How to Choose Tiles: 4 Insider Secrets
It’s not just about picking a colour. Consider these expert tips when choosing tiles for your home.
Beautiful tiles will transform your home and ensure it looks gorgeous for many decades to come. Beyond the basics of choosing tiles to match your décor and style ideals, there are some insider secrets that are well worth knowing about. Here are four lesser-known facts about tile quality to help you make informed choices, achieve a designer finish and get the best value for money.
1. White tiles might not be pure white
If you’re in the market for white tiles, have a good look at them in natural light first. Lesser quality tiles may not be pure white. They could be ever so slightly off white or even ivory. This is often the case when tiles are sourced from inferior suppliers. World of Tiles sources all metro tiles from top Spanish manufacturers and our white tiles look as pure as the driven snow.
2. Check a sample tile against the ones on display
When you see a tile you fancy on display in the store, ask to see some samples from the box before you buy. Sometimes display tiles may differ from the actual tiles in the box. This may be for a variety of reasons – such as different batches, or the retailer might have changed supplier.
3. The many faces of marble-effect tiles
In nature, marble patterning is never the same. However, when it comes to marble-look tiles, the pattern is designed and repeated. What you want is a design that has multiple variations. World of Tiles has exclusive rights in Ireland to top Spanish manufacturer, Cifre Ceramica, which designs its tiles with multiple faces. Cifre’s designs have around 10 to 15 faces to keep the final effect natural looking. Keep an eye out for poorer quality marble-effect tiles, which have just a few variant faces, and some no variations at all, which looks cheap and unnatural, although the price is often quite dear! So, if you’re in the market for marble-effect tiles, have a good look at the pattern repeats and ask your sales assistant how many your choice tile has. The same goes for other tile designs which draw inspiration from nature, such as stone-effect and wood-look tiles.
4. Clean lines from rectified tiles
The word “rectified” is often bandied around in tile shops. A rectified tile is one that has been manufactured to have a near-perfect straight edge, while a non-rectified one has a slightly beveled edge. They’re both made the same way, however rectified tiles require a marginally bigger mould. Once fired in the kiln, the edges are then ground or cut to size with a diamond saw, in a process called rectifying, thus ensuring the crisp edges. Also called sharp-edge tiles, the precise manufacturing standard means they can be laid with very narrow grout spaces, giving a seamless and even finish to your floors or walls. They’re also well suited to intricate laying patterns as the sharp edges mean tilers can place them more precisely. Due to the more intricate nature of the manufacturing process, rectified tiles may cost a little more than non-rectified ones, however, that perfect finish is well worth the little extra.
