Tile quality

[neilymack]

Hey all,
Currently looking to tile a kitchen floor and three bathrooms.
Need to know how to make sure I have good quality tiles. What am I looking out for apart from consistancy in tile size and flatness. There are such big price ranges in tiles and I dont know what makes one better than the other. Is it how porous a tile is? In the case of the floors, obviously i need well sealed tiles as I dont want them discolouring thru time as the kitchen will obviously get heavy traffic and also my wife wants light coloured ones.
I have seen a company selling tiles by "British ceramic tiles", are these of good quality?
Last thing I want is to lay all these floors and then in 6 months find I cant clean them as the dirt is engrained.
Any help or pointers on what questions to ask or what to look out for would be much appreciated as I have seen tiles that look the same ranging from 12 a sqm to 75 a sqm !!

Neilymack

[Rookery]

Floor tiles - go for glazed porcelain. They are generally very durable and dont need sealing. You will be fine with glazed ceramics on the walls as they dont need sealing either. Generally any tile that is unglazed, including polished porcelain and natural stone, will require sealing. You can easily spray the grout lines with an aerosol grout sealer from a tile shop.
In my experience, Italian tiles are the best with Spanish ones good too. The last 2 jobs I've done were with BCT tiles and they were at best average tiles in terms of glaze quality and sizing.

[neilymack]

Thanks for the feedback!
Had a look for the tiles recommended and there is a massive choice.
Still confused.
Any advice on websites and manufacturers would be greatly appreciated. Looking to pay no more really than around 30 a sq m

[Rookery]

Choosing a tile is often the hardest part. There are millions to choose from and the best way is to go to an independent tile shop and discuss with the staff. It may help if you have an idea of the look you want:- traditional, contemporary, gloss, satin, matt, colour scheme, shade etc.

[Crooksey]

Choosing a tile is often the hardest part. There are millions to choose from and the best way is to go to an independent tile shop and discuss with the staff. It may help if you have an idea of the look you want:- traditional, contemporary, gloss, satin, matt, colour scheme, shade etc.

Agreed. Independent tile shop.

I was looking and had no clue what to buy, I took in what flooring I was going to have, and he said take these tiles, I just agreed (after looking for a whole day solid!). Took them back and they look sh*t hot!

[royaloakcarpentry]

Italian or Spanish, as said.......Turkish ha ha enough said. Wickes own tiles in there nice little blue boxes, must be top notch cos it has their name on it.......fecking cack!!!

Just had the privellage of doing a job where client (bless me) got wickes brand tiles and where as they may be cheap it actually cost them more to have them put up as it took me 50% longer to work with them. Glaze peels off, don't cut cleanly either.

[Crooksey]

I can vouch for Italian, after doing two large jobs of 20sqm+ NONE of the tiles snapped or cracked whilst cutting/filing/drilling/snipping

EDIT: However I did pay £45sqm thats wholesale, retail was £70sqm!!