Decorating & Renovating
hereonceagain
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Any tile recommendations for flooring, under $5 sq ft
I want a nicer tile that will last a lifetime. We are looking at either 18" or 24" square only. We chose a daltile porcelain tile but it ended up being almost $20 a sq foot!!! We found places that give big discounts but it's still only down to $10 or so a sq foot. Anyone have recommendations of good tile that's not so costly? A pro I asked said to steer away from tiles made in China. Is this generally true?
Re: Any tile recommendations for flooring, under $5 sq ft
Hmmm, we have several friends who are professional tile layers and they have never said anything about the quality of tile. Even the people at Tile Shop joked with us that they can't really compete with Menards because their tile prices are so good (just very limited selection). Anyway, I'm not sure of the exact color, but we put 12" tiles in our bathroom and we've had 18" tiles in our other bathroom for several years. We got our recent tile at Menards (a really nice neutral tan color with a touch of grey) for $3/sq ft and the stuff in our other bathroom was from Lowes and was less than $3/sq ft (around $2 I believe) and we've had no problems with them whatsoever. We do splurge on good thinset/grout/sealer which DH will only get from Tile Shop and I think thats what makes a difference.
One word of caution though if you are DIYing it....the larger the tile, the harder it is to level. We had a heck of a time with the 18" in our old bathroom even after DH put down leveling stuff several times....even his professional friends came to help and had trouble. Granted, the problem was mostly our floor, but 12" worked a lot easier at going down. Just a thought...
Do you have a PIP or link to the tile? That is the exact color we are going for! I went to HD and Lowes and couldn't find anything similar to what we were looking for.
As PP's mentioned, I don't believe it's the tile that is an issue of not lasting a lifetime, but it's the installation. The thin set and grout can crack and then the tiles can be damaged, especially if water gets underneath.
If you are DIY'ing, I would read as much as you can about tiling and the types of grout to use and what your upkeep would be. That will definitely help prolong the life of your floor.
I second Home Depot or Lowes. We've found some gorgeous cheap tiles from those stores. Just a piece of advice, be weary of the tiles that they put on sale for like 98 cents or less. We purchased some for our rental and noticed that the tile wasn't perfecting square. Not all the sale tile will be like that, but if you find some, ask someone why they are on sale for such a low price.
Who the heck gave you a $20/sf quote for Daltile? Is that installed or are you
DIY? They are a inexpensive tile and one of the big lines that is sold at HD (it is often renamed though). We got American Olean tile (their sister company and sold at Lowe's) for $2.15/sf from a tile wholesaler. Of the same line 12x12 will be the cheapest with bigger or small tiles from that increasing in price the farther from that size you get.
I agree with everyone else. How you prepare the substrate will determine how long and how well your tile does. As long as your getting a porcelain not ceramic you should be fine quality wise. You'll want expansion joints, a de-coupling membrane, as good of a subfloor as you can get, and possibly waterproofing depending on what is below the floor. What size area are you tiling? Is it just a floor? Are you going to be in your house for a long time?
We're just finishing up our main bathroom and used 18x18 tiles on the floor with ultra low maintenance epoxy grout. So staining or re-sealing required. Below that we have a layer of 1/2" plywood glued and rim shank nailed to the 2x10 floor joists spaced 12" apart, a 3/4" tongue and groove plywood with exterior grade glue and a level C finish glued and screwed, an electric floor mat, and a layer of Ditra....which basically means our floor isn't going anywhere and our tile isn't going to be cracking.
That was for the tile alone. It's imported from Italy. We plan to have tile installed professionally. Obviously we are not going with that tile, as it costs too much. We just had it layed in a small bathroom and we loooove it. However it is now the family room flooring we are doing and it's almost 500 sq. feet.
Oh so this is a natural stone tile then right? That would explain the cost. Well going from natural stone to a porcelain will cost much less and be a less maintenance. Natural stone should be sealed every 6 months or so depending on how much traffic it gets.
With 500 sf make sure your tile contractor is asking you about decoupling and expansion joints. If it he doesn't plan to use them find a different contractor. In a small bathroom you can get away with not really needing either of those but decoupling is recommended. In a big area like that you need both especially if it will get sunlight.
HTH