials is what is going to make them durable. You want the ones that are not just a Glaze on top. You want the ones that the pattern is the actual part of the tile. Keep in mind specialty tile shops carry the same lines as most of the Big Box stores. Just a higher markup. But you can find a more Commercial tile at the specialty places that will handle a lot of foot traffic.
Send JazMan a message. He is the resident expert on telling you the exact line to look at. He has bailed many of us out on these projects.
Send JazMan a message. He is the resident expert on telling you the exact line to look at. He has bailed many of us out on these projects.
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They look to have the color only on the surface
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I see those tiles when I go to the "L" big box and kinda smirk. They look kinda cheesy to me. But, once installed I'm sure they are fine, as far as appearance. You also need to watch out for excessive warpage with these cheaper tiles. Large tiles are not flat when they get this large. And yes, 24" is much harder to set than smaller tiles. Anything over 15" is considered large. You have to make sure the floor is very flat.
FYI, top quality porcelain tiles, esp. wood-look, should cost in the $5 range.
Tell us more about the room.
Jaz
FYI, top quality porcelain tiles, esp. wood-look, should cost in the $5 range.
Tell us more about the room.
Jaz
Jaz I was the same way when I saw them for the first time. I actually had to go hunting around for the better ones when my wife was looking at them at Lowe's and Menards, since she wants to use them for our Kitchen.
I refuse to go to the Specialty shop here in Springfield, because they are three times more than what I could probably get online through a wholesaler who sells the same ones.
I refuse to go to the Specialty shop here in Springfield, because they are three times more than what I could probably get online through a wholesaler who sells the same ones.
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That's very unusual. I have never seen the "same" tiles at an independent specialty tile shop or distributor, with the possible exception of cheap ceramic subway 3x6" and standard 4x4 & 6x6 tiles. The box has white and/or bone, and that's it. I know after a while they start to look the same, but they're not.greg said:
Example: some of this marble I'm trying to sell. I have one type of pure white that I have 5 prices depending on grade. Anywhere from 260 Euro per sq. meter down to 70 Euro. Another white as high as 50, down to 20.
Anyway, you're exaggerating by saying 3x of course. If I told you once...I told you a million times, don't exaggerate!:wink2::wink2:
Jaz
You are not exaggerating. It is about right with tiles. We have a bunch of high end builders, so you do tend to find the higher end tiles, but most times they are special order. I have only found the stores having enough to do our Kitchen, maybe two times we were looking at stuff. That was only because someone had ordered them and returned them.
Anything at the Specialty tile place is just stuff that the vendors want to get out of stock that is a lower line, when we have looked through their clearance stuff.
Now the tile that I put in back around 2010 in our Bath, still looks good. Then again we had to travel 30 min's away to get them from another town.
Anything at the Specialty tile place is just stuff that the vendors want to get out of stock that is a lower line, when we have looked through their clearance stuff.
Now the tile that I put in back around 2010 in our Bath, still looks good. Then again we had to travel 30 min's away to get them from another town.
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Greg,
You may already know this, but this is how it generally works. The local 1-2 store shops that wanna sell lots of tiles will stock "special" only. There's always a story behind why this tile is in stock. These are either closeouts or seconds which they buy at big reductions in price. No store is gonna buy regular current tiles for stock because they can make a call and get it in a few days. These are the samples marked special order. Instant turnover, huge selection.
The large independent stores buy both specials and also standard quality current tiles direct by the container loads. They do tend to buy the cheaper current tiles by containers too. The high end tiles, they will order from the local distributors as they sell them.
The big box stores hunt the world for the cheapest specials. In most cases the prices are very good, but the quality is usually lacking. At best their tiles are medium grade, since they find it hard to sell tile much higher than $2 or so. You do not get good tiles for $2 or even $3. Yes, those .69 tiles are junk. But sometimes junk is good enough.
Jaz
You may already know this, but this is how it generally works. The local 1-2 store shops that wanna sell lots of tiles will stock "special" only. There's always a story behind why this tile is in stock. These are either closeouts or seconds which they buy at big reductions in price. No store is gonna buy regular current tiles for stock because they can make a call and get it in a few days. These are the samples marked special order. Instant turnover, huge selection.
The large independent stores buy both specials and also standard quality current tiles direct by the container loads. They do tend to buy the cheaper current tiles by containers too. The high end tiles, they will order from the local distributors as they sell them.
The big box stores hunt the world for the cheapest specials. In most cases the prices are very good, but the quality is usually lacking. At best their tiles are medium grade, since they find it hard to sell tile much higher than $2 or so. You do not get good tiles for $2 or even $3. Yes, those .69 tiles are junk. But sometimes junk is good enough.
Jaz
I am in the same predictiment as MJ is. My wife wants the wood grained tile, but we have that stupid Veneer hardwood flooring that the builders were using right before WW2, to save on costs for trying to get as much as they could out of the trees.
I have to either pull everything up and put new wood flooring in the Living room. Or try to find a tile that is thin, but durable enough that I am not going to have a high lip with a really bad transition.
At least I am not going to do any of the work, since she is using her inheritance to do the work. You per chance do not want to come down from your neck of the woods to my neck of the woods and do the Kitchen & Dining Room floor when the time is right.
I have to either pull everything up and put new wood flooring in the Living room. Or try to find a tile that is thin, but durable enough that I am not going to have a high lip with a really bad transition.
At least I am not going to do any of the work, since she is using her inheritance to do the work. You per chance do not want to come down from your neck of the woods to my neck of the woods and do the Kitchen & Dining Room floor when the time is right.
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The floor is concrete. It is carpeted. I have no idea what is under the carpet. It is my office so it would be low traffic. I have never professionally set tile so I want something easy to set. I have a guy that will set the tiles for me, he is booked for the next year so I would have to wait.
I get a very big discount from a specialty shop in town, I just need to know what I need and go in and buy it. If it was up to me the bare floor would be fine, but the wife has more to say about that
I get a very big discount from a specialty shop in town, I just need to know what I need and go in and buy it. If it was up to me the bare floor would be fine, but the wife has more to say about that
What about noise and room temp? Do you get any full Sun, that could cause the tiles to heat up and end up warming the room?
As for what is under the Carpet. You could always cut a patch that is covered by something and see how much it is glued down or not.
As long as you do not have ny major cracks, the floor is not a uneven poor. It would be pretty straight forward.
Now if you really want to impress people. There is always the leather tiles.
Post some pictures of what you are looking at. I am trying to find a color that has a little bit of Light Chestnut tone in it, but only in the grain, with maybe a Dark Blonde tone for the overall tile color.
I am thinking of going with the 2' long rectangle sections for our Kitchen and Dining Area.
As for what is under the Carpet. You could always cut a patch that is covered by something and see how much it is glued down or not.
As long as you do not have ny major cracks, the floor is not a uneven poor. It would be pretty straight forward.
Now if you really want to impress people. There is always the leather tiles.
Post some pictures of what you are looking at. I am trying to find a color that has a little bit of Light Chestnut tone in it, but only in the grain, with maybe a Dark Blonde tone for the overall tile color.
I am thinking of going with the 2' long rectangle sections for our Kitchen and Dining Area.
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